In the latest article from The Labrador Site, we answer a range of questions on dog castration. Giving you the pros and cons of castrating your Labrador, as well as letting you know what you can expect to happen afterwards if you decide to proceed. Should I Have My Labrador Castrated? Dog Castration Explained.
Zac is 13 months now and has recently been castrated and shows no adverse effects or change in character. It was important for me to have this done as I am on my own now and could possibly need help from dog walkers or kenneling in the future and most places round here will not take on entires.I would not want to breed him and there are so many bitches round here where he has free run on the forest I could not take the risk of him doing his own thing and taking off to seek a mate. The previous male dog I had lived a healthy castrated life to 16yrs and played actively with his 3 female mates to the end of his days. If your dog is good natured, manageable and healthy and you have no good reason I would leave him as nature made him.
I'm interested to hear people's opinions as my boy is now 5 months old and my vets (who otherwise have been brilliant) seemed surprised when I said no I was not planning to get him castrated at 6 mths old. I want to wait until he is about 18 mths/2 years old before doing so. I am standing firm with this, I have a beautiful natured boy and everything is where it should be so I see no need to change my mind.
I'm of the opinion that if it ain't broke don't fix it. If I need to castrate I will think about it. To be honest I've not really noticed a great difference between the behaviour of my old castrated male and my young entire male.
I'm the same. My boy is nearly two, hasn't been castrated and I don't see the need at all. If he had sexual behaviours that I couldn't control, then I would consider it - although I'd look into chemical castration in the first instance. If you need to use services, such as doggy day care etc, where they require dogs to be castrated, that's another consideration, but in the UK, where dogs are very rarely allowed these days to roam unsupervised, I don't see why you'd need to have it done simply as a matter of course.
Snowie is 4.5 years old and not castrated. We have no intentions of castrating him. He is a very friendly boy to people and animals and shows no aggression. Also, he has other medical issues (epilepsy, allergies, bulging disc) so I do not want to add another variable into the mix by castrating him. He is not submissive though. So if another dog shows aggression or wants to dominate him, he gets all stiff and walks around on tiptoes, hair up on his back, will not back away voluntarily. I don't know if this is because he's intact or he'd do this anyway. And I don't know if some dogs treat him this way because he's intact or whether they'd do it to him anyway. On some occasions he will make a throaty growl, which worries my husband no end, he thinks Snowie is showing aggression. I don't think so at all, he never instigates these situations and he has never tried to bite. I am not worried at all that he feels the need to make a noise (this throaty growl); it's his way of asserting himself in a situation that he finds very uncomfortable. Furthermore, he will come with me when I call him; he doesn't stay around to confront. There are some dogs that do mount him and he couldn't care less, does not respond to the mounting, keeps wagging his tail. One dog in particular sometimes rides him like a jockey much to the owner's dismay. We see them most evenings on our walks and the owner always apologises for his dog trying to mount every part of Snowie's body! That dog is boxer x staffie, same height as Snowie. There are also particular dogs that Snowie tries to mount, although he does not try to mount every dog he sees; in fact, he hardly ever tries to mount other dogs. If a female has a whiff of having been on heat (even if a few months before), Snowie is there in an instant! Then I need to leash him up because his natural instincts kick in. There are three dogs that Snowie specifically does not like, and these he does bark at when we see them. They're not nice dogs, they are known to be not nice to other dogs. I don't think his dislike of these particular dogs has anything to do with being intact. I do sometimes wonder if his confidence has anything to do with being intact -- he is a very confident dog. And I wonder if his chunky head and muscular build has anything to do with being intact. His brother, who was castrated at 10 months, is slighter than him with a smaller head.
Homer is four now and not done. To begin with I wanted to wait until he was at least a year old. I wanted to let him grow and give his bones and muscles develop, He has become a very fit strong dog. At about 6 months we had a locum vet go into graphic detail about how waiting until he was any older would make the operation more difficult. I wasn't convinced and fortunately when his new regular vet took over the practice she was happy to have him stay as he is. I had our agility trainer yell at me across the field in front of everyone "if that was my dog he'd be going to the vet this very afternoon!" I hadn't taken homer for his pre agility walk and he peed on some equipment. His dog sitter has looked after him since he was 4 months old. Between the ages of one and two she mentioned that he was sometimes overly interested in one of the female dogs, but she was happy for me to at least ride out his teenage boisterousness. Well, that and we pay her good money to look after him five days a week during term time. He once got the chance to have a good sniff of a girl on heat although he was easily distracted and found his ball more interesting. He has moments of over friendliness with both male and female dogs on our walks. He has occasional stand offs with other male dogs, hackles up and growling. Sentimentally, his bits are a part of him that make him what he is. Even more irrationally I can't have children and as long as he has his bits there's the chance of breeding from him, although I know this is quite unlikely and a "if one day dream" Make sure the choice is yours as either way he is your responsibility.
The consensus seems to be to wait till the dog is mature which is around 1.5 years, maybe 2 yrs. My vet says 1 yr. is good and would not do a lab any sooner. If you need to ever board I'd have him neutered. He'll be greatly restricted as to hanging with other dogs and might spend most of his time alone in a kennel. Not good IMO. Initially I said no never but now that he's 10 months the desire to mark every single tree, pole, shrub, and fire hydrant I'm inclined but will wait until Feb or Mar next year if we decide it's time to use the knife.
