My rottie got neutered today! (long)

[melvinsmom]

Hi everyone, we got our nine month old rottie neutered today and I just had some questions/concerns. Firstly we got him neutered so early because he was in quite the bratty stage where he was starting to be rude to people coming into the house and trying to be testy. Our trainer said that first thing first was to get him neutered so we did. Anyways I did pick him up today and he was soooo upset. Well he was happy to see me and then when i led him to the car I think that cone collar really scared him. He was growling and snarling at anything that touched him behind the collar.When I got him home I decided to take off the collar since I could watch him closely, and while i fiddled around with the thing he was growling up a storm.

Anyways I;ve just left him alone for the whole day pretty much since he was groggy and stuff. I was just wondering though if some of the experienced rottie owners think that neutering will make a huge impact on him? His bad behavior has probably only gone on for about a month when we decided to get him neutered.

Prior to the neuter we were doing NILIF, working with a trainer, and doing lots of down stays and training. However, not much seemed to work for solving his testiness and resource guarding. If we step up the training after he recovers do you think that we will finally be able to have some success with his behavior after the hormone levels go down?

Seriously we have been feeling so overwhelmed with his lack of progress because in order ways he is absolutely wonderful. The vet loves him,the trainers love him, and its just frustrating because he is such a terror at home!!!

I know neutering is not the cure all but I'm really hoping that someone will tell me that it will make all of the training and behavior modification more successful

Thanks for reading my rant!!

[targonrotts]

i have seen it help, and i have seen it make no difference.
since he is 9 months, it is better than if he was 3 or 4 years old, but still, you must work on behavior modification and obedience training.
no, neutering is not a majic cure, but in some dogs it does help somewhat.

make sure he does not mess with the incision site for about 2 weeks. you do not want him causing an irritation or infection messing with it.

don't give up on working with him...but be consistent and patient.

[sheena]

After sheena got fixed (i dont know the term for bitches) we let her be herself for 2 days, did nothing about training, till her pain subdued just a little(use of pain killers was not allowed). After 2 days we started off as if nothing happened, but still being careful about stitches. We worked on come, go, drop it, etc. no sit or down or jump :(
She was pretty different during those two days, we thought it was because of her pain. She was more agressive and had no tolerance. I even thought she was going to snap at my nephew which she never did before. WEll lucky us, she didnt.
After her stitches were removed she was back to normal. We often heard that she was going to be more easygiong, more relaxed, well shortly better, but they were all wrong. She is the same dog she used to be (except she got fat :( ) Shes still over protective about the other dog at home or me when "daddy" is not around, she s still active...
I hope it all gets better for your dog.
Here, in Turkey, fixing a dog is rarely recomended for behavioral problems or difficulties. Its mostly done for health issues.

[amontague]

My boy was neutered at 18 months, he also had issues, and he was a rescue. It's not a cure-all, but it did help him be able to focus on the training. He was fine by the next mornining, after all the anesthesia had worked out of his system and never showed any signs of pain, but I didn't have the cone on him, that may be freaking your boy out more than the surgery.

One word of warning that you may not have heard from your vet, but it takes time for the testosterone that is already in his system to disappear. My vet warned me not to expect to see a real difference in behavior for 2 to 4 weeks after the surgery. Just keep up with the training and working on his issues and in time you'll start to see a change. For my boy it came about 3 weeks after the surgery and it was like a stroke of lightening.

[JonandMichelle]

I do not believe in the whole neutering will calm my dog down and fix the bad behavior thing....and I will not neuter a male at least until 18 months.

I believe that behavior modification comes with training, not only the dog, but for the humans as well. I think after your dog heals (a couple of weeks at least), you NEED to sit down with a reputable trainer, and plot out what you have done to correct the behavior, what is working, and what is/has not. You may find that something is not transfering from training to home to dog or vis versa. If your dog has resourse guarding issues, then may I also suggest an excellent book called MINE! Are you in a group class, or training one on one? How well was your boy socialized?

[MidnightLady]

hi,
I was taking Midnight Lady to puppy kindergarden and we had a dog that was 6 months and tried to attach every large dog and small dog in the class. The trainer told him he needed to get the dog neutered and he refused so he left the class. That dog scared me and I hoped for his sake he tried it. I don't know if it helps or not but that dog was so scarry. She said to never let the dog get away with that kind of aggression. I have females and so I am not real sure of males. I do wish you good luck.

[Shelby427]

Originally Posted by JonandMichelle

I do not believe in the whole neutering will calm my dog down and fix the bad behavior thing....and I will not neuter a male at least until 18 months.

I believe that behavior modification comes with training, not only the dog, but for the humans as well. I think after your dog heals (a couple of weeks at least), you NEED to sit down with a reputable trainer, and plot out what you have done to correct the behavior, what is working, and what is/has not. You may find that something is not transfering from training to home to dog or vis versa. If your dog has resourse guarding issues, then may I also suggest an excellent book called MINE! Are you in a group class, or training one on one? How well was your boy socialized?

I don't think anyone here thinks neutering will automatically calm the dog and fix the behavior - but it HELPS. Less testosterone, the less the dog will be a jackass, since his body won't have raging hormones anymore. Of course training is coupled with the neutering, but it DOES help. So don't discount it. Yes, it's recommended to wait until 18 months to neuter, but sometimes, the sooner the better for temperamental dogs.

[melvinsmom]

Yes, we wanted to wait also. But every dog behaviorist we talked to said that we should neuter him ASAP along with intense training. And he was well socialized when he was younger with the pup classes and taking him everywhere

[MidnightLady]

Originally Posted by Shelby427

I don't think anyone here thinks neutering will automatically calm the dog and fix the behavior - but it HELPS. Less testosterone, the less the dog will be a jackass, since his body won't have raging hormones anymore. Of course training is coupled with the neutering, but it DOES help. So don't discount it. Yes, it's recommended to wait until 18 months to neuter, but sometimes, the sooner the better for temperamental dogs.

yes I wasn't sure of the correct words to put. the trainer said the same thing. I am bad with words and forgive my ignorance. she also said that if a dog goes for a persons feet to only hit across the nose to make them stop. I found out it works. wasn't my dog but it came in my yard and growled at me and jumped at me and I just happen to have a piece of wood in my hand. it grabbed my arm and I got it on the nose and it ran away. didn't get me bad but enough. the next time I saw it, it saw me and I froze and it just walked on by and didn't even seem upset.. we live in the country with a partial fence around the yard it came in the back. I really believe someone dumped it and it was scared. I did see a tag on its collar. I called the humain society here and it disappeared.
At the time we had a female Rott and she was in the house but she was fixed. I am guessing it was a male dog tho. I wish I had been a bit braver to try and get it to come to me when I saw it the second time but I didn't want it madder at me.. I still love Rotts and always will.

[JonandMichelle]

Originally Posted by Shelby427

I don't think anyone here thinks neutering will automatically calm the dog and fix the behavior - but it HELPS. Less testosterone, the less the dog will be a jackass, since his body won't have raging hormones anymore. Of course training is coupled with the neutering, but it DOES help. So don't discount it. Yes, it's recommended to wait until 18 months to neuter, but sometimes, the sooner the better for temperamental dogs.

Actually, you would be amazed as to how many people think this

Sure, it "could help;" however, it is not a fix, and it should NOT be used as a tool for behavior PROBLEMS, or for those dogs with jackass like tendencies. Train, focus, redirect, and work the dog, and see what happens???

As for the "puppy" obviously there are social, behavioral, and temperament issues rolled up in one. That kind of display should not be tolerated, by any breed of dog.

[MidnightLady]

When Midnight was a puppy and we took her to puppy kindergarden I thought she did fine the first class but the trainer said a few weeks later that when she first saw her she noted she was only aware of her family and that no one else existed in her world. (I had never heard that before.)But as classes continued she really came a long way. she even left the other rott that attached alone. she was really good. we took her to obedience classes and she had gotten so big that it was a bit harder to hold her but I was able to do it and we had a wonderful girl. really miss her.