My Schnauzer is 8 months old and I'm debating on neutering or not. What are the advantages and disadvantages to neutering? He is not showing signs sexual behavior (no humping) and is not aggressive.

Will neutering keep him from starting these behaviors? He is not around other dogs, so I am not worried about him mating.

If he does start showing signs of sexual behavior and aggressiveness, would it then be to late to neuter and would that even help the problem?

Should I bother getting him neutered?

Most dogs go through a teenage stage and then mature into steady adults. IMO castration should only be undertaken for health reasons, but then I have had a very bad experience of a dog who was castrated at a young age (13 months). When you bought a male you knew that he would go through adolescence and may be difficult for a while, as it happens it would seem you particular dog is not going to be much of a problem and give it another 4 months and he should be well on the way to behaving as he will as an adult, larger breeds take a good deal longer.

EDIT to say, castration is not the answer to everything, it may stop unwanted behaviour and/or aggression but it may not and in some cases it can make matters worse, leave the dog as nature designed and you will get the very best from him, castrate and you will not know what you are missing.

If there isn't a problem the I wouldn't bother neutering him. I have two entire males, now 4 years old (but not your breed) and they have never humped arms or legs or furniture. There's no guarantee that your boy will either. They don't run off after bitches, either (even when the bitch next door is in season).

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
:)

Castration is not a solution to bad behaviour - especially to behaviours which do not even exist in a pup. :-) If your dog should become aggressive to other male dogs, for example, the solution is to correct the behaviour as soon as it appears - castration will not do it for you. Dog aggression is not just a male dog thing either, as some people seem to assume.

In terms of sexual behaviour, I am not sure what you mean. However, even neutered or spayed dogs have their moments. My spayed Cairn will occassionally decide that a small sofa cushion is an object of desire. A spayed Yorkie that I used to have would sometimes decide that my leg was mighty attractive. Neutering does not necessarily extinguish what we interpret as sexual behaviour. And neutered dogs may still be attracted to bitches in season as well.

If your dog is not allowed to wander, then I do not see the reason for castration.

Stacey

Hi, I agree with Jeangenie. My mini is 11 months old now and has never shown any behaviour that I would want correcting by castration. I wouldn't want to change his personality at all so I am firmly in the don't do it unless there is a damn good reason camp.

Why mend something that aint broke?

My vet Told me all non Breeding males should be castrated as it helps to reduce the risk of Testi cancer, so my boys have all been done ....

Bet he is laughing all the way to the bank. Wonder if he and his sons are 'done' too, should be.

It seems to be part and parcel of vets training now to tell everyone their dogs should be castrated/speyed.

Certainly does, Fillis. The only only benefit of castrating a dog who hasn't any problems is to the vet's bank balance!

sorry - i'm not sure that thats exactly correct....
Neutering an animal isn't something vets do for fun/money/boredom. At least the majority of vets.
a general anesthetic always carries a risk and the majority of vets don't generally undertake risking an animal's life purely for the benefit of their bank balance.
Leaving any animal un-neutered predisposes them to a whole host of problems in later life....
MALES -
it helps stop aggressive behaviour, help to stop hypersexuality helps to stop roaming
but primarily and most importantly to stop unwanted puppies and to prevent prostatic disease and testicular tumours.
Have you ever seen a dog doubled over in pain and crying when he wees because of an enlarged prostate. Imagine if it was your dog and you could have prevented it. Same goes for testicular and prostate Cancer.

FEMALES
PREVENTS unwanted puppies, prevent the nuisance of male dogs, prevents womb infections in later life(pyometra), DECREASES incidence of mammary tumours and prevent phantom pregnancies.

there aren't really any arguments against it in my humble opinion - that is if you don't want to breed.......

I have 2 females, I spayed both at 6 months and my next puppy, hopefully arriving in 3 weeks will be castrated as soon as he can be.

Hmm. Some sweeping statements there.

Castration in the wrong circumstances has been found to exacerbate nervous aggression, and can cause a male to become 'attractive' to other males, causing him and his owner great distress.

Many respected vets (conventional and 'alternative'/holistic) and behaviourists are starting to question the convention of "whip it out in case" and consider that the reproductive hormonal system is a vital integral part of the animal, and not an 'optional extra'.

The most sensible rule is 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
:)

Agree JG, and I speak from experience of owning both. And I can tell you the castrated dog had far more problems than any of my intact ones have. Recent research has shown there is a slight increased chance of prostrate problems in the castrated dog, it may or may not be correct but I am against chopping of bits of your dogs just in case.

That may well be - but if you look at the evidence around for each of those problems-the problems encountered after castrating are rare compared to problems encountered by not.
Far more dogs die each year from prostate and testicular cancer or mammary tumours than dogs that suffer from the problems of neutering. Behaviour problems, in the right hands are often controllable. Tumours are not.
"If its not broke don't fix it"- does that apply to vaccination - if your puppy's not got distemper/parvo why vaccinate?? Just because your dog doesn't have testicular cancer doesn't mean you shouldn't do everything you can do to prevent him getting it. Behavioural benefits of neutering are insignificant i think, compared to the real health benefits .....

Have to say prostrate cancer is extremly rare in the dog. But it has been found to be more likely in the castrated dog than in the intact.

EDIT to say mammary tumours occur in dogs that have been neutered, it may reduce the chance but it does not stop it, to tell people it does is not a good idea as they may stop checking.

I guess it can be likened to the risk of a human getting appendicitis - fatal if not treated promptly. Yet no surgeon would perform an appendectomy as a preventative measure!

I know very few castrated dogs, but I have only known one dog develop testicular cancer. He was six years old. He was of course castrated, and died of old age at 14. Caught early, it's not necessarily that big a deal.

Personal choice I suppose!
:)

I have only had one dog castrated (at the age of 2), as a remedy for his houdini-like escapes after bitches in heat. He was black and a severe risk to road users at night (which is when he always seemed to manage to escape). He also worried himself to a shadow because of bitches and there was always one in season somewhere. Castration cured these problems but they were replaced with other problems :( He became very allergic and suffered awful itchy eczema and hayfever for the rest of his life, other dogs tried to treat him like a bitch (but he would put them straight on that!) Personally I wouldn't castrate a male unless it was absolutely necessary and not before he was mature.

In my opinion, the only reason an animal should be neutered is to prevent unwanted litters. All the other benefits have been hyped up to a ridiculous degree in an effort to help owners justify why they would put a bitch through major surgery and dog through surgery. None of the possible negative consequences of these surgeries are ever discussed by the vet community, rescue agencies, etc.

I am not against neutering, in fact I just had my bitch spayed, however it angers me that the "education" about neutering is one-sided. Owners should be able to make an educated decision about neutering and it is nearly impossible for them to do so.

Stacey

Which is where we come in! To try to put both sides of the story, to enable people to make an informed choice.
:)

My older boy, now almost 13, was not neutered as a young dog. He had no behavioural problems, and he didn't wander, so we saw no need to neauter him.
At the age of 7 he developed an enlarged prostate. It caused him major pain, and he was incontinent. My vet told me that castration was the best way to treat it, and if we chose against that, there was a good chance that it would turn cancerous. We had him neutereed then. It was such a big surgery for a dog his age, we made the decision that any future dogs would be neutered young. Our little Rover, now 15 months, was neutered at 9 months, and has had no ill effects. I also have a 6 year old female, who was spayed at 6 months old, and she is fine.
I could not imagine having housepets that had to be separated for 3 weeks twice a year.
Pauline

My 17 month old cocker was neutered at 6 months and it was the worst thing I've ever done :-( He's never cocked his leg. He's VERY attractive to other dogs, so much so that it's actually starting to affect his confidence. Luckily he had bags of confidence to begin with but I can see a difference in him. He's also developed a severe food allergy although that could be a coincedence, I'm not sure. My oldest cocker was neutered at about 2 years old on the vets advice that it would "definitely" cure his aggression....didn't make the slightest bit of difference. My youngest has just recently turned 1 and he will be staying as nature intended thank you very much ;-)

I wish I had a pound for every dog I've seen who has been castrated to solve behavioural problems - only to find it hasn't made the slightest difference. Like so many other things, people are looking for a quick fix instead of hard work.
I'm not against neutering of either sex for veterinary reasons or to prevent breeding (I've had 2 dogs castrated,one was done because he was Jack Flash where bitches were concerned & the other at 10 due to an enlarged prostate - he recovered in about 3 days) but I like my dogs to have the chance to grow up and live as what they are - dogs. They are not the monstrous sex-driven, leg cocking fighting mad animals that some people make them out to be. My bitches are not the moody, unpredicable, phantom ridden little wimps that it appears they should be either.
There seems to be this image growing up that uncastrated males are like uncastrated wild stallions - mad, bad & dangerous to know!!! In most breeds dogs are harder to train than bitches, they do require a firmer hand. But the rewards for having a well trained male are even better for the extra effort that's required.
JMNVHO :D

But people don't want to do anything that requires effort Anwen! :rolleyes: Instant gratification,or they C.B.A.

Sad, but true JG :(