my friend has just homed a  6 month old GSD male. he is quite scared and nervous. his last home had resued him from a bad home and had done work with him to quite a lot of success. but he look sliek he has reverted a bit becasue of the new home. my friends husband says that he should now be castrated becasue he will start marking and could get hard to control if around in season bitches.

however we always thought that castrating a young dog who is not very sure of him self can make them even more less sure of them selfs.

who is right?

In my expereince you are.  I have seen nervous or very submissive dogs that have been castrated the victims of of other makle dogs sexual advances and this the makes them even more timid.  so much so that the owners can't take them anywhere loose dogs are likely to be.

I think that, even if this were a "normal" GSD, 6 months is way too early to be considering castration.  A lot of breeders and owners believe that a dog should be fully physically and mentally mature before it is castrated, because the dog needs the hormones manufactured in the testes in order to develop into a happy and well-adjusted adult and I tend to agree with that.

Since your dog is also timid, I agree that is an additional reason not to castrate.  Wait until he is at least 18 mnths and then reconsider.

Dogs do mark, but you won't stop this necessarily if you castrate him.  I know of many castrated males who still mark.  And also many who are still distracted by in season bitches.  (But in season bitches shouldn't be part of your daily life anyway, because their owners should be exercising them away from other dogs!)

For what is worth i rescued a gsd, he would have been 2-4 yrs old. he was found wandering in the field next to my house so no one knew anything about him. To say he was scared of his own shadow was an understatement. I was the only one who could get near him for months. He was very wary of OH and my kids.But after a couple of years of letting him go at his own pace, he accepted the fact that no one was going to hurt him and even welcomed other people into our home. He was an intact male and never once in all the years i had him did he ever mark inside the house. :)

I think your friend is being a bit unfair and a bit hasty to castrate this pup.  He has had a terrible start in life and has only now found stability.  To castrate him at such a tender age when he is clearly still uncertain about life in my view would be asking for trouble.  Why not wait and see what he is like as he gets older.  Training and plenty of TLC will help sort out any problems.

Annie

thankyou for the advice. i will tell her your responses as a back up.

Hi,

I have 2 entire males ,3 entire females,One of the males i've used at stud once.They have never marked in the house ,not out of control,or go looking for bitches in season and generally were excellent when my girls come into season.They lived together quite happily.

So not all dogs develop unwanted habits or roam and certainly* *do NOT mark in the house**
Now they are Golden Retrievers and generally this breed the males are generally *perfect gentlemen*
I definately  tell my puppy owners not to consider castration at all unless its absoluely has to be done and only then around 2 yrs or older.

All dogs go through a *teenage stage started from  earliest 6 months  and 1st thing vets say get him castrated they make loads of money and in alot
of cases not all its totally unnecessary ,just more education and training is required at this stage for dog and owners.

Now don't get me wrong some dogs and circumstances castration has its place ,but its another gripe of mind that vets and owners don't let their dogs mature properly and with right kind of education and training especially thtough teen age stage most unwanted habits just don't happen.

Just my thoughts,

Briony :-)

Castrating nervous dogs often makes them a damn sight worse, it demolishes their confidence.
Dawn.