Should I have my Labrador neutered: the evidence

Today's article is aimed at helping those trying to decide whether or not to neuter their puppy or young Labrador. It looks at the reasons people neuter their dogs, and whether or not neutering is likely to help them achieve their aims.

Should `I have my Labrador neutered?

 

Very interesting read. Bob is 1yo and still entire and he is the most placid dog I've ever met.. I do worry that neutering may have an adverse effect on his behaviour. I do think 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' But then what if we need someone to look after him at some point.. .maybe we will have problems. But having read the article, I'm tempted to stick with keeping him entire for the moment. If things change in the future, then maybe we might have to revisit it. But it seems a shame to change him, he's a lovely boy

 

our youngest choc lab is now 2 1/2, and we had him neutered at eleven months, i wanted to wait longer till he had fully grown
physically, but he was so boistrous and so pushy with our other lab, that we decided to have him neutered, hoping he would
quiet down a little bit, and also so he would stop humping every dog he met, BUT it didn't change anything, he just kept on
doing what he did, and only time settled him down somewhat, but he is a reg field lab, with a deep pedigree of the same, and
i have now learned that he does what he does thru genetics, and time and training and patience from us, and lots of love, and
a good routine and consistency without spoiling is going to be the key, and hoping he continues to slightly mellow with each
year in his life.

 

I'm so grateful t this forum for bringing to my attention the option of chemical castration - and the experiences of people who have gone down that route.
I don't feel it would be beneficial to have Shadow neutered, but if I ever thought that it might be helpful for sexual behaviour reasons, I'd certainly go down the chemical castration route first, to see what difference it made. "Try before you buy", if you will! There's no going back from having bits chopped off!

 

Yes, it seems like a really great option to 'trial' the effects of desexing on behaviour, without doing anything permanent.

 

Luka is 2.5 years old and a strong muscular 43Kg. I have kept him intact as I feel he will be what he will be regardless. He is not aggressive at all, yes very strong and we went through a long period of extreme leash pulling but he stopped jumping up and obeys commands well. I have noticed a change in him in the past month where he is calmer and now walking so much better on the lead. Best yet is that off lead he is finally now checking to see where I am and when he gets a bit far away he decides to come for a run back or run by but is checking in! Such a pleasure as I wasn't sure this would ever happen with him. I think that maybe he has taken longer to mature but I am happy with that and did not feel neutering him would chill him out. He is still goofy and full of character and will remain intact all his natural life!

 

I wish I had not neutred my older male I regret it for many reasons. I felt it was the right thing to do at the time. I older wiser and a lot more experienced so have not with my young male and not regreted it at all. At just over 2 he's becoming a really lovely well balance happy dog.

 

In a few weeks time Boris will be 12 months old. A common question asked by other dog owners I am is has been 'done' and when I say no they all tell me all the reasons why I should, a few who have had their dogs neutered don't recommend it. Most of the comments above seem to counter all the reasons for having a dog neutered. Have any members had their dogs wonder off because of bitches on heat ? One reason given for getting Boris neutered, it would avoid any paternity action !

 

Male entire dogs wandering off after bitches in heat seems very variable, and the risks no doubt depend on your dog and where you live.

I have almost no trouble with my dog and bitches in heat at all. He was once very put out in the street (I thought he was nervous) and when I showed a video of this to others, they thought he was smelling (air scenting) a bitch in heat. But it's difficult to know, because he'd just come out of hospital after an operation, and was a bit funny for quite a while.

Apart from that, if he is very close to a bitch in season, I need to get hold of my dog and put him on a lead but I've never had any trouble doing that. He has never run away from me - he does zoom off time to time, but this isn't anything to do with bitches in season, and he always comes back when I call.

I live in one of the world's busiest dog walking areas, I think....

 

My Shadow is only young (18 months) and has twice met bitches in season, which he had absolutely no reaction to, other than having a bit of a run around with the second one when she was flirting with him like a shameless hussy. He just wanted to play, though, it didn't appear to cross his mind that there was anything else on the agenda

I've heard of it affecting some dogs really badly, and in that situation, if we had to deal regularly with bitches in season and it caused distress to my dog, then I would consider neutering. Until that happens, I don't feel the need.

 

Pongo is now just over two years old and entire. We decided not to neuter him unless we really needed to, and there has never been a need. He just once wandered off on his own - disappeared from our garden, I am sure on the scent of a bitch. After 2 very fraught hours trying to find him, he made his own way back. I think he scared himself a bit, because he has never shown any inclination to do it again - it seems to have been a one-off (hope I'm not tempting fate here).

He is a completely gentle, calm labrador and has absolutely no behaviours that would suggest neutering is necessary.

Our local doggy daycare has a policy of requiring dogs to be neutered at one year old.... BUT we asked Pongo's breeder to give us a letter saying that he has old and valuable bloodlines and that she would like to have the option of breeding from him in future. The letter was sufficient to satisfy the day care's insurance providers, and Pongo still attends regularly.

 

a friends dog would go off his food if he smelt a BIS Rory has met 2 so far this year one was shameless beautiful and putting it about but he came when called and the 2nd he came back straight away one called. The problem i have is having to explain how unkind and thoughtless it is to owners who bring out there flirty females into a large park off lead when there are male dogs about. Some girls get frightened run off or get into all sorts of trouble. I've had to explain to one dog own with a very young harrasesd and fright female what being in season ment and what to do and what entire ment to the man whos bitch was entertaining Rory with her beautful self. she glowed with beauty strength and vigor and was interested in Rory very interested. The only time Doug every ran off and got lost in his entire 14 years was when he smelt a lovely lady he's neutered.

worringly entire male dogs have been stolen around here we suspect for puppy farming so that a bit of a worry.

there is also a theory that endocine inbalance can be a contributing factor in Douglas's Lupus

 

I went training last week with my two team mates and their dogs. One is an intact male golden retriever, the other a female flat coat - and she was in heat. It was day 5 of her season, and of course Yoda (the golden) sniffed her and wanted to play, but as soon as we got the dummies out and started training in earnest he was completely concentrated on that. This week we will not be training with Tessa (the flat coat) as she will be at the height of her season and receptive. I think you just have to be sensible and know your dog.

 

I discovered Superlorin when my Vet was urging neuter before 6 months. Unfortunately I also discovered it was not available in Canada and now, 8 years later, I think it still isn't.

Then, on the Champdogs forum, I found the Sanborn article and then on my own the Kustritz paper. I printed them out, took them to my Vet to discuss and she completely flip flopped and said we could wait till 18 months. Still waiting.

Yes, it is different with girls. Oban has been no trouble. There was a breeding kennel of GR around the corner and upwind of us. I'm sure "eau de girl in heat" came wafting over our yard with the breezes and there was no mad attempt on his part to get out to them. As far as I can see neither did the intact GR boys next door or across the street.

 

I don't believe this. Two hours after I posted this, Pongo went AWOL. I'm going to start a new thread...

 

My 3 months old puppy does those moves, when he is with his favourite rug! Is it natural? And if I try removing the rug, he growls! Its kind of scarry but I just want to know whether, at this age he get those sexual instincts. He is only 90 days old now!

 

No, it's not sexual at that age. It can be habit forming, though, so if you don't want him to do it, you need to distract him. That will be better than trying to take the rug from him - try luring him off with a treat or a toy and involving him in a game or a little training session.

 

We have a 2yr old chocolate lab, great personality, his wandering has decreased, He wears a gps because we live on 10 acres, he does not come in contact very often with other dogs because of where we live but I would like him to be able to be more social but because we have not neutered him, daycares do not want him. We have just made an appointment to have him neutered, but we are having second thoughts, we wouldn’t change a thing about him, socializing is the main reason, what do you think?

 

I would not neuter my dog just because society or daycares or [insert anything] told me to - it would have to be because I thought it was medically or behaviourally best for that individual dog.

 

Our lab is almost 7 months old and is an outgoing and very friendly lad. Unfortunately though, aside from other labs and the odd retriever or collie, most dogs really do not seem to like him! We are working on recall and impulse control at the moment so tend to mind our own business whilst out on a walk in order to focus on training, however often other neutered dogs will approach Floyd and then proceed to tell him off (which I appreciate can be a good learning point for enthusiastic pups) or snap at him. Unfortunately despite using an ‘in training’ collar and a lead or long line, more often than not people continue to let their off lead dogs approach. I just wondered if the behaviour displayed by the majority of neutered dogs we meet had anything to do with our pup being intact or if it’s just a general intolerance that older dogs have towards youngsters?