question about neutering and leg lifting....

[DanS]

Hello everyone. I have an almost 5 month old male who is great. I can't imagine I would want to bread him, and I can control any chance at unwanted breading, so that is not the concern. I have been reading all of the posts about to neuter or not, and about waiting until 24 months etc. I do want the Rottie attitude, and my pup is well on his way to being a confident (fears nothing at all) well manored (getting there on this one) and well trained dog. My question is, if I wait until 24 months, what are the benefits of neutering at that point? I am not worried about him getting away from me, because I would never let that happen, so should I just keep him intact?

My other question is regarding leg lifting and marking everything. Can an intact male be taught not to mark? I am worried about him marking in the house.


Thanks for all the advice,

d

[doorjamm]

I can not give to much advice on te neutering. I as a rule fix my females not my males. However your comment about not letting him get away is I feel slightly naive. The best intentions of mice and men may be foiled by a bloody minded rott... my dogs don't often get away from me. Actually it isd rare, but I would be a lia if I said it never happpens.

As to the marking... you can stop a dog from marking indoors. Both of my intact males are often indoors and only one of them ever slips up (incidentally he is the one indoors less often) persistence s I feel th key.

[Ladybeth1]

I have a 14 month old intact male, and he does not mark in the house. On occassion he has thought about it, and by keeping a constant eye on him, I have stopped it. I simply told him NO, and then took him outside to his favorite tree, and let him mark there. He hasn't tried that in some time.

As far as the previous post about your dog getting away from you, if you are a responsible owner, I agree that your dog will not get away. Odin has one of us at home with him 24/7, and he has never gotten away from us, he is constantly supervised. Whether or not to nueter is your own choice, and as long as you keep him properly supervised, accidental breeding is not an issue.

[guberdog]

I had Cain neutered at 6 months. The reason being that I had a Doberman that I wanted until after a year old, and it just seems his focus changed after that first encounter with a bitch in heat. No, he didn't breed with her, he was locked in another room, but I can tell you when he smelled that scent, he was absolutely miserable, howling and wanting out at any cost (I was there in the room with him.) I didn't want Cain to go through that, because I felt that my Doberman lost a bit of his focus and concentration in his training and his following orders. May have been my imagination, but I sure did see a difference in him after that situation happened.