Blue is back to his normal self , anyways blue is a year old now and the vet keeps telling us we need to get him neutered , I haven't completely made up my mind yet and would just like some advice as to whether it's the right option or not . His very placid in the house , however he does keep trying to hump me and other family members alot which is abit annoying I do tell him no and he does say sorry and gives me his paw , the only other thing I thought it could help with was other dogs keep attacking him , dogs seem to always go for blue and it's annoying because blue has no one to have a run around with apart from me , the other day we were walking along and a dog only looked at him and went mad , very aggressive trying to get to blue . Blue gets very nervous because of this happening and I was just wondering if getting him done would stop dogs picking on him . The other side to things is I'm not sure if we should still not wait a little longer for him to mature , I also have heard dogs can put on quite a lot of weight on after it . I'm not very convinced on neutering when it comes to changing behaviour as we did once have a very boisterous labrador and we did that and it did nothing to calm him down . any advice would be great as I don't want to make the wrong decision and it's something we want to look into without jumping in thanks .
It has now become an obsession in some circles to neuter. There is no way id have a vet tell me when I should have a dog neutered unless for medical reasons. I personally don’t believe in neutering dogs just for convenience sake, I’ve always had males and never had them neutered, never had any problems with bitching ect: with the exception of Heiko due to prostrate problems when he turned 8, I watch his diet and exercise and he hasn’t put on any weight. Lots of youngsters go through the humping stage, and usually grow out of it, in the meantime if he’s about to hump either re-direct him or teach the off command. I don’t believe that neutering cures certain behaviours and in some cases can make it worse. At the end of the day it’s your decision there are pros & cons for both sides, do lots of research, if you do decide to have him done id wait until he’s at least two years old. If he’s continually being attacked id change your routine and walk where there aren't other dogs around if he keeps experiencing aggression like this, he could take a defensive attitude, or even a 'get in first' attitude. Just because he shows no signs of it now doesn't mean it won't develop.
I live in Hungary where most vets won't even consider neutering a male dog except for medical reasons I have a 3 year old male Miniature Schnauzer and neither his breeder nor his vet have ever brought up the topic of having him neutered!
Thank you for the help , yes I'm not really convinced about doing it , I don't really see much point , yes with our labrador it seemed to make his behaviour a lot worse after getting it done , I was only young when we had him and it was my mum's dog , but I don't want to do that for no reason when blue is actually very placid in the house and out .
I would say keep intact if you feel you can manage him intact. If you do decide to castrate him I would advise 18 months as a minimum with over two years being ideal as this is when the growth plates close, testosterone is responsible for closing the growth plates at the right time so is essential to keep it during the dogs first couple of years. If they are castrated too young their growth plates won't close at the right time and is the reason so many male that are snipped young get so tall and lanky, ligament and joint problems are a lot more prevalent in early neuters.
Honestly I'm not a huge fan at all. I see why vets push it, and it being done massively here IS helping reduce pet overpopulation (there was a severe crisis in my city and massive amounts of healthy animals were having to be put down), but if a person is responsible enough to prevent mating, I absolutely say don't do it.
