To neuter or not?

[turbobert]

We have had dogs for years - both dogs and bitches.  Unless we take a litter (only once) we neuter them all on the basis that the boys wont stray hopefully (we live in the country) and the girls wont get pestered. 
We are planning to buy a male pup (working strain) so wont be breeding.  Is the advice generally that to ensure a happy and contented pup (ie hormone free)it is best to neuter?

[turbobert]

Just to add that our male coker produced a thick coat after neutering and has to be clipped every four months or so  Was this as a direct result of castration?

[Karma]

Certainly neutering can cause coat changes - they can get very much thicker.
The question of whether to neuter is fairly complex - there are pros and cons.  Neutering can cause behaviour changes as well as the change to the coat.  I think it really depends on the dog you have and your feelings on the various issues.

I'm sure someone will be along soon with more info about the pros and cons - and links to previous threads on the subject, but in the meantime if you type "castration" into the search tool you should find some threads with some of the arguments for and against!!
 

[Cob-Web]

IMO, there is no *right* or *wrong* answer to the "should pet dogs be castrated?" question    There are benefits and risks to weigh up; and the *right* decision is the one which suits you and your dog 

[JasperPop]

I have a male and a female and have had them both "done" to avoid accidents!  I had Molly done first as she is older and he wasnt ready yet, but we cant just have one done as MIL has a bitch also and we dont want any litters there either.  We already had to leave Jagger behind on visits and didnt want to have to again. 

His coat is thickening already as has Molly's.  Their behaviour hasnt altered, neither strayed but they might have as they matured, who knows? They are however both healthy and happy dogs, as I think they would have been if left entire too.  Not much help am I?

[tiamaria]

This is something i often ponder about! I mean if i have a healthy well adjusted dog that is secure ie doesnt roam the neighbourhood impregnating bitches and i dont have any female dogs at home to worry about do i have to castrate? I wouldnt like to just because the vet says its necessary. Or am i being silly? My partner said NO when i told him the vet had already mentioned castrating Charley when older when he was 8 weeks old, and i kinda think well if i didnt have a reason to, they why remove his manhood?   

[Cob-Web]

This is something i often ponder about! I mean if i have a healthy well adjusted dog that is secure ie doesnt roam the neighbourhood impregnating bitches and i dont have any female dogs at home to worry about do i have to castrate? I wouldnt like to just because the vet says its necessary. Or am i being silly? My partner said NO when i told him the vet had already mentioned castrating Charley when older when he was 8 weeks old, and i kinda think well if i didnt have a reason to, they why remove his manhood?   

I didn't    Molo is still entire, shows no distress when he smells nearby bitches in heat, and makes no attempt to leave the garden (even when the neighbours bitch broke in!)

We had Bonnee spayed when she moved in; and Molo still has his neuticles intact    It does exclude us from rescuing dogs from some organisations, and we are considered irresponsible by some - but like you, I don't see any reason to put him through surgery just for the sake of it 

[tiamaria]

This is something i often ponder about! I mean if i have a healthy well adjusted dog that is secure ie doesnt roam the neighbourhood impregnating bitches and i dont have any female dogs at home to worry about do i have to castrate? I wouldnt like to just because the vet says its necessary. Or am i being silly? My partner said NO when i told him the vet had already mentioned castrating Charley when older when he was 8 weeks old, and i kinda think well if i didnt have a reason to, they why remove his manhood?   

I didn't    Molo is still entire, shows no distress when he smells nearby bitches in heat, and makes no attempt to leave the garden (even when the neighbours bitch broke in!)

We had Bonnee spayed when she moved in; and Molo still has his neuticles intact    It does exclude us from rescuing dogs from some organisations, and we are considered irresponsible by some - but like you, I don't see any reason to put him through surgery just for the sake of it 

If i had a reason to castrate then i would, but when the vet just assumed we'd be having him done when we she mentioned booking our check up in 6 months shocked me. And my partner was dead against it, can understand most men frowning at the thought of it though 

[Lynne L]

We waited until Paddy was two- although our vet had kept advising us to have him neutered from 6 months if we weren't going to breed from him -- mainly from vets point of view, to eliminate testicular cancer risk. We had not neutered him before this because Paddy showed no interest in the ladies and we were loath to subject him to surgery until one evening we took him for an off-lead walk to our local woods and he disappeared and would not return despite our calling/whistling etc which was unusual. We then came upon a rather distraught man looking for his black lab bitch who had run off with Paddy and guess what - she was in season ! It seemed like ages until we found them wrapped around each other in a ditch looking very pleased with themselves . Thankfully, no unwanted litters ensued and that made our mind up that we did not want the same thing to happen again and wanted him to have the freedom to run off-lead on our usual walks without the worry. He was castrated and sore and swollen for about a week but since then has been fine. He has calmed down a bit but I honestly could not say that his personality has changed and this could just be due to maturity- he is as bright, happy and bouncy as ever. His coat (blue roan) has thickened - but we keep it fairly short and regularly trimmed as he is constantly in/out of bracken and covered in bits.
Don't know if this helps ! I'm sure the threads suggested on this website will have more details on pros and cons
Lynne
xxx

[Helen]

What on earth was that man doing letting an in-season bitch off in the woods? 

I find that really irresponsible TBH 

I have an entire 3 year old working cocker - coat is pretty irrelevant to me in the pro's and con's of neutering. 

Yes, if he's exposed to off-lead in-season bitches then of course he's interested and there is a potential issue 

He's not aggressive, he doesn't hump anything (apart from one particular toy when he was a pup!), and we check  his bits regularly to make sure there are no changes.  If there were any changes in his temperament or if he had a medical issue then yes, I would have him neutered but as it is I'm with cob-web on this...

I would say you have to take responsibility and be a bit more vigilant - you can obviously relax a bit more if your dog is neutered 

[Cob-Web]

you can obviously relax a bit more if your dog is neutered 

I'm not sure I would, though, I think it might give a false sense of security  Some neutered dogs still chase bitches if they are in season and the biggest risk if they do run off is not (imo) an unwanted pregnancy, but the dog being hit by a car, or getting lost and worse, not being returned 

[LurcherGirl]

We have four boy dogs... all of them neutered. The three that were neutered whilst with us have not shown any changes in behaviour other than being more relaxed about bitches. Jesse (ACS) changed from chasing every dog to hump into not really being interested in most dogs, which suits me just fine!

My personal belief is that unless there is a good reason not to neuter a dog (medical or behavioural), I always recommend it. And until there isn't a single dog in rescue anymore being put to sleep as a result of accidental or irresponsible breeding, I will not change my mind about neutering! I do not want my own dogs to contribute to the problem... I am a responsible dog owner and our dogs are never out unsupervised, but I cannot guarantee that they would never slip through a door, slip their collar/harness or disappear on a walk if there was a bitch in season nearby...

Vera

[Cob-Web]

My personal belief is that unless there is a good reason not to neuter a dog (medical or behavioural), I always recommend it.

But what is a good reason?  There is no consensus (yet) as to whether neutering increases the risk of some medical conditions; all the while it *might* then, to me, there is a good reason not to 

[Jeanette]

This is something i often ponder about! I mean if i have a healthy well adjusted dog that is secure ie doesnt roam the neighbourhood impregnating bitches and i dont have any female dogs at home to worry about do i have to castrate? I wouldnt like to just because the vet says its necessary. Or am i being silly? My partner said NO when i told him the vet had already mentioned castrating Charley when older when he was 8 weeks old, and i kinda think well if i didnt have a reason to, they why remove his manhood?   

I didn't    Molo is still entire, shows no distress when he smells nearby bitches in heat, and makes no attempt to leave the garden (even when the neighbours bitch broke in!)

We had Bonnee spayed when she moved in; and Molo still has his neuticles intact    It does exclude us from rescuing dogs from some organisations, and we are considered irresponsible by some - but like you, I don't see any reason to put him through surgery just for the sake of it 

I thought it was one of your worries that Molo would run off if he smelt a bitch in season when I posted about the timescales for letting Indie off-lead 

[Cob-Web]

This is something i often ponder about! I mean if i have a healthy well adjusted dog that is secure ie doesnt roam the neighbourhood impregnating bitches and i dont have any female dogs at home to worry about do i have to castrate? I wouldnt like to just because the vet says its necessary. Or am i being silly? My partner said NO when i told him the vet had already mentioned castrating Charley when older when he was 8 weeks old, and i kinda think well if i didnt have a reason to, they why remove his manhood?   

I didn't    Molo is still entire, shows no distress when he smells nearby bitches in heat, and makes no attempt to leave the garden (even when the neighbours bitch broke in!)

We had Bonnee spayed when she moved in; and Molo still has his neuticles intact    It does exclude us from rescuing dogs from some organisations, and we are considered irresponsible by some - but like you, I don't see any reason to put him through surgery just for the sake of it 

I thought it was one of your worries that Molo would run off if he smelt a bitch in season when I posted about the timescales for letting Indie off-lead 

Neutered or entire, my fear that he *may* run off if an in-season bitch was exercised in our usual walking areas would be exactly the same (neutering gives a false sense of security, imo).
Even though he never has run off, I am not naive enough to beleive that he never would