My boy had the 6 month implant last April and I think it wore off about early January.  He had it as a trial for castration as he was fear aggressive with dogs and I was concerned it would make him worse (and it did).  Just wanted to reach out to anyone who has had the implant.  His reactive behaviour generally as just been getting better and better with positive training and the implant wearing off.  I think there may be a bitch in-season in the village, on 2 occasions we have been quite close to her and he has been desperate to get to her and she to him, normally he is more interested in the owner who has given him treats.  Owner on these 2 occasions has been swift to keep her away and my boy then sitting down howling and wailing.  He has desperately wanted to track her, at home he sits by the door most of the time.  He occasionally just howls for a minute and then stops.  Last night he was whimpering and wailing and I had to move his bed next to mine to sooth him. I am obviously trying to avoid the route she takes but my question is to anyone who has experience of the implant.  Did you experience any heightened behaviours post wear off, maybe my boy is just really hyper sensitive at the moment because he now has all of his testosterone back or maybe it is just normal entire male behaviour with an in-season bitch.  It's a bit new to me because all my previous males have been entire and I have never experienced this sort of behaviour in 30 years.
PS not posting to knock the owner with the possible in-season bitch or seek anyone's views on that, it is what it is.

The only experience I had with Suprelorin wasn't with my dog, it was someone else's and the dog ended up being put down because his behaviour worsened so much, and the effects didn't wear off.  At that point the owner found it wasn't reversible either, they tried to operate to remove it, and it turns into a gel like substance that can't be removed. 

As for in season bitches being out, I despair, it's just not fair on other dog owners.  I have six bitches, only one entire now, but when they're in season they are confined to quarters.

Sleeping_Lion

Was this reported to Virbac ?

Yes it was

> Did you experience any heightened behaviours post wear off, maybe my boy is just really hyper sensitive at the moment because he now has all of his testosterone back

Hi, each of my boys has had Suprelorin implant (not simultaneously and with no overlap), as with your experience the 6 months was more like 9 for it to wear off.  The elder lad just reverted to his normal behaviour: under the influence of the implant, he had lost his interest in in-season bitches, when it returned there was no exaggeration of his behaviour, it was back to normal. 

The younger one, on the other hand, seemed to have a resurgence of adolescence and became a complete horror for about a month or 6 weeks (pulling on the lead, determination to have his own way, very keen to sniff and mark where bitches (presumably in-season) had been. It was a case of owner alertness and training training training all the time, and then training a bit more and not letting him get away with any lack of obedience*. At the end of that month or six weeks he returned to his normal levels of behaviour.

*It wasn't harsh training, just insisting on the normal sits, downs, stands, stays, heels at random points on a walk, "leave it" for bitch-type scent.

> As for in season bitches being out, I despair, it's just not fair on other dog owners.  I have six bitches, only one entire now, but when they're in season they are confined to quarters.

A heartfelt "thank you" from an owner of entire males

Merrypaws, many thanks for your reply.   That is such a relief to hear.  I did wonder whether it was a resurgence of adolescence.  He is a nightmare at the moment, particularly the pulling.  Can't sit on the floor with him at the moment for the attempts to hump my arm which I think he only did a few times at about 6 months old.

It  seems to be 'open season'  in my local park in Eastbourne. I have two entire boys and have had to retreat from the park, where dogs are exercised off lead, on several occasions when they have picked up the scent of an in season bitch.The park is surrounded by busy roads and it is  a risk  for male dogs if they follow the girl/scent onto the road. I politely indicated to a young couple that their girl was in the middle of her heat season and that it was unwise to be exercising her where so many off lead male dogs were around . They denied that she was in season despite the 'flagging ' of rear when my boys approached her and the obviously swollen vulva. They seemed to think I was being indecent ! But this may have been a language issue. I've had girls in season and I understand how tough it can be but it is only 3 weeks or so  and the girl can cope with a bit of confinement. It is not just the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy but the fact that males will fight over the bitch.

Looking at my boy with his nose to the door, been like that for some time, he isn't sleeping at all through the day, the howling has gone to wailing I am starting to get a tad annoyed and not I should add with him.

Sleeping_Lion

What was the outcome did the owner seek compensation for the failure of the implant to dissipate correctly & causing the death of the dog ?

I'm always surprised that vets prescribe Suprelorin for an aggressive dog it was not developed to reduce aggression of course but to replace castration & also for non aggressive behavioural problems that are known in some cases to be hormone related prior to castration. True aggression is not hormone related

It wasn't prescribed for me I requested it as I was at my wits end with my boy's reactivity.  Vets prescribe castration, not the implant.  The vet said he had never seen a case where castration had caused more aggression.  He clearly was not well informed about fear aggression.  I have given him feedback.

My post wasn't aimed at you as reactivity & agression are not the same. You tried it as a reversible option to clinical castration & as you found it didn't work for your dog & therefore saved him having an elective invasive operation, reactivity unlike aggression can be hormone driven. Your vet must have had a very sheltered career. Insecure dog's become reactive(like barking & warning off other dogs)as it keeps what they perceive as threats away. Take away the testosterone & the dog becomes more insecure & hence the increase in reactivity

Glad to hear training is working for your boy.

I'm rather old fashioned re bitches in season, as I would never walk any of mine where I was likely to meet male dogs & mainly kept them home with added brain exercise.

Not that I know of, but just to correct you, the dog was not aggressive at all prior to the implant, it was used in the belief it would stop the dog from bitching, and it didn't work.  The implant didn't directly cause the death, as in it wasn't a toxic reaction, but the behaviour of the dog was altered.

Sleeping_Lion
Bitching isn't always hormone driven, if it was castrated dogs would not be interested in bitches, which certainly isn't the case. Not ancedotal, but factual castrated dogs can & do seek out in season bitches & successfully mate & tie with them.

The only way the implant can fail to work is if the dog stayed fertile throughout the period it was active. Your friend didn't have sperm counts done on his dog, I presume, nor testosterone level tests as the drug wasn't implanted to prevent sperm production , but as a behaviour modifier, which, as you will be aware isn't what it was developed for. I presume the vet involved did not suggest either test to check if the implant was faulty or not.

I during my working life, came across many dogs who character & temperament was permanently changed through neutering for the worse. These were both dogs & bitches.

Very sad that vets reach for the knife or drugs before considering behaviour modifying training & fail to offer owners the full range of behavioural options.

> As for in season bitches being out, I despair, it's just not fair on other dog owners.  I have six bitches, only one entire now, but when they're in season they are confined to quarters.

I TOTALLY agree with this.   Why do people with in-season bitches think they should still be out exercising them where other dogs might be?   If they feel they must, at least they might take them off to a quiet area.    Further, they are silly because when in season, a bitch is 'wide open' to any infection lurking around.   This was particularly relevant with my low to ground breed.   They only have to squat in the wrong place.   I'm convinced that confining mine to our property was a significant part of why we never had a Pyo.

As I said, not my dog, what I do know is one of the owners required reconstructive surgery to their hand, so it wasn’t a simple growl or quick bite, it was obviously a more prolonged attack.

I can’t really comment on how any training went, I wasn’t there, but for a dog to change character so drastically I would certainly think twice about using something like this.

He had a much better night, a much better walk and I've upped the training once again.  Also given him some valerian and skullcap that I had in.  Glad I shared the problem, been working so hard on his confidence in the last year with great results, giving him as much choice as I can, I just need to take the choices off him for hopefully a short time and remind him of what I want.  Poor thing, he is quite shattered by it all.

I live rurally, and there are loads of places I could take my girls out but there are still dog walkers out there, and the possibility of people who don't know the area coming to walk dogs, so I keep them in for about 2 1/2 weeks to 3 weeks.  I will never understand why this isn't possible, some owners say their bitch would be climbing the walls, so what would they do if their dog was injured and needed crate rest?

I've used it with no problems at all, other than the implant lasted a lot longer than I expected. You can tell it's worn off when the dogs testicles return to a normal size, the two boys I've used it on just returned to normal afterwards, no hormone spikes.

I think it's an invaluable trial for anyone considering neutering their dog. The two dogs I used it on it showed me that one couldn't cope without his testosterone and the other was much better with the implant, he has been used at stud 3 times and took to running after girls in the distance to check if they were possible girlfriends, he was neutered when the implant wore off and is completely reliable outside now. Interestingly shy boy who didn't do well with the implant had to be castrated afterall at age 8 as he got testicular cancer, he's fine now, really confident and happy so obviously age and maturity has helped him

That is interesting thanks, I hope we can get to very mature before I had to castrate for any medical reason, he needs his testosterone.

https://www.labradorforums.co.uk/25-health-issues/78086-suprelorin-chem-castration-experiences-update-p7.html

This is the dog I have posted about

I thought so, but it looked as though you may not have been entirely believed so I thought I'd post the link.

Hi,
I used it for years on one of my boys there was always a surge of hormones in tbe 1st month of giving it and after i saw good results i gave him the 12 month one. He was much more relaxed on it, he was shown as well.
I can't say that he was worse when coming off it for the last time because my bitch wasn't in season then and didn't notice anything untoward. I did eventually castrate him when he was older as stopped showing him and had 2 bitches in the house with seasons.

Hi,

I saw that some of those posting here had problems with a testosterone surge after the implant wore off. My dog is going nuts and was never like this before the implant - so much overt sexual behavior, whining and howling and running off when off lead. Can anyone tell me if they had anything similar how long it lasted. It's been weeks already and I am worried it won't calm down.

Thanks so much in advance!

My boy was acting up because there was an in-season bitch being walked in our village and she apparently was at the end of the season. This coincided with when the implant was wearing off.  It lasted about 2 weeks from the obsessive sniffing to howling and wailing.  The same dog has had another season 6 months later and my dog came across her during her season.  This time it was much less of a reaction but still affected his behaviour for a couple of weeks.  It is possible you are dealing with more than one in-season bitch.