To snip or not to snip? The question of castrating dogs.
If you have a male dog, even a puppy this is a question you may have already asked yourself. There is a lot of confusing information out there on castrating dogs so here I have condensed it all down. So that you can make the right, informed decision for you and your dog.
If you have a female dog please see our blog about spaying here.
Population control
One reason people consider castration is from a population control point. In the UK dogs should always be legally “under control”. As we do not have a large free-roaming dog population, this is generally easily managed even with entire dogs. When you have multiple dogs in the same household of both sexes this can be more difficult.
If you are considering breeding from your male also consider his genes. Is he really the best, mentally and physically, of his breed to pass on to the next generation? Does the world really need more puppies? Will he be more frustrated following one mating?
Many people think they would like a dog to have one litter, but this can lead to a huge increase drive to get to girls. Often people also presume they will be able to make substantial money from having a stud dog. Unless you have a top specimen that people are desperate to breed with theirs then you are unlikely to make much money this way and it can be a very stressful life for stud dogs.
Behavioural benefits
There are many people, including many vets who believe castration is the cure for most behavioural problems. This is not the case. Castration removes the testicles and therefore removes testosterone. The only behaviours that castration will affect are those behaviours driven through testosterone.
Male dogs will vary in their levels of testosterone hugely for many reasons. (Including number of puppies in the litter, ratio of boys to girls in the litter and age of dog.) This means the behaviours driven through testosterone will be more apparent in some dogs than others.
Behaviours driven through testosterone include;
- Urine marking. The extreme version. This is when dogs HAVE to mark every time they smell another dog. This would include in your own home. Many castrated dogs and females will mark when out on walks. As this is a normal behaviour it will unlikely be affected by castration.
- Mounting bitches in heat. This is not the same as humping – other dogs, people or toys (see below). A dog who hunts out bitches and tries to actually mate with them is driven through testosterone. Castration will hopefully improve this behaviour.
- Fighting with other dogs around bitches in heat. This does not include general aggression towards other dogs or in any other situations.
Behavioural concerns
As said above castration removes testosterone. Testosterone is a confidence building hormone and so we risk reducing their level on confidence. In dogs who are already confident this change is usually not noticeable. But if your dog already shows behaviour driven through low confidence (e.g. behaviours driven through fear, anxiety or frustration) there is a risk you will make these worse.
Common behaviours I would strongly recommend avoiding castration in include;
- Low confidence driven behaviour. Aggression towards people and other dogs, separation related problems, guarding issues, noise sensitivity or general anxiety or fear responses.
- High arousal behaviours. Things dogs do because they are over aroused will not be affected by castration. Mouthing, humping (people, toys, cushions and dogs who are not in heat) or “over excited behaviours” will not be improved and could be made worse with castration.
- Urine marking. If marking is due to low confidence, then this can actually be made worse through castration.
Even testosterone driven behaviours which have become learnt behaviours will not improve with castration. If you have a dog who has been marking in the home for years and you then decide to castrate him this behaviour is unlikely to change.
Health pros and cons
Health benefits of castrating dogs are usually promoted by most vet practices. There does seem to be some health benefits but there are some conditions in which the risk is increased by castrating dogs.
- Testicular cancer. Castration eliminates the possibility of testicular cancer. But it is also a very low risk disease in dogs. It is not very common and it is relatively easy to detect by monitoring your dog’s testicles. Treatment via castration is often curative. So this benefit of castration is not necessarily as good as it seems.
- Prostate problems. Non-cancerous prostate problems are less likely in castrated dogs but the risk of cancerous prostate problems may be increased. There is not currently enough evidence as to whether it is beneficial from a prostate point.
- Health risks. There is some evidence that castration can actually increase the risk of osteosarcoma, a very dangerous, malignant cancer which often kills dogs. There is also evidence that it increases the risk of hypothyroidism. This is not a life threatening condition but does require life-long treatment.
- Weight gain. Many castrated dogs will gain excessive weight. This can be controlled with appropriate diet and exercise but often their metabolism will slow down so they can’t eat as much as entire dogs. Overweight dogs have lower quality of life and are susceptible to more health problems and have a shorter life expectancy. If your dog is already overweight getting them to the right weight before castration is definitely recommended.
Some dogs become very frustrated when in the close vicinity of bitches in heat, whereas others don’t even seem to notice. In these frustrated dogs some can have extreme responses, appear lethargic, not eat and drastically drop condition. This is not good for them mentally or physically. Castration should be considered in dogs such as these unless further separation from bitches can be achieved.
Other Factors
You also need to include the risk of a general anaesthetic. Although a healthy, young dog has a very low risk with an anaesthetic, there is still a risk. You need to weigh this up with all the other pros and cons when deciding if castration is right for your dog.
Guardians should also think of the process of going in for a stay in the vets and the intense handling required for vet treatment. For some dogs this experience can be traumatic and can make future veterinary treatment difficult. Others breeze through it and it doesn’t seem to affect them. Do you think your dog would cope well with strangers handling him?
Conclusion
The decision to castrate or not is yours. For some dogs it can be extremely helpful to aid in behaviour changes. For others it can be really damaging. There are pros and cons from a health side and these also need to be considered carefully.
If you are unsure if castration is right for you and your dog, then chemical castration may be an option for you. This allows you to see the effect of castration on a temporary basis. An implant (similar to a microchip) can be put in and the effects last for 6-12 months. If your dog’s behaviour deteriorates at least the effect will wear off. You can discuss this in more detail with your vet.
Remember to think about training you can do in advance of any elective procedure. You can train your dog to happily wear a buster collar. You can teach your dog about handling in advance of the surgery. And you can ensure that your dog will cope with medication and rest post operatively.
My dog is fifteen months old with no confidence and has not been castrated. Every other male dog he has met seems to want to kill him! We had thought it was maybe because he hasn’t been castrated but after reading your article I think it’s more likely that they know he is submissive. I think it will be kinder for him to keep him intact.
Your article was very helpful
Hi Jenny, yes absolutely I would recommend keeping him entire if he has low confidence! It’s great you’re researching and making an informed decision.
Check out our online learning for some free courses about Coronavirus and increasing confidence and there’s a discount code on the free course for our Understanding Your Dog course too which will make a lot of his behaviour make a lot more sense!
Our 6 month old puppy barks at everything. He’s calming down with training but when he hears anything outside the house at night and he’s not in his crate it sets him off. This and marking in the house is the only unwanted behaviour. The vet has said when we go to have his retainers baby canines our to have him neutered at the same time but we are on a time limit to decide and we only got him 2 months ago so your information was very helpful but it’s a big decision to make for a young puppy. His best friend is my work dog who is a spayed female and she tries to jump him so he is innocent so far thank goodness!
We have just rescued a 9 month old staffy X and he is due to be castrated tomorrow by the rescue centre, but I am really second guessing the decision now. He is a really happy loving boy, yes he gets excited when he sees other dogs and people and always wants to interact. He has heaps of confidence but when he sees children he sometimes gets really worried and can growl if they interact with him. We’re not sure what happened to him in his previous home. He is a really good boy and I feel the way he acts now can be helped with training rather than castration. At a loss what to do 🙁
Hi Nathan, how did everything go last week? It can be really tough with rescues as they are so desperate to prevent any more unwanted puppies being born when there are already so many dogs desperate for a home. This is usually their first concern but most rescues will discuss this with you and if they know you are really committed to the training and preventing breeding can delay castration further.
I hope everything works out for your boy, lots of dogs find kids really difficult and often need a lot of help boosting their confidence around them.
I had my boy 8 months done yesterday, he is such a loving pup no aggression at all. When I was sorting his collar out yesterday he was growling at me . I will be devastated if it has changed his loving nature. I will be fuming with the vet as this was never mentioned . Hopefully it’s just because he was confused after operation what do you think ?
Hi Clare, I hope your boy is doing better now. After any surgery dogs will be stressed and painful and then much more likely to be reactive and grumpy. If he is grouchy you should always give him space and understand he is just struggling, not even being nasty. The changes we see from the reduction in testosterone will usually take a few weeks to see so this hopefully won’t affect him and once he has recovered from the op you will get your lovely boy back!
We have a 6month old Lhasa apso boy. Recently he has been off his food and very sexually aroused. He humps toys, table legs etc but lack of appetite caused us to seek help at vets. We have been told he is too sexually aroused and needs urgent castration even though one testicle has yet to drop( meaning double the cost of operation too) the procedure is scheduled for tomorrow, is this the right thing to be doing?
Hi Lisa, if he is humping objects and people it is very unlikely to be sexually driven and more likely to be arousal driven (often due to anxiety). But testicles retained by six months are unlikely to descend and so surgery is likely to be required at some point for your boy (as retained testicles are much higher risk of becoming cancerous). Best of luck with him.
We are in two minds about our 13 month old border terrier. Happy character and confidently bounces up to all other dogs – is very submissive towards them – lies down with legs akimbo! Never aggressive to anyone/anything. Quite humpy. BUT scenting in the house all the time. Big problem. He is nervous of our make neutered cat so could be that?
If he is “submissive” to the dogs this is actually what is called Appeasement and is a low confidence behaviour. Having him castrated would really risk this behaviour escalating into more fear based behaviours so I would be very cautious even with the scenting in the home.
Humping anything apart from girls dogs in season is another sign of low confidence (not a reason for castration) so there are certainly risk factors in his case.
Getting some training to help him out first would be really useful, or talk to your vet about chemical castration so that it can be reversed if needed!
I’m undecided to neuter my year old cockerpoo boy , he’s a little timid but has a lovely nature , will this change his personality, I’m getting another pup in four weeks time another boy , I really don’t know what to do
If he is a little timid then there is a good chance that his behaviour would deteriorate through castration as his confidence dips more. Getting another pup soon will be hard work (as well as lots of fun!) and so rushing a castration in before then will be tough for all of you! Two entire boys living together works well all the time, but as with any two dogs their relationship will need managing such as time apart, separate training and walking times, being fed separately and given chews apart.
Our new online Puppy Problems training course runs through all the general puppy stuff as well as managing two young dogs together!
We have a 10 month old Sheltie and we’re going to have him castrated in a few weeks time but our breeder was horrified and said we would end up ruining his coat and he would end up looking like a sheep! She would only recommend castration for medical reasons. Now we don’t know what to do as he is a loving dog no problems with him at all. Any advice?
If you’re not having any problems then the risk of castration might be more limited. But if there are no issues then there isn’t really any reason to rush into anything either!
The health benefits don’t come into play until he is an older man, so I would certainly recommend waiting for now!
Is there a good age to castrate a dog. Mine is 2 years old, the age my vet advised me to wait until being a larger breed. Is there any harm in waiting until he is 4? I’m thinking of holding off a bit just to train him up a bit further. Thanks.
There is certainly no rush, and definitely leaving until completely mature keeps bones and joints as safe as possible. The health benefits only come in when much older so I would not recommend before the age of five for most dogs (and lots of reasons to avoid altogether for some)!
Hi Jenny ..my dog is 15 months old. He is very friendly and confident. He does, however, try to mount female and male dogs sometimes! It’s not that he is always chasing a female but every now and again it can be an issue. I can manage it as he hangs around them quite awhile before making a move so he can be removed from situation in plenty of time. He doesn’t always try to hump male dogs either but sometimes he will! He tends to have favourites and in those instances will be persistent. We take a neighbours dog out whom he plays with alot and has never tried to hump before. The other day they were wrestling for awhile and then it turned into him trying to mount the other dog. He wouldn’t give up so had to be put on the lead. I don’t know yet whether that was a one off or whether he will try that again. Will this behaviour wear off in due course possibly? If so how long a time frame? As I would say humping is more prominent wirh male dogs than seeking out females, from what you say about testosterone, castration would not necessarily change this at all?
Hi Alison, if the mounting/humping behaviour isn’t directly solely at girls in season then it is much more likely to be driven by emotional arousal, rather than sexual arousal. When dogs get wound up through excitement or anxiety there is a good chance they can start humping. This makes much more sense in your dog’s case as he can play for a while before starting (when it is too much for him). Managing him by having very short play sessions and then separating him to calm down will be much more successful than castration as it is extremely unlikely this is due to testosterone. Our online course Understanding Your Dog goes through effective emotional management and how to help your dog!
Hello, I have a 5 month old French Bulldog male who is very well socialised and has been since we got him and is currently attending weekly training with other dogs but at a covid safe distance, however he has some unpredictable behaviour on occasions, wary of strangers and sometimes barks etc and the same with other dogs, 9 times out of 10 he is fine. And this barking/lunging sometimes snarling at other dogs is usually when he is on the lead. However it is quite upsetting behaviour to see. He is a very confident little boy, I am quite keen to get him castrated if of course it will help with this behaviour?
Afternoon Georgina, the barking and lunging would definitely be a sign of lower confidence levels with anxiety +/- frustration concerns and castration would in no way help with those behaviours but could certainly make things much worse! At five months he is such a little baby still, I would strongly recommend helping him cope better around other dogs and leaving his bits alone!
Hello Dr. Am in the process of getting a male puppy home in October. One of the dilemma I had was on neutering the dog. After reading multiple articles, interacting with few pet owners, and reading your article now, I’ve decided not to go for neutering. One concern that is bothering me is when the puppy matures, how frequently should I allow him to mate, some advise, it should be monthly. Even though its too early, time would fly, hence posing this question on the mating frequency for a male dog. Is there any healthy schedule that could be maintained once he matures?
Hi, congratulations on getting your new pup! and it’s great you’re not planning on castrating him after considering the risks. Entire males do not need to mate at all throughout their lives and live very happily this way. If he is used for breeding he is more likely to get frustrated when he can’t have access to mate and so unless he is the very, very best specimen (health and temperament) we wouldn’t recommend using him for any breeding at all!
Thank you Dr. Sincerely appreciate your inputs.
Hi
Should I castrate my 3 year old dobermann? He clicks & drools on his walks if he picks up the scent of a bitch. I’m getting a spaniel puppy in 2 weeks (bitch) & wonder if I should get him done before or at all? Will he try to mate her when she comes into season?
Yes he will definitely try to mate her when she comes into season. It can be very difficult to keep a male and female entire dogs separate during a season and you need to keep them entirely separated (different rooms) for at least three weeks at each season. So your options are to castrate your boy (with the potential negative behavioural side effects) or to the spay your girl prior to her first season. Check out our blog on spaying here. As she is a spaniel she is at much lower risk of an early spay compared to larger breeds.
My 3 year old Dachshund gets jealous of my older Dachshund. He growls if the older dog comes near me whilst he (3 year old) is with me.
This sometimes leads to them fighting.
Will having him castrated help with this jealousy or am I wasting my time?
Thank you
Afternoon Sharon, castration would be extremely unlikely to help with that behaviour but could easily make things worse. Dogs do not feel jealousy as humans understand it and the behaviour you’re describing is related to anxiety and frustration (not testosterone) and so by making him more anxious you are more likely to make it worse.
You’d be much better spending the money you might spend on the surgery having sessions with a local force-free trainer to help build up his confidence!
Hello! My fiancé and I have been considering getting a second dog(who will be a spayed/neutered adopt). The dog we currently have is an almost 3 yr old Chihuahua mix and he barks a lot at guests and our neighbors dogs, humps every now and then and has some “playful aggression” against my fiancé’s father. He is a nice dog who is playful and fairly well behaved but my partner and his family never really get him to socialize with other dogs. I’m afraid that after doing research it appears that it should be best both dogs are fixed in order for better chance of them to get along. The thing is, my partner really really doesn’t like the idea of neutering his dog. I haven’t told him anything yet because I’d love nothing more than to add a new member to our family(with proper research and preparation) and it would hurt to have him reject the idea immediately. I honestly don’t think he’ll change his mind about the idea and I’d hate to have him resent me or regret neutering his dog. I’m not sure what It is I’m asking for, but any advice would be so so helpful, please. Are we just meant to have a single dog household?
Hi Stephanie, You can absolutely get another dog whilst your first dog is entire. Many households have multiple male dogs who haven’t been castrated, and as they are generally going to be more confident the relationships can be much better than having castrated males living together. The behaviour your dog is currently displaying shows he finds some things a little difficult from his barking and humping (the humping isn’t sexually driven because he is entire). So castrating him is likely to make those behaviours worse and make him less likely to get on with the new family member, whereas leaving him entire doesn’t increase his risk at getting along at all!
Our dog is about a year old hes a mixed breed of we are guessing German shepherd and maybe Rottweiler or Doberman cross not sure. We have only had him for six months now he was found on the side of the road. So he was a rescue. He has pretty bad separation anxiety but it has gotten better since we first got him. When he’s out in the yard he barks at everything! People walking by, biking, kids, cats, deer, vehicles. But hes so sweet and would never hurt anyone. He does play a bit aggressive sometimes but we working on it. He has sooo much energy. He hasn’t yet been around female dogs in heat so we aren’t sure how he would act around that. The thought of getting him fixed makes me sad.
Hi Dr. I have a male Rottweiler who’s 1 year and 3 months old. He has an issue in his hip which is suspected to be starting stages of hip displacia and he’s improving well with Physiotherapy and swimming. I wasn’t sure of neutering and checked with the vet. She advised me that neutering is good considering his condition and she also said that it could be done even now.
Should we wait till he’s 2 ? Will neutering him now affect his growth?
I would discuss more specifically about his case with your vet. There are studies showing early (at least before two as he is not fully grown yet) will increase the risk of bone cancer in larger breeds and particularly in those already at higher risks, which rotties are. I would be cautious castrating him early but please discuss with your vet with more knowledge on his specific medical history.
Best of luck with him!
My dog gets aroused almost every mornings and he seems to have that paraphimosis problem since we need to help him put it back in afterwards.
When I mentioned this to the vet, her first suggestion was castration but I have done a lot of research and seen that castration will not necessarily stop him getting aroused. And if that doesn’t stop he will continue to have the problem of not being able to retract it.
What do you think could help him truly?
My fiancé and I have learned how to help him but we are not always around.
It has not been easy having to wake up before 6 am to help him out or just worrying that is happening again at every sound he makes in the early mornings…
Hi Natasha, thanks for getting in touch. These cases can be tricky, sometimes they do continue even with castration, but castration can help in some cases. It could be worth discussing your vet chemical castration (which is temporary and reversible) to see if it helps. If it does then surgical castration probably is the best option for your boy. But if there is no improvement then he hasn’t undergone unnecessary surgery!
It’s great you’re able to help him out, it can distressing for everyone if they get stuck and can become really sore!
Hi Dr Katie
I have a just about 7 month old blue English Stanfordshire bull terrier. I’ve done a little bit of research and am unsure about desexing and am unsure what to do
I think he’s well socialized as we have been going to a dog park since he was 16 weeks old after he had his last injection
He plays well with other dogs and people doesn’t really bark at anyone or anything like that
He’s humped his bed occasionally for a couple of month which I don’t think is sexual we usually take the bed off him and he stops
He’s recently started trying to hump our arm but we stop him from doing that too and he usually calms down
Recently at the dog park he has started following a dog (changes on the day) and tries to hump them it lasts for a little bit then he goes back to playing
He’s also started getting a bit of fluid, like a pre cum on his penis at various stages of the day
His training is alright as it’s mainly just been us due to covid haven’t had any professional training except for 4 weeks at puppy school
I’m unsure what to do as I’ve seen the pros and cons of desexing on what I’ve read so far
The thought of desexing him makes me sad and I just don’t think I can do it to him he’s beautiful and I don’t want anything to change him but I want to do what’s best for him
Thank you for your time and hopefully I hear back from you
Kind regards
Sam
Hi Sam, thanks for all the information. If he is humping quite indiscriminately then it is unlikely to be sexual, especially at such a young age. And more likely to be emotionally drive. If it is emotionally driven and his is castrated his behaviour is likely to deteriorate. He is so young and has such a lot of physical maturing to do and finish growing his bones the risk of castrating this early would be higher for him.
Discharge from the penis throughout the day is normal for both castrated and entire males so that is nothing to worry about as long as his penis/prepuce isn’t inflamed or painful.
You’d be best working with a force free trainer to build up his confidence and focus when out and about to manage the humping behaviour and at home too. Our online course “Understand Your Dog” goes through emotional arousal management and how to make it easier at home too!
Hi, my 10 month Spanish Water Dog has his left testicle retained. I went to the vet yesterday who found it in his groin area. As it’s too late to drop we will get it removed. However she also said we should remove the other one. Our breeder recommends avoiding castration at all and certainly not under 2 as it’s important for their growth and development. My vet doesn’t agree and says they would still produce testosterone. Would keeping one healthy testicle be of any health risk. Or would it produce enough testosterone to be if use? Your advice would be gratefully appreciated.
Hi Mags,
Removing the retained testicle is definitely the right thing to do due to the high risk of cancer. But this risk isn’t incredibly high at such a young age, so leaving him to mature further (whilst actively monitoring it as it can be palpated) would be one option.
The second option of removing the retained one but leaving the normal is something that quite a few vets are happy to do. The remaining testicle will give enough testosterone to maintain growth and confidence levels. The main reason vets are cautious about this is because if something happened to a dog (rehomed for any reason) and they saw there was only one testicle, they would want to get the second retained one out, but they wouldn’t know it was already gone! To avoid any potential mix ups you can record one testicle removed on his microchip and this usually helps the vet to worry less about issues down the line!
Hi, I got my buddy (Rio) completed 6months ( labordor) and he is completely fine and healthy. I have only one concern that he want to socialise with everyone he sees and for that he goes out of control and jumps on everyone…today I took him to vet for a general checkup and they suggested me to neuter him…..kindly suggest do I need to neuter him?
Hi Sai, the behaviour you’re describing is not driven by testosterone and so castrating him won’t help. It could be driven through appeasement behaviour which is a low confidence behaviour, especially if he is only 6 months. If so castrating him is likely to worsen his behaviour. Getting help from a force free trainer will help but castration won’t!
If he is only young castration in a Labrador at that age will also increase his risk of bone cancer.
Good morning! I have learned a lot reading your page but I still wanted to contact you to reaffirm what I have concluded. I have a nine month old Great Pyrenees. He is very sweet and we really have no issues with him. We live in the country so there is no contact with other dogs. We have a spayed 2 year old female Lab. He mounts her but she really wants no part. She actually mounts his face which I believe is a dominance issue. They get along quite well. I see no medical or behavioral reason to have him neutered. What is your opinion? Thank you in advance.
Hi Amy, I’m glad you found it a useful resource! It sounds like you’ve understood it great too. There is certainly no behavioural benefit in castrating him. Mounting, unless you a bitch in heat, is not sexually driven. As you can see from your girl doing it too, dominance is not a cause for behaviour in pet dogs, that theory has been disproved by the scientific community, instead it is a high emotional arousal behaviour (something displayed when dogs are wound up from being too excited or nervous or frustrated). You might find our online course Understanding Your Dog interesting!
As for health with his size there is certainly much more risk to castration than there would be benefit!
Hi, thanks for the read it’s really helpful. Our dog is 19 months old. He’s not aggressive, doesn’t mark at home and has very good recall. We are looking in to neutering him for when we go away so we can put him in dog boarding which most require a castrated dog. The only worry I have is that he is submissive around dogs at first, put almost straight away after meeting will play and run around with them. Should I be worried about this? Thanks a lot!
Yes it can be limiting if some places ask for neutered males only. What people describe as “submissive behaviour” is actually anxiety driven behaviour using appeasement techniques (dominance and submission doesn’t exist like that in dogs, it has been disproven by the scientific community!). Which does mean if you castrate him and his confidence drops there is a risk his anxiety towards other dogs could increase resulting in more exaggerated responses including avoidance or repulsion (growling, barking, snarling) behaviours. We run through this in detail in our Understanding Your Dog course if you’d like to know more!
Hi, I have a 15 year old lhasa apso who hasn’t been neutered but he has recently been diagnosed with pernial hernia , constipation and prostactic hyperlapsia. The vet has suggested to neuter him to prevent further damage. He recently had a light dose of anaesthetic to clear his passage and it should have taken him only 15-20 minutes to come out of it but it took him over an hour and was groggy and slept most of the day for the next 2 days. His blood results came back normal but I am not sure if we should go ahead or not . Our vet facilities in Nepal isnt great so I am not sure whether to take the risk or leave it as it is. We have heavily cut down his meat intake and added more fibre to his diet (pumpkin, spinach) along with increased dose of lactulose to help him with constipation but he is still having a hard time pooping. Please could you kindly advice on what else I can do for his health. Thanks a ton!
There’s lots going on in this case so I can’t give clear cut advice without having access to full medical records. Talk to your vet about chemical castration which can have the same medical improvement for a medical case such as this but without the risk of an anaesthetic to see if it helps. If so chemical castration can be maintained for life or you could opt for surgical castration, best of luck with him.
Hello
Im really not sure if my puppy has low confidence or not! He has just turned 6 Months. When meeting other dogs he lays on the floor or on his back and allows them to lick etc. I thought that this was very submissive behaviour. However I have noticed that with a couple of dogs he known since 8 weeks old he can play very aggressively leading to unequal play (one dog also a puppy albeit a few months older and another dog 18 months)
At day care and with dog walker ive been told he’s very active and enjoys chasing other dogs and being chased. On the flip side however
He currently now is reluctant to walk past our drive so we are driving him to open spaces for walks etc.
He only seems to hump pillows or toys (arousal behaviour as I understand) and has become to guard resting places i.e sofa/growling when being picked up after a period of rest.
Im really not sure what may be best for him.
Hi, at six months he is still a complete baby and depending on his breed there could be large health risks to castration so young. It certainly sounds like he has low confidence around other dogs and that his behaviour is already progressing to some avoidance and repulsion type behaviours and so castration would be a large behavioural risk and could make this much worse. You would be best seeking the advice of a local force-free trainer to help him out so that he doesn’t progress but castration won’t help any of those issues!
Dear Dr. Your advice would be much appreciated. I have two eight month old Yorkshire Terriers, brother and sister. Obviously I would not wamt them to breed and neutering was always the obvious option. They are both happy, heathy, outgoing dogs who love other dogs and people. I worry about neutering changing their personality, but at the same time I’m worried they are starting to sniff around each other so I need to make a descision quick. Can I neuter the male and not the female or is it best to do both. So confused. Thank you in advance.
Hi Diane,
Getting your girl done would definitely be the better choice. If you haven’t already also read our blog on spaying which is generally always recommended, whereas castration has risks getting girls done is really beneficial behaviourally and for health reasons.
Also if you get your boy done they could still mate successfully for up to six weeks after his op. If you get your girl done they cannot mate from the moment she gets home, that makes the whole house a lot more relaxed for you straight away!
Hi Dr. Katie
I have a 2 year old boxer dog. He is lovely in the home and fabulous with our two children. Outside, it is a different story and I’m at my wits end. He pulls like a train on the lead and can show aggression to other dogs whilst off the lead. I am quite small in terms of build and I find it difficult and demoralising to walk him. He’s better once he has had a run off the lead, but there doesn’t seem to be any calming him down. It’s as if he can’t control himself. I have tried to be as consistent as possible with training and he is very ball driven. So much so that he will knock you off your feet to get to it, which isn’t fun as he’s over 30kgs. I have run with my previous dogs but I can’t run with him as he’s far too strong and has to be at the front when running with a group.
He is our second boxer but third dog and we have never thought about castration before because we don’t agree with it. Would castration be the answer here? Or is it rigorous training?
Thank you in advance for any guidance you’re able to provide 🙂
Hi Jessica, none of those behaviours will be improved through castration, training with a force-free trainer to help him have more self-control and frustration tolerance. Castration could certainly make this worse by increasing anxiety. Our life Skills online course has lots of self-control games which are great for managing this kind of behaviour too!
Hello,
I have a 9 year old Gordon Setter male who has had a castration today at my local vet. The main reason I decided to have him castrated is because we now have a 10 week old Gordon Setter female puppy and do not wish to breed from them.In the future. Also, our male dog is quite aggressive to other dogs in our locality, especially when on the lead, which I believe is due to a territorial and owner protection issue. Will these behavioural issues change?
As he is already castrated there isn’t much you can do at this point so hopefully it doesn’t make his behaviour worse. Castration will never make dogs less aggressive towards other dogs (this is not a territorial issue but driven through fear and/or frustration, both of which can unfortunately be made worse by castration).
Obviously it is good by the time your pup is in season they cannot mate. If you’re in this situation in the future spaying the girl before her first season is the better option to avoid unwanted pregnancies!
Hi – I have a 6 month old staffy pup and have an appointment for castration on 11th November – so he will be 7 month then.
He has a lovely nature and wants to be friends with dogs and people alike.
In the last 3 weeks, he has just started to hump – dogs when playing and me and my son when at home.
I am just concerned that the bigger and stronger he gets, the humping becomes a major problem
So will castration help calm this behaviour and will it affect his mental and physical growth?
So confused as to whether I am doing the right thing!!
Castration will affect mental and physical growth especially at such a young age. Humping especially during play is extremely unlikely to be sexually driven (instead it is emotionally driven) and therefore castration won’t help. Learning how to manage his emotional arousal and switch him off instead will be much more successful! Check out our online course Understanding Your Dog for more info!
Hi Dr Katie,
I have a three & half year old entire male Cavapoo who has the most lovely temperament and adores other dogs, people and children. However he has been attacked in the park on several occasions by other male dogs. The dogs have been sniffing each other in the park, not exhibiting any tense behaviours or body language, and then go in and attack him, often pretty viscously and have had to be pulled off by their owners. I was told by a dog walker that this was my fault because I hadn’t castrated him and that this was always going to happen as long as he was entire. I’ve been very happy not to have had him castrated as he has very bad food & environmental allergies and a grade 1 heart murmur, which has meant I haven’t wanted to put him under the risk of anaesthetic. On reading your article it’s pretty clear to me that if I were to castrate him, the mild behaviours of barking at noises, humping out of emotional excitement and separation anxiety (which we have been working on successfully through training) would actually get worse due to lowered confidence from the lower testosterone; but I’m now so worried that if I don’t castrate him, he will continue to get attacked by other male dogs. He has never exhibited any of the signs you’ve mentioned about trying to mount dogs on heat (although he wants to follow them around to have a prolonged sniff and sometimes lick), and so there would be no other reason to have the surgery and the risk of anaesthesia other than this one considerable problem, but I desperately don’t want him to be hurt, or even killed in a dog attack. What would you advise?
It can be so difficult trying to manage other people’s dogs and is unfortunately the big risk factor when we take our pooches out. Some dogs find entire males more difficult, but usually they dogs will also find most dogs difficult and therefore still risk going for him even after he was castrated. If he is giving any anxious signs at all (which would be very normal after having had a few horrible experiences) then this is more likely to be the cause than his testosterone levels. As he is a higher risk for an anaesthetic it is a very serious consideration. If you really wanted to go down that route then trialling chemical castration (with the implant) would let you see if it helps him out with other dogs without the associated risk. If it so then you could consider surgical castration or continue chipping him to maintain the chemical castration. If not then you don’t have to risk his surgery!
Thanks so much Dr Katie, it’s really interesting to understand the dynamics of all this, from both my dog’s and the attacking dogs’ perspective. It’s really helpful to know that there is the chemical castration option to trial to see if this makes any difference. Fortunately at the moment these attacks haven’t seemed to have outwardly affected his confidence and happy temperament, but I will continue with the training to keep his confidence up, and in the meantime speak with our vet to look into the implant further. Many thanks again for your help.