castration

[raggies1]

Weve been having a few problems with our 9 month old dog (if you reply to a lot of these questions you may have read some of them). We had him castrated 2 weeks ago for the health benefits but also to try and help curb his dominance towards my partner, I was wondering how long will it take before we see any changes and what changes may we see? I understand we may not see any and that it will take a while for his testosterone levels to subside but how long before we see if it has helped?

[doggydays]

Depends what the problems are. If he has learned the behaviours, it wouldnt make any difference to the behaviour by castrating. If its hormonal, it might but to be honest i wouldnt castrate unless its a medical problem. I know lots of dogs who havent changed after castration because the behaviour are learned. TBH, i can only think of one dog who it benfitted and changed but that was a pack status thing.
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[leelapops]

Hiya.

In complete contradiction to doggydays, I would suggest that unless you are breeding from a dog there is very little reason why he shouldn't be castrated.

I was told when we had our BC boy done at about 14 months that it would take around 6 weeks for hormones to subside. He stopped marking indoors, and was calmer, and less wary of other males. I understand it differs from dog to dog, and that in some cases it's claimed to have no effect on behaviour, but that's our experience with Jack.

If your dog is "complete", he can be more likely to try and escape to follow a female's scent, or wander off when you're walking off the lead. It can also lead to unpleasant and expensive accidents with unspayed bitches! We decided to get Jack done partly in the hope that he would settle, and partly for the above reason. Also, it prevents any cancers "down below". It seems a healthier idea all round, really.

Hope your pup is all recovered-let us know how it goes!

Lisa x

[doggydays]

The issue is, will his behaviour change from castration? If its learned, then it wont change without modification, hormonal, such as roaming and scenting, then possibly

[lankeela]

It should not take many weeks, sometimes the vets give an injection of Tardac instead of doing surgery straight away, to see whether the 'chemical' castration will have the desired effect, and whether it is worth castrating. All the dogs I have had castrated have been much calmer and less stressed particularly around bitches and much more willing to let the oldest entire dog lead the 'pack' and this may well be the case with your boy, as he seems to be trying to challenge your partner for 'top dog' position.

[raggies1]

i worked as a vet nurse for 3 years before having my baby so i should really know this myself but just couldnt remember! id have any dog i had male or female neutered on the health benefits alone, i saw all to many cancers which are easily preventable by neutering. the problems are he is fantastic for me but just will not listen to my partner, even to the point that if he asks the dog to heel he will come and heel to me! the other problem is showing dominance to other dogs but he seems to pick the wrong dogs every time and ends up being snapped at. he is very exciteable aswell and were hoping it will calm him down a little.