Hi everyone Bit of a touchy subject in our house at the moment and was hoping for some constructive advice. We have a chocolate lab, he is 1 at the end of the month. Do we get him neutered or not? Behaviour wise he is a big handful, We have tried several puppy classes, read the books, bought too many different types of leads, tried a buffet amount of treats and yet Indy will not return when called if he gets a whiff of a smell or another dog. Having him on his lead is also a problem as he will choke himself to get to a scent he wants and has no issue dragging you around. We have read Pippa's books and when their are no distractions I could not ask for a better more fantastic dog. I am reaching the end of my tether, I have done so many puppy classes all to no avail, it has gotten to the stage now where he pulled me so hard to get to another dog to play that he slipped a disc in my back and caused a far bit of damage. I spend evenings training in the garden and whilst out, I really am trying my best my husband says enough is enough and thinks having him neutered will help calm these instincts down. I'm not so sure. could anyone who has been in a similar situation give me some advice? I know lots of people neuter their dogs and I have done my research into the health risks/ benefits however I cant help feeling it is cruel. (silly doggy mummy instincts I guess) Any help would be great. Thanks
Hello there - sorry to hear you are having these problems. They are not uncommon though, lots of people with older teenage Labradors (which is what your 1 year old boy is) have similar problems. Having a dog neutered will only remove behaviour that is about sex. And nothing else. It really won't stop your dog pulling on his lead, pulling towards other dogs, or wanting to get to a scent. And it won't train him to come back when you call him. If removing testosterone had this effect, no-one with a bitch would have to train any of these things. It will stop him being interested in bitches in season (although he still might be as interested in them as he is any other dog), so it will stop him running off to find bitches in season (if he does that anyway) and it may reduce some forms of dog to dog aggression (but it doesn't sound like this is a problem you have). But that's it. Everything else is a training issue. But it's not cruel to neuter a dog, not at all. It's a relatively simply operation, your vet will provide painkillers, and your dog will recover quickly.
Sorry, I should have added - my boy used to be an absolute nightmare around other dogs, but we got through it with training. He isn't neutered. He isn't perfect either, but that's because of my training, not because he still has his boy bits.
Julie's said it perfectly. I would just add, since the classes seem to have been of little benefit to you, I think it might help to spend time in a one-on-one session with a positive trainer to help address your specific issues. That way, they can give you their undivided attention and talk you through how to best handle and train your boy to make him a pleasure to walk. If it makes you feel better, my Shadow, who is just over a year and has always been a delight, is going through a bit of a teenage stage and has started pulling on the lead, out of nowhere. It's really frustrating, but it's simply a case of going back a few stages in training and working through it again. If the methods in Total Recall haven't worked, I'd suggest it's because you've moved on through each stage too quickly; everything must be rock solid before upping the distractions. Good luck and let us know how you get on. It does take a lot of time, patience and energy - we've decided to spend our lives with one of the most exuberant breeds known to man - but if you're consistent and persistent, you will get there in the end. I hope your back is better now - that sounds painful!!!
I agree, if the unwanted behaviour is not sexually dimorphic then neutering is unlikely to effect a magic change. Even with some behaviours that ARE sexually dimorphic (these might be mounting and marking) once learned and engaged in the dog is likely to keep on doing them. You might find he calms down once neutered but it's sure no guarantee. You might still have to train anyway, most likely you will. Several people recommended my boy be neutered and he was going to be until I found the information on the detriments to neuter. He's not neutered. He is a high energy dog, as your boy might be too. We kept on training. We went through a spate of rebellion or forgetfullness or full of himself which is fairly common around 9 months old but my boy didn't hit it till 18 months old. This might be a stage you are at with a one year old. I do find it rather amazing the people who say neutering calmed their dog down when it might well have been that maturity was the more important factor. I do suggest puppy classes are not sufficient training. They are like kindergarten, just the beginning of training. I will always do competitive obedience from now on, which I was lucky to discover early when there was nothing else. In my experience the instructors were more knowledgable and demanded more of their students (that was us, the human component) than my friend who just did puppy classes at the big box store went through. This might be something to investigate. Good luck with your decision.
Hi there, it sounds like you have a normal lab to me. Behaviour like this is common and not really corrected by a puppy class. He is now a teenager and what you are describing is what many of us here on this board have experienced. Castrating will not help as you are describing general behaviour, not sexualised behaviour. What will help is maybe some one to one as already suggested and sticking at a good quality positive class. That way you can train around distractions. I only started to see progress when we went to class every week. We stuck at it for well over a year, it was hard at times but it was sooo worth all the struggles along the way.Good luck Emma and Meg
I believe in neutering dogs, but I honestly don't think it will help with your problem, well it may just a wee bit, but not a significant difference. He is a young Labrador, they are full of energy and very strong, mine pulled my shoulder out with his sudden lunging! It is patience and training which will make the most difference. I must admit I thought a Labrador would be so much easier after my German Pointerrs, but they are not! My second Labrador is so much easier because I was prepared after the first and spent a lot of time training. My first one broke his elbow at 16 weeks old and missed so much, having to be in a cage for a month, then a small room for a month, then five minutes a day lead walking etc etc. So he was very strong by the time I could give him heel work training. He is lovely now, so take heart.
Firstly, I must agree with Stacia, Labradors are not easy. In my ignorance I thought that as they were used as Guide Dogs they would be calm and dignified. However they can be very boisterious, they are athletic dogs with massive amounts of energy to burn off. It is worth saying that right now you have an adolescent dog. I despaired of Molly when she was a teenager. It is positively the WORST time for living with a Labrador. I had a couple of private one to one sessions with a trainer. I think it is better than classes because you can concentrate on YOUR problems. When it comes to neutering...... I have a bitch and it was an easy decision as there are several nasty health problems an entire bitch can encounter. I had Molly done at 7 months, it made not the slightest bit of difference to her boisterious full on nature.
Haha! You should see Guide Dogs out of harness - total loooopy juice! (I have a Guide Dog puppy doing the wall of death round the room as we speak!)
Thanks for the advice everyone, I have contacted some trainers for a one to one session so just waiting for them to get back to me and last nights walk went pretty well with a big bag full of chicken. Im going to have to have a big think about the whole neutering scenario. Cheers
PS.... just to add, my boy Pongo is now 20 months old. He has been completely, utterly deaf to recall and terrible with distractions for about 6 months, but I think (hope) that we are beginning to see signs of him moving out of that phase. Hang in there. (Although anyone who saw us at agility class last night will think I'm having hallucinations. Nightmare. Just nightmare. Love 'im!) Rosie
Coco is 17 months & very similar in behaviour - pulling to other dogs, and he's very strong - he has had me over several times, I am very bruised & cut. He was neutered 3 months ago - I don't know what he was like before. We took him to a class on Saturday, with 4 or 5 other dogs, and I can honestly say I can detect a SLIGHT improvement. Yesterday we ignored a dog not once, but twice - dogs off in the distance. I was acting the goat and having him sit/lie/look at me & he kept focus on me & the sausages. The next pair of dogs that came along proved too much of a distraction and he lunged and pulled, but hey, we had already managed two separate dogs. I would definitely consider restarting classes now he is a teenager.
Benson our (almost 2 years old..) chocolate labrador was a real challenge. Mainly running off to other dogs, if there was a bitch in season he was dreadful, not just meeting them, but quite stressed after too. His intense sniffing was also a pain. He didn't pull...BUT had a habit of zig-zaging to investigate interesting scents from other dogs who really really interested him. He wanted to know who, what where with every dog in the neighbourhood and took great pains to let them know what he was about at every opportunity. We spent hundreds of hours training Benson, walks were purely about training, and not the relaxing bimble that I somehow had thought would just "happen". We then took Benson to adolescent classes, they were brilliant and really designed to address behaviours pertinent to young dogs...self control, meet and greet, recall, etc.. . With all that we still struggled.I really, really didn't want to castrate Benson as was not convinced that hormones were responsible for his behaviours. So we tried a temporary approach, and in early May had Benson implanted with Suprelorin. We saw a significant improvement at around 6 weeks. The effects are just now starting to wear off slightly, now we are at almost 6 months, the effect lasts around 6 months. It suited Benson, and gave us a real before and after picture. Every dog though is different, we know Benson had really high testosterone. Saying that, if we had implanted Benson with Suprelorin, but not focussed on training he would still be a real nightmare!
