Should I have my Labrador neutered: the evidence

Discussion in 'Labrador Behavior' started by pippa@labforumHQ, Jun 8, 2015.

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  1. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    This is just really rude behaviour on the part of other people and I would frankly be yelling at them to get their dog away and to have control over their dog, if they are unable to recall the dog.

    I would also choose a different direction as soon as I saw another dog coming, and make it very clear - by standing between my dog and the other - that I did not want them to meet. I wouldn't allow people to continue to do this, or they will see nothing wrong with it and nothing will get any better.... If it is socially difficult (due to human responses!) for dogs to run up to other dogs, hopefully it will occur less often.

    And for your dog, it's impossible to say what the cause is, but the more he experiences this behaviour from other dogs, the greater the risk of him developing issues with other dogs himself.
     
  2. Liz Scambler

    Liz Scambler Registered Users

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    I'm so grateful for this article, I read it before my puppy arrived, during his first 12 months and now again when he's 2 and a half years!! He's a working bred golden retreiver, 38kg and hasn't got an aggressive hair on his head (or body!). I know his breeder who owns his mum and sister and I'm in contact with the owners of the rest of the litter. His 2 brothers are both neutered, because vets have said it reduces the risk of prostate cancer, I have been unable to find evidence of this and wonder if the vets are just taught this?
    Recently my dog ran away with a bitch in season for 15 hours, but it was my fault. I've taught him to stay on the farmyard if he's outside without me, up until this moment he'd been 100%. But I hadn't realised that a bitch in season would 'come calling' and the temptation was obviously too great.
    I'm now under pressure from well meaning friends and family to have him castrated but I feel that it's up to me to have better knowledge and control of where he is at all times. If removing his testosterone changed his character I'd be devastated, at the moment he digs holes, rolls in the heather, chews on the gorse....he's just a dog being a dog. I used Total Recall to train him and he's 99.9% proofed (apart from nice smelling bitches!) I just wondered if anyone has experience of prostrate cancer in their dogs?
     
  3. DanielS

    DanielS Registered Users

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    We’re getting Max, our 15 month old chocolate boy, snipped on Tuesday. We didn’t really want to, as the yard is secure, and he has v few marking or territorial behaviours, but being the target of aggression from other dogs is becoming worrying. I live in Canada where there is still an strong expectation to have your dog neutered. In fact I think it is a city bylaw where I live, and joining any sort of daycare, training, agility etc. is impossible if you’re intact. So everyone is done, usually at 2-3 months, so they have no idea what an intact dog smells like and react fearfully.

    Max is such a sociable guy that he just doesn’t get why they don’t like him, so we’re having him done late so that he can have friends again. His growth plates are well fused, and he’s well developed so hopefully he got most of the benefits of his balls .... Kinda sad but how it is.

    It would be interesting to see studies on early vs late vs no castration and cancer risk but I suspect that would be hard to do ...
     
  4. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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  5. Simbabear

    Simbabear Registered Users

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    I'm quite intrested in this, I had read another post about reacting to neutering- Simba is going to be on the larger size of labs(vets has said) and I've had the 'hes going to be strong and huge, you better get him snipped'
    I've never been keen and had wanted a girl but this little pup chose us so I've had practically everybody telling me I need to get him done, he's going to be a nightmare-ill he gets a sniff he wont stop until he's sniffed it out, I've heard dogs smash through glass to get to the bitch(none have dogs either) .
    I have read alot on here and im still not keen to get him neutered, i would poss like to use him as a stud as his dad is from a good line of labs and see how he is and deal with it appropriately if needed if anything becomes a problem- now it's just seeing if these behaviours are linked and intresting to hear as you end up getting a good idea of things and that others have these odd behaviours
     
  6. shirley critchley

    shirley critchley Registered Users

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    I've got an old in tact male.
    He has an enormous testicle!
    The vet said it's not doing him any harm but he's been keeping an eye on the size of it.
    He's too old now to be thinking of it he's 14 but I think if I had another male he'd be going got the chop.
     
  7. DebsLab

    DebsLab Registered Users

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    We never had our dogs neutered (I had 2,my husband 3) but I realize it's not common in US. My daughter's fiance from UK said he never saw anyone do it there and they had quite a few dogs. Don't know stats but wondered if it is more here.
    I did have to get my last lab neutered at 11 because he testicle was larger on one side but it ended up being a benign tumor. I also had pretty calm dogs and the last was so gentle, if neutered early, I wondered how he'd be! I have a new 9 wk old and I'll see what our new vet says. I know they aren't welcome in certain venues without being neutered. We have a fenced in yard and always walk on leash, but I realize every dog is different.
     
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