hi all my 6mth old jrt is getting to big for his boots as far as my 3 bitches are concerned,he is getting rather aggressive with them which they really dont like,he is always trying to mount any of them and things really are not getting any better with hime,like about 5 mins ago i tried to stop him fighting with all teeth bearing and he bit my foot in the process,so my question is if i was to get him done will this help his behaviour,when he isnt feeling randy he is such a layed back and gentle dog but its his age help please. many thanks

You don't say whether your bitches are speyed. If they are not, then it is a must, but over sexual behaviour can certainly be helped with neuturing.

I now there are different thoughts as to what age to have him neutured but in my opinion I would wait until he is 12 months and has had a chance to mature a bit, but before habits are installed. Have a word with your vet as regard the age as I have only had big dogs that are slower to mature.

Sandra

sorry none of my bitches are spayed 2 are only 4 mths & 5mths other is 19mths he is kept away while she was in season anyway,he is so randy its untrue, well mating his bedding,always trying it with the bitches,well mating almost everything,i spoke to my vet this am and he thinks having him done will help such a lot,jrts do mature quicker than larger breeds anyway,

Quite frankly if he is demonstrating this degree of unacceptable behaviour I would go for it; what have you got to lose?

well i guess i need to call the vet how much dose it normally cost for dog castration??

It depends on your area and the size of your dog, but around £80 - £100 seems to be about average.

cut 'em off friend. :)

if i could i would lol:)
merlin isnt gonna know what hit him poor puppy anyway called my vet he said its £140,

!!!!!!!! £140 for a 6 month old JRT??????? Blimey - does he use gold plated surgical tools?? It wasn't even that to have my 2 year old Springer bitch speyed!

yer i thought i sounded alot but if it needs to be done ill have to pay it:)

oh jerry jerry jerry...i'm worried about you... have you found your friends have stopped inviting you round to dinner incase you start waving round the dumplings and operating on the plums? you don't think you might be a little ...obsessive about the whole thing? :D lol

Bit worried what the poster is hoping for from this very expensive operation, apart that is from a hole in their bank account. True you will not need to worry about your own dog getting at your bitches and putting them in whelp.

But it won't always stop that 'desire' to get to them :(

Possibly the desire won't go for a while - it doesn't change behaviour overnight ( its taken a few months with Blaze for the learnt behaviour to subside). However we have seen a massive improvement in our ridgeback , and he can now be in the company of the ladies and not act like a pump action shot gun !! Plenty of people tell you they will grow out of it , but not all dogs sex drives are the same , and when you have one that is loved up to the nines , I think you do know best yourself, after all you have to be the one to live with the dog. We liek to walk in the countryside, and literally couldn't take Blaze anywhere as he only had one thing on his mind - it was ruining our bond with him . We paid £70 to have our ridgeback castrated, so I would urge you to try another vet if possible.
Nikki

well ive decided to wait until his about a year and if his sexual nature hasnt changed then we are going to get him done,many thanks for all your replies.

theres someone called friends to the animals if you send em £30 they pay the rest of the cost towards neutering the numbers 0121 420 4201

dose it matter where you live though?

Have you thought about Chemical Castration first to see what sort of results you get before actually having your boy castrated for real, just a thought and also try shopping around by that i mean ring a few vets to see what price differences there are which you are perfectly in your right to do. Example my Vet who is 2 minutes away 120 pound to castrate a small to med sized dog another vet who is 14 miles away £40 guess which vet i use for opps like castration and spaying ??????????.

Cass n Ollie

They are called FRIENDS OF THE ANIMALS and i dont think Helen Sinclair would appreciate you giving out the number on here.

You can contact her through the website.

HELEN.

Hello

Before you get him castrated why not have him jabbed with Tardak?

See if this works first before you get him done.

Tardak brings on the effect of "castration" without having him castrated.

HELEN.

mmmmm.

from my own experiences, beware! castration is certainly NOT all its cracked up to be. My own dog was castrated at 18 months old, he went from a happy boisterous dog, loved everyone, but used to go awol too often, to a nervous bully who picked on any dog deemed 'weaker' than himself, but did stop legging it.

BUT and this is a big big but, he can and has mated and tied with in season bitches!!!!!!!!!! Do NOT believe that by castrating you will remove that, the chances are you will, but it is not definate.

He MAY lose all interest, depending on how soon you have him done...the longer you leave it, the less likely he is to forget.
He MAY become laid back and lovely.
He MAY lose so much of his natural confidence that he becomes fearful and then agressive.
and, he MAY still be very interested in bitches and scent marking.

Its all a bit of a lottery.... my other boy i had done at 6 months before he had shown any interest in bitches, or mounting or cocking his leg. Whilst i dislike the fact that is has slowed, and possibly stopped him maturing, he is still as confident as he ever was and i have not noticed any behavioural change, just very little progression to a mature dog.

Em,

It is as you say a lottery. I have only done it once, at 13 months and the result was such a disaster I would never do it again. Having said that, may be I had a dog in a thousand, but I would still not take the risk. Sometimes owners have no choice, the poster on here has to do something if she has bitches and no kennels. You have to keep them apart when the bitch is in season, and a good way apart, else it drives the dog mad, a commercial kennel is sometimes the only answer.

hi all going to speak to vet about the injection,if this seems to work we are going to get him done,i understand it may not work but it will stop him getting one of my bitches pregnant which is what i dont want,i have had a male dog before who i had done and i didnt have any problems after but all dogs are different as are humans,so many thanks for all your advice.

Be careful with the injection too. I had my boy injected with Tardak to see how castration may affect him. While it was taking effect and wearing off he became really quite aggressive. It was like he had PMT. During that time he bit the puppy's ear hard enough to draw blood for no real reason (he's never done anything like that before or since) and he bit a much smaller dog very badly (he had to get stitched back up by the vet).

Prior to having the Tardak injection, my dog had never harmed another dog. He would scrap but never do any damage. He was once attacked by a staffie and after an initial roar, sat quite calmly with the staffie hanging from his face. He also did not react when he and the staff were ripped apart (the staff's owner couldn't get it to let go) even though he had several nasty wounds from it.

Tracey.

I'd agree about the TardaK.
We had a golden retriever puppy, Sonny - some of you may remember.
He had the injection at about 5 months old...he'd jump on everything in site, including my two sons!!
After that, he turned on my husbad, for no apparent reason, then my son who he bit quite badly. I'm not 100% sure it was related to the Tardak but I'll never let a vet use it on any dog I own now. Sonny was rehomed after that.

TTFN

I would be wary of cause and effect in this case; could just be coincidence. I had my first dog injected with this and no such behaviour was exhibited; neither has it to anyone I have known.

It is human nature to want to blame something or somebody else for any misfortune; this may well have happened irregardless of the injection; there are so many factors to consider when behaviour changes occur, especially at such a young age, that laying the blame at a particular door prove somewhat less than useful. It is a bit like choosing not to vaccinate any of your dogs/children because of a minority of bad reactions; each person has to make a risk assessment and decide what are the pros and cons of the options made.

Over the years my sister and I have used it a fair bit, mainly to help the dogs relax when there is a bitch in season about, and never had any problem with it. But it could be that a dog that has a tendency to be aggressive will be more so, when his maleness is cut back, that is what can sometimes happen when a dog is castrated before he is fully mature and has settled down to a confident and somewhat stayed life.

I suppose it is difficult to determine whether or not Tardak could affect male dogs in such a way that they would become aggressive. I only have my own experience to go on and with my dog, he became aggressive for a few days while the drug took effect and then again for a few days while it was wearing off. I may be wrong but I thought this would be when the hormones would have been most in flux. While the drug was fully in effect, he was his usual lovely self and even managed to make friends with 2 dogs who don't like other dogs especially great big dark coloured ones (my dog is a brindle bullmastiff).

My understanding of Tardak is that it's a large dose of female hormones. And if that is the case, it's effects will naturally be unpredictable.

Loads of women use the contraceptive pill (I use it myself) and have no problems whatsoever with their hormones being mucked around with. Others find that it makes them depressed or irritable. Equally, some women never suffer from PMT while others become extremely violent while they are suffering from it.

Just because lots of people use Tardak and don't notice it having any effect doesn't mean that everybody who uses it will see the same thing. Just as lots of people have male dogs castrated and never have a problem with it whereas others have it done and the dog has problems for the rest of its life.

I feel that any mucking around with hormonal systems has the possibility of causing problems. Sometimes all you can do is what you think is the right thing and cross your fingers that it doesn't go wrong.

Tracey.

jack, our now 8 mth old sprocker had the tardak injections as he was continusly mounting tess our lab, the tardak calmed him down and his urine didnt smell as strong, as the injection wore off he started to mount tess again. tess came into season a week ago and my boss (as prearranged) took jack, unfortunely, even though he had stayed before howled all night for the first night, as tess had to have her booster we booked jack in for castration the following day, its still to early to tell whether or not its worked but as he is still capable of 'doing the dirty deed' ;) we are keeping a close eye on him, but at least everyone gets a good nights sleep :)