Thought I would start a log, others in the same situation may find it useful. Benson is now 16 months old, and until he was a 11/12 months old the fact he was entire hadn't seemed an issue. Until recently. In the space of 3 weeks, we have either come into contact with an bitch in season, or had encountered the scent of a bitch on our usual walks. The later is harder to manage, as not being able to see a bitch, it's harder to put any sort of management system in place, coupled with the fact that the scent really does hang about. Both myself and hubby have struggled with his behaviour on these encounters, he becomes distracted, will run off, and for some time after getting his attention/focus back has proven difficult. Usually we have 2 dogs on our walks, so you can imagine the challenges! We also are thinking, this state of heightened arousal for Benson is not such a good place for him to be, he becomes frustrated and whines with excitement. We haven't taken the decision lightly, and have already had a consultation with our vet around which type of chemical castration (there are two...) would be most appropriate if we choose to go down that route. The vet advised for us Tardak, The reason being is that the effect is pretty quick..2 to 4 dogs in most cases. So there is a very clear before and after picture. There are no lasting effects either. This will help us decide if castration is the way forward, or we simply have to work on more behaviour modification. I don't think that is the case but we really want to be sure, and in the next month or so we are bound to encounter more in season girls. SmPc if anyone would like to read it.... http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/Pfizer_Limited/Tardak_10_mg_ml_Suspension_for_Injection/-31162.html So, Benson is booked in for later this afternoon....
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Good idea Kate...l don't know anything about it ,it will be interesting and useful to others to be able to follow progress,good luck x
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Thanks for documenting this for others' benefit Should be interesting however it turns out...
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Thank you Kate for doing this log. I will be very interested in the results particularly if you see any change in behaviour other than a desire for the ladies. Good luck.
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Thanks Kate, that's going to be really useful. So far we've no issues with Pongo but he is only 14 months (and not many dogs around here so less likely to pick up a scent).
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in your dogs behaviour. On another forum a read a tragic story of a dog, a lab, who had chemical castration using Superlorin, it was a while back so this drug may not even be available now. However, his personality changed massively and he became aggressive, sadly he was PTS after an incident with one of his owners As you are only talking about temporary chemical castration, maybe it doesn't have the same possible side effects ? Chloe
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. I have heard that about Superlorin though have a friend who had it implanted in her dog and he was fine. If it was me, I would choose Tardak, it has been around for years and years and years.
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. This is really interesting and will be useful to lots of people, no doubt
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. OK we have returned from the vets, and Benson has had his injection of Tardak. The vet was great, a different one from our previous consultation around castration, however, she was very informed on the pros and cons and gave us an update around the clinical data surrounding the links with early castration and carcinoma, plus some evidence around weight gain and neutered dogs - specifically data comparing working neutered dogs v neutered pet dogs in which their was no difference in weight in the working dogs, suggesting that the level of activity and calorific intake had more bearing on weight than neutering alone. Regarding risk of carcinoma and early neutering the only breed in which a causal link is suggested is rottweilers and extra large breeds such as Bernaise mountain dogs The vet agreed that Tardak would be a good option, and would determine if the behaviours we are struggling with are purely due to his sexual drive, or whether we need simply to work harder on behaviour modification. As we were discussing this Benson lifted his leg and peed on the examination table leg... : :-[ He also then marked the door on the way out... :-[ He was reasonably well behaved, apart from when he took a fancy to the vets rather cute bun..and whilst she was listening to his heart, tried to chew it off...then tried to pinch a whole box of biscuits of the counter when he was weighed...oh and when Fudge his mate turned up...well he turned into a kangaroo....apart from that... Talking about weight, he weighed in at 28.1 kg, so his weight has been steady for about 5 months, so we will be monitoring this on a weekly basis. We will be back reviewing progress in 8 days. In terms of effect, Tardak we should see a change in around 2 - 4 days...optimal effect by 8 days. Tardak works not by stopping testerone by but attaching to the receptors and masking the effect by a competing hormone. Or something like that..
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. This is very, very interesting! I'll read your results with interest. I have to say though, with Charlie (older than Benson now, and not tooo bad, but pretty much a nightmare when younger), not being able to get his attention outside - at all - him legging it to investigate every dog, person, flappy twig within half a mile, and dashing off after scent trails, was solved by training. Apart from legging it to footballs, that wasn't solved, but that's really not about neutering. Even peeing in the vets and at pets at home was solved by training. It very well might be the case that Benson is better off neutered, but I think it's really, really great you are finding out before making that decision. Plus, you'll find out if undesirable behaviour is replaced by different behaviour (which you may, or may not, like). I'll be watching with lots of interest!
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. I forgot to add the bill including the consultation came to around £50....which I thought was quite reasonable
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. First day...and another early morning walk to the less frequented common with both dogs at about 6.30am. Lovely walk, although Casper still has a thing about cyclists, the first one that he spotted we managed to distract him, the second one, err we both failed miserably and Casper ended up disappearing...sigh,,, Dog walker takes them both out mid day for an hour or so. Then take just Benson out for 35 minutes early evening on his own. He behaved perfectly, no pulling to speak off, a nice 1 min stay, followed by some beautiful off lead walking, back to his usual self and miles away from the pulling frantic dog of a couple of days ago. I am sure this is simply because there were no bitches in season. Nice to have a more relaxed and less stressful walk though!
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. This is very interesting Kate thank you. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this and I've missed it but how long should the Tardak work for ?
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. [quote author=Jen link=topic=9925.msg144442#msg144442 date=1424297625] This is very interesting Kate thank you. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this and I've missed it but how long should the Tardak work for ? [/quote] 3 to 4 weeks, short-acting, but purely for us to determine how much of his behaviour is sexually driven. We also know a couple of local bitches are due a season now, last time that happened Benson ended up in their back garden, he also had to cross a road to get there...although a country lane, but still a risk, very embarrassing!
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Handy though that you know there are bitches around coming into season. You could walk him near where they live and really test the Tardak.
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. He'll have hormones circulating in his system....might take a while before they dissipate. I wouldn't expect the Tardak to be an instant success. Might need to give it a little time
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Glad tonight's walk was better I hope it gives you some answers xx
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Although I have a bitch I am finding this thread very interesting. Thanks.
Re: Tardak- temporary chemical castration log.. Day 3 - Morning walk..back to Yate common (where the in season bitch is being walked, and where we had trouble a few days ago) Both dogs out with us, for just over an hour, and with hubby so we can focus and manage both dogs training needs. The first part is on lead, practising loose lead walking, then close off lead walking. Benson was great, the usual little pulling until he settled into what I call "training mode" none of the awful frantic pulling, and disappearing off into the horizon" Did get a low growl of him, but I think that was because with was really foggy and a pack of dogs plus owners appeared suddenly of the mist! We allowed the dogs to mix, chatting for just a few seconds then recalled Benson and Casper back without any problem Now 3 days is early, and Tardak takes 2 -4 days to start having an effect. It rained all day here yesterday so that probably had an impact on any lingering scent. Benson did seem "quieter" yesterday evening..didn't want to hump everything after his tea..which he normally does...grabs all his bedding..bunches it up and err...humps until we take off him.... : We give him chews...toys, to distract him usually but it can be a pain at times...
