My dog is just 6 months, I took him to the vet for a health check (she said he was ideal :-)) BUT she strongly reccomends I get him neutred for prevention of future testee related illness and to prevent him running off in search of a mate, now I did read a thread on here which said really the only reason to have him done was sexuall agression, to date he has shown zero signs of aggresion to anything, apart from this week he has just started raising his hackles and barking when he hears people outside the garden and does the same when we are camping, Im asuming he is guarding the area but if someone enters the garden he is straight on his back submissive again!!! strange behaviour! Im not sure but am hoping this is normal and is not signs of aggresion starting????  the other night we were having a BBQ on the beach and he was barking at anyone who walked to near to the area we were sat, I hope this is not a sign he may be agressive, I dont feel it is but he is my first so I dont really know.

However I do not intend on breeding him so what do I do?  I told her I saw no reason to do it and until I did I didnt want it done but reading up online tonight and her advice there seems to be more for tha against.

Is there a chance he will become agressive to other dogs if I dont have it done? 

dog aggression is not really much to do with that, if you were thinking of it leave it till he's mature but make it for reasons of health rather than potential aggression.

the barking etc sounds just like he's hitting his 'kevins', the teen years where he starts to feel the need to become a guardian. if he starts call him away, we say thanks to ours as they are doing it from love, then get him to settle. they soon realise they don't need to guard, thats your job, but will probably give a bark and perk up if they hear something (e.g. door) which is actually very useful to you, tend not to miss deliverys :)

i will say that you might find you have to re-affirm a lot of training during the kevins (depending on dog of course), as you'll know, teenagers like to rebel!

There is a chance he will become aggressive to other dogs with or without his testis if he is not socialized but if he is there in no reason to expect him to be particularly aggressive although his breed (what ever it is) may have some bearing on it. Most dogs are protective of their owners and the owners possessions and you need to train him that if you say its ok he stops and relaxes.

Thanks Astarte,

There just doesnt seem enough to justify having him done for health to me.

Yes I have noticed him change this week, I think hes hit the Kevins!!! argh!!!  twice today hes picked up poo and ate it, wouldnt drop on command and ran off with it, the seccond time knowing how cross I got on the mornings walk when he did it! hes never done that before and this guarding thing!  his recall has improved when we see other dogs though-prob just a fluke!!!  :-)

how do I do that? just go over to him and tell him in a calm voice its ok?  If I stroke him he may think Im praising him for it?

I have always made lots of effort to socialise him so I think he should be ok to keep them :-)

i considered it for my boy who is dog aggressive but decided the benifits (which are not proven) do not outweigh the risks. once i've had time to work on it and if it doesn't improve i might reconsider but its a big decision to jump to.

kevins are really not fun, they are far worse than the puppy chewing, toilet training and what not. in fact i have known these to both come back during them. its all the bad puppy behaviour in a big dog, nightmare. have patience and remember that they will be over relatively soon!

we call them, not moving to the problem if we don;t have to, when they come over we gve them a stroke and tell them thank you, then calm down and get them to sit by us. to be honest though we've always had a big dog as an example for them. when tio started and was a bit over enthused kizzy would give him a "what are you like" look and he'd shamefacedly sit down.

I didnt want to have it done but you have to think about these things properly and get advice of different people to help you make what you feel is the right decision, Im glad that it would appear I dont have a reason to have it done.

My OH has a dog aggresive dog, hes a rescue dog, hes been done and is still very dog aggresive!!!  He comes and stays here when OH stays over, it was very difficult at first and took me alot of effort but he is fine with the pup now, I wouldnt leave them alone together but its worked out better than I ever expected.

I noticed when I got up and walked towards him to get him he went nearer to the passers by but if I call him back he comes back.

> to date he has shown zero signs of aggresion to anything, apart from this week he has just started raising his hackles and barking when he hears people outside the garden and does the same when we are camping, Im asuming he is guarding the area

Getting him castrated wont stop this.
We had our rescue dog castrated as he used to try & escape whenever there was a bitch on heat. The castration stopped him looking for bitches but it didn't stop him barking at passers by (when he was in the garden). We stopped him barking/lunging at the fence by telling him 'no' or bringing him inside if he ignored that, but he was 4 or 5 years old, so the habit was firmly ingrained and he would not come when called, it took a lot of work to get on top of. You'll find it much easier with your boy as he's so young and only just starting the behaviour.

>she strongly reccomends I get him neutred for prevention of future testee related illness and to prevent him running off in search of a mate

Not all entire males will look for a mate. I've had an entire male that lived to 13 years, he never once tried to go on a mate-hunting mission :)

Regular checking of testicles will mean you spot any changes within days of them being visible, do this as part of grooming every day or every other day. Testicular cancer sounds very frightening but its the LEAST likely to spread, its very easily cured by castration, very few dogs die of it at all so i really dont think its a valid reason to lop off balls (any more than i think a rottie bashing a tail is a valid reason to lop that off)..

Running off is a recall training issue, not a testicles issue.

Aggression is usually a fear related problem, generally not a testicles related problem.

There are two things neutering a boy will guarantee, only TWO things. 1/ He cannot reproduce. 2/He cannot injure his testicles or get cancer of the testicles because he hasnt got any.

Anything ELSE... is a maybe, not a guarantee.

> Running off is a recall training issue, not a testicles issue.

Aaah, but if he has testicles you can grab hold of them to stop him running off ;) lol ;)

Running off is a recall training issue, not a testicles issue

Rather depends I think on whether bitches in season are being brought into the exercise area :)

Thanks for your replies :-)  Its always good when you hear what you want to hear!  I will make his recall as good as I poss can, I have just started to use a whistle at meal times just to use as a back up plan, Im going to attatch the whistle to  his lead when he recognises the link to food and whistle which he hasnt yet.  I will check for any lumps whilst grooming so can not see any valid reason to have him done :-) phew!

OHs dogs aggresion is fear related, hes been done and no change!

OHs dogs aggresion is fear related, hes been done and no change!

Neutering a dog that is in any way insecure will make him worse.....

Mm.. still a training issue really though its a hard one to train for granted.

My neutered dog will leggit after a very fruity bitch (he'll do more than that, but this is a polite board :rofl:) - freely admit i could probably train him to ignore them BUT its having access to controlled in season bitches (and nothing else is QUITE that distracting) to proof him against.

I can recall him from 'coming into season' and 'coming out of season', I can recall him from sausages and cats.. in season, willing and able though we have just not had the opportunity to practice!

It is entirely possible though and I know people who have achieved this level of training (and with breeds you wouldnt normally associate with immediate and reliable recalls too!).. with entire dogs, and as my dog is a good example... not having testicles does not a reliable recall make!

not having testicles does not a reliable recall make - I would certainly agree with that :-P

My boy is just 3 and extremely energetic, hormones raging - you get the picture!  Up to recently, his recall has been good but I'm pretty sure that in season dogs are coming into the park because his behaviour has changed completely.  He spends absolutely ages sniffing patches of grass and then will take off across the park to check out a dog just in case it is the 'interesting' one!

I'm not sure even a long line for a while would stop this behaviour once he is running free again.  I suppose the degree of success in controlling this behaviour has to depend on the character (and sex hormones :)) of the individual dog.

I have been considering getting him neutered but am concerned about what Marianne has said as although he is in no way aggressive, he isn't the most confident dog and I worry neutering will make him worse.

> I noticed when I got up and walked towards him to get him he went nearer to the passers by but if I call him back he comes back

Your little chap is learning and being torn between his teenage urge to swear at other dogs and other perceived threats ( hopefully repelling their threat to him) and the fear that they may actually get to him.

When mine bark at noise stimuli eg door bell or noises out side I always say  "thank you I heard you" praise and then answer the door or if it's misc noises I distract with toy, game etc. I do what ever it takes to stop the noise on my say so. They are dogs after all and dogs signal each other ( and their humans) to take notice, so I do. It's up to me to train then to know the level of threat. I don't want them to let strangers to threaten me or my family but I need to teach a young dog where to pitch it's response. 

Training and time should moderate his normal behaviour. NOT having him castrated. IMO