To me, neutering is such an individual thing - both with the owner and the dog. My akita wasn't neutered until he was 3 years old. But he had spent all that time in a backyard kennel 24/7. He didn't even know what a flower was - he was amazed by them. I am glad he wasn't neutered sooner because he was a timid boy and those hormones gave him some confidence. Both Moose-dog and Tornado-dog were neutered by 8 weeks (Tornado-dog at 7 weeks). I never felt either lacked in confidence because of it. Moose-dog was always a confident puppy and was quite confident up to 4 years old when his big sister died. He started to become needy and clingy so I got Bat-dog and he reverted right back to type. Tornado-dog is confident in most things. He mostly overexcites and still has a tough time calming down, but he's not really timid. On the flipside, a sibling's catahoula mix was neutered before 4 months and was a nightmare. He picked fights with every dog his size or bigger. He always had to prove himself. With my females, I have had them neutered anywhere from from 4 months to 6 years and never noticed any difference in their confidence levels. With all of them, their experiences seemed to have a bigger effect on their personalities than their spaying.
Eddie was my only male neuter, but I agree about the girls. I have never seen any change in their temperament, whatever the age they were spayed at, - usually six years in my case.
I had my Collie neutered at 18 months and it made no difference confidence wise, but made a heck of a difference to inappropriate marking. My present lad, Ted, was neutered at 11 months and it has made a difference in reactivity, but he was never in fear before, rather too confident
I’ve never had a problem with any of my dogs that haven’t been done, even the rotty when he was alive, my old springer had testicular cancer at 12 years old and had to be done, which then gave him another 2.5 years before his legs went on him with arthritis and I think he was getting a little dementia, also he stopped eating and drinking so sadly I lost him last year, but my pup was cryptorchid so I had him done at 18 months old, but only because he had to be, otherwise I would never of had him done. I don’t believe in having them done personally but each and to their own.
