Having read all Pippa's articles on the pros and cons of neutering I can see no benefit in neutering my dogs. As you may remember they have a problem with nervous aggression towards strangers. Iam 99% convinced this was caused by poor treatment at the vets over a period of 12 weeks starting when they were only 12/14 weeks old. I have since changed to a new vet as this was not a one off mistake. Over the last 4 years of me attending that vets they made a number of quite major mistakes with my old lab and Scott and scout. Don't get me wrong I think vets do a marvellous job and diagnosing an animal must be so difficult. These mistakes were caused either by inexperience or because of the amount of vets now employed there, you don't see the same vet twice and they don't seem to communicate. Yesterday we went to our new vet for vaccinations . He has been highly recommended and opened his practise about 5 years ago. My dogs put on an amazing performance. The poor things were terrified. He is very good with them, gentle, calm and patient and he just did the minimum as they hate strangers touching. When he'd finished he asked me if I'd considered neutering as it would help with their behaviour. It was obvious their behaviour was due to fear so either he doesn't believe neutering nervous dogs can make them worse or he doesn't know ! ! I was wondering if anybody knew if there was actual research into this? When you think about it it's obvious, taking the testosterone away will not help with nervousness and my old vet told me neutering wouldn't help. I was just wondering if I could find any proof to show him if he should mention it again
Re: Neutering nervous dogs I guess what you need is a Veterinary Paper on the subject Jen , and I havent got a clue where you would start I`m afraid, but I do agree entirely that neutering nervous dogs ( of either sex ) can make them far worse . I think you just have to go with your gut feelings on the subject and not get drawn into or pressurised into taking the wrong decision for you and yours
Re: Neutering nervous dogs I don't know if it'd make them worse but I'd be pretty sure that it wouldn't make them better. A learned pattern of behaviour is a pretty powerful thing that needs a behavioural solution.
Re: Neutering nervous dogs I do recall a study that had some evidence that the only behaviour that changed post neutering in males dogs (and far from in all cases) was marking and some types of aggression. I will try to find the reference this afternoon.
Re: Neutering nervous dogs Well, it's possible that your vet has a point about reactivity (rather than general nervousness). "Testosterone tends to promote greater reactivity in dogs. They trigger a little quicker to aversive stimuli and respond a bit more intensely and for slightly longer duration". But you should read the context of this, here: http://www.associationofanimalbehaviorprofessionals.com/effects_of_neutering.html And possibly trace back the several good references to the original research. The study that I referred to earlier was the general study by Hart and Eckstein (1997). It's not always possible to get pre 2000 studies for free online, but even reading the original abstracts (which are often available) is better than nothing, or second hand records.
Re: Neutering nervous dogs Thank you all and thank you very much Julie for finding me that info I will have a good read of it and see what else I can find. Thanks again Jen
