Neutering pros and cons

[season]

Which is what I've been doing...just gathering information.

Word


Carpe Diem

 

[sjdavenport]

My opinion/experience may not be popular. Growing up and through high school/college (not so much recently), we did a ton of fostering. We had countless dogs come through our home that started out intact, and then got neutered/spayed to get adopted out. I consistently saw drastic changes in focus/distractability all for the better. That was the biggest change. Some deceases in marking/mounting behavior, maybe some loss in drive, no other big changes to speak of. Of course a significant portion of that could be attributed to the fact that they were also getting training at the same time - for probably the first time in their lives. It's really not a fix for behavior problems or a replacement for good training (sounds like you're doing right by Oscar), but I've always had altered dogs and I'll probably continue to do so. I really don't think the vast majority of the population in this country is responsible enough to own intact dogs - especially not both genders in the same home. Just my opinion.

 

[gilles]

neutering has no guaranteed positive behavioral changes....good training has....any behavioral issue must be corrected with proper training and patience.

 

[Oscar'sMom]

Thanks all for the replies. We are going to leave him intact for now. I just don't really see the need, but wanted to gather all the info I could in one place from you all!

 

[TricAP]

Maggie - we've been having the same debate about Angus so this is a very timely thread. Angus is a "licker" not a "humper" luckily and is very good about taking himself outside for "boy time." For the past few months we've had my father-in-laws male lab mix with us. He was neutered as a pup but still marks, humps as he did before being altered. All the other males I've had in the past have been intact with no issues, it really does boil down to being extra vigilent if you choose to keep him that way. My only issue with Angus is the smegma (dripping) on the new floors - a pain to keep clean on the dark finish.

 

[Joao M]

In my country there are no laws that require neutering dogs. The breeders also do not impose a spay/neuter contract. Dogs adopted from kennels, however, are always neutered, either before being adopted or later depending on their age
For those reasons most of the dogs are intact. We also don´t have "dog parks" (like the ones you find in the US) buth rather "dog friendly parks" (regular ones), where dogs and people co-exist with no major issues. Usually dogs are unleashed in those parks.
It may be a surprise for some of you but things work out pretty well. Dogs get used to have contact with other intact dogs from an early age and find their balance. People get used to having dogs running towards them unleashed in most parks and don´t panic. Quite the opposite actually, most people just pet the dogs and play with them.

There are of course neutered dogs also. Either adopted or owned by people (usually ladies, to be honest) that opt for neutering.

I don´t have experience with living with a neutered dog (all the dogs I had were kept intact) but see some at the parks I go to. They do basically the same intact dogs do, with the exception of getting all aroused when a female in heat is in the area for obvious reasons.

What I´ve seen also is that - in my liimited experience at the parks - is that the interacton between neutered-intact dogs is sometimes more complicated that the one between intact-intact or neutered-neutered.

 

[Smokeycat]

What I´ve seen also is that - in my liimited experience at the parks - is that the interacton between neutered-intact dogs is sometimes more complicated that the one between intact-intact or neutered-neutered.

That's what I've seen here. And in most cases the altered dog (usually male) is the aggressor. The only intact male that I've ever had a problem with was a Neo whose owners were irresponsible enough to take it to the off leash knowing it hated large dogs. Anything over 50 lbs was fair game to it.


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[gilles]

like jao mentioned , same here we only have dog friendly parks and dogs are unleashed all the time..... i dont usually take my dogs there to avoid hundreds of questions and any incident, but i used to take volka a lot and the two incidents i had were from an intact husky and an older neutered golden retriever who apparently hated all dogs. but none of my dogs although not neutered display any annoying behavior such as humping and only one (erman) i feel , has the potential to be dog aggressive.

 

[Joao M]

That's what I've seen here. And in most cases the altered dog (usually male) is the aggressor.

I have seen the same

 

[NYDDB]

I have seen the same

Same here. Because I live in such a dense urban environment, we are in contact with a lot of dogs on our walks, every day. The intensity of aggression thrown Mateo's way is almost always from neutered male dogs- it's intense, and ferocious. When we do pass by other intact dogs, there might be a stare, but that's it---not a full-blown attack. Very strange...

 

[jasonwalker087]

I have had neutered dogs chasing my pup and snapping at him. Any reteliation on his part and it will all be blamed on him because he is intact. We had to bull-greyhounds charge us at the beach, one got a boot in the face while the other ran circles snapping at my dog until I planted a boot in its ribs. Not sure if they scented him from across the beach but I got a bad feeling when I saw them down the other side of the beach and they bolted over the 250 metres in a matter of seconds to get to us, I could tell by their body language they werent intending to play.

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