Should I neuter?

[Laurel]

We got Blaise as a rescue and as a family companion. He is in obediance training and passed his first set of classes with flying colors and a graduation certificate and now we are in the next set of classes. He is going to be 8 months old in March and people in the family keep asking when we are going to neuter him. I'm not quite sure if I want to not..........basically because he isn't physically mature yet. We have no intentions of breeding him what so ever and I was wondering if by NOT neutering he will develop attitude when the hormones kick in. Or have they already? I'm not sure exactly what time period that they do. You always hear how how neutering a male will make it a better dog and make it more mellow and I am not sure I am buying that :p

[Carina43]

Eight months old...any day now! LOL. Between 8-10 months old seems to be the usual time frame for the hormones kicking in and attitude changes.
This has been discussed a number of times, doing a search on "neutering" should bring some of those up. With that said - here's my .02, and bear in mind I'm for waiting, as long as you are responsible, keep the snotty behaviour under control, etc etc.

The behaviour changes you may see are easily dealt with through training...Cooper turned practically overnight into a lunging, roaring idiot at ten months old. I just kept up with classes and made sure he didn't get too big for his britches. Not every male dog will do this, by the way. I'm just lucky I guess. :D (Also, neutering him won't absolutely guarantee he'll never be dog aggressive either.) It was a fair amount of work, but the level of control I have is MUCH greater than had I not had to do the extra work, plus I think he & I gained a better working relationship.

Neutered or not, it's pretty common for young dogs to go through phases where they get snotty attitudes. I say, if one wants a sweet, biddable, placid dog, get a Golden or English Bulldog! I sort of like a bit of spirit, that's one reason I like Rottweilers better than Bulldogs. Though I think Bullies are awfully cute.

You'll need to stay on top of him as far as marking - he might start doing this inside if he's intact. That's a behavioural issue though, and I'm sure there's lots of people here with intact males who are extremely well behaved! You only have to do to a dog show to see whole crowds of intact dogs cheek to jowl, acting like perfect gentlemen. Of course if he gets wind of a bitch in heat, it could make him a bit frustrated/off his food/stupid, but that's temporary, just make sure he can't roam.

Unlike bitches, there is no health benefit to an early neuter with a male...the jury seems to be out on how much it affects eventual size. For what it's worth, I have a male (Dutch) who was neutered when I got him at about 3 1/2 years old. He's beautiful, but not real big and bulky - a lot of the size and character is just hard wired, I think, and unaffected by hormones.

[spoteet]

For Sajan the switch was flip almost to the day he turned 12 months old.

[kala]

I feel that you could neuter him at any time now. As the benefits of neutering a male dog, if intact there is always the possiblity of prostrat problem and testicular (sp) cancer. At least if neutered you won't have to worry about that. And you won't have to worry about him getting loose if there is a female in season in your neighborhood. It can happen no matter how close of an eye you keep on him. Male dogs can be quite resourceful when there is a good smelling female around.

Just a question, not to cause trouble, but if he is a rescue how did you get to adopt him intact? All rescues and shelters around here S/N before adopting out, even the puppies.
sue

[mmgy]

From personal experience, you don't want him to be an older dog when you find out his testicles aren't hanging quite right!!! Having a nine year old neutered was trying.

My wise country vet says you should neuter a boy when he starts lifting his leg. That way your baby knows he's a boy, but typically my vet feels that you can still diminish the hormonal rush!

M2

[Laurel]

Thank you for your opinions everyone :) After his vet visit today I told the vet we would be back next Tuesday to get neutered. I think at 75 lbs it would be good to do it now cause he said it is a dollar a pound

[Hope]

I don't buy into fixing males because of attitude changes. We have always owned male rottweilers or dobermans, and ALL of them were fixed up until my current 3 yr old male, who remains and will remain intact. All the dogs before, poorly bred, were not that great with their temperments, and frankly, fixing them didn't do a damn thing.

My boy now, trained and with good sound genes/pedigree, he is as sweet as pie with the family, low rank drive and has never in his life mounted a person. He knows who wears the pants in teh house and rarely do I have to remind him. I had one or two "moments" with him as he was growing, but they were those odd spirts of challenges that I would attribute to the breed rather than the jewels. :p

Now, if you rescued your dog, don't have any papers or any idea as to the dog's genetic background, then I would definitely have your dog fixed. The risk of health problems associated with poorly bred dogs is way too high to keep the dog intact, but this would be the only reason for which I would put him under the knife.

I really think way too many people add intact male + temperment problems and feel they are inseparable. Frankly, if you have a well bred dog with sound temperment and train him appropriately, keeping him intact should mean little in the dog's eventual disposition towards the family.