Although I only joined the forum recently i have enjoyed reading the posts for some time. I have a Chocolate lab called Dexter who is 9 months old now and I am still undecided about getting him neutered. His vet will not neuter large breeds until 12 months of age which seems reasonable. I have looked at the pros and cons and am still very undecided. I may want to show him and possible breed from him temperament dependant. I may just have to sit it out and give him time to grow up before i make my decision. I am very interested to hear other dog owners opinion on the matter.

Ad and Dexter

The first question to ask yourself is why are you even considering castrating him? If you answer that we can may be then advise you.

Dexter is showing signs of dominance and although he is only 9 months he is getting frisky with the ladys. I know this could settle and i try not to make too much of it but i would not want him turning into a sex pest when he is fully grown! He is going to obedience classes and is doing well. He has a wide veriety of walks both on and off lead and had mostly very positive encounters with other dogs. I worry that he may run after a female in heat when he matures. I know i should not worry about things that have not happened yet. There is so much advice out there and when problems do occure everyone  seems to advice to have the dogs castrated to settle them.

Confussed!

Do you own intact bitches?

I do not have any other dogs. We go walking with a friend who has an entire dog who is 16 months. They get on well most of the time but play does sometimes get a little rough. Dexter has not tried to mount Oak yet!

He is a pup as yet he will try mounting and suchlike until he matures, providing you can keep him in your garden then I don't really see why you would consider castrating him, but it is your choice of course. Rough play is also normal for puppies you will know if they really mean business.

Just want to be a responsible owner I think I would rather not have him desexed. There seems to be loads of pressure to have them neutered.

Once your dog is fully mature you can decide if his adult behaviour is acceptable to you and those he meets, if it is then there is not problem if he makes a nuisance of himself then you can try chemical castration just to see if it makes a difference. Most dog grow up to be nice well adjusted dogs with all that nature gave them still intact.

I have no idea why people push neutering except that there are so many irresponsible owners who let their dogs run loose or think it might be nice to cause yet another un-needed litter.

Thanks for the advice. I am in no hurry to put my boy under the knife, i'm sure Dexter would rather keep his bits!

Ad and Dexter

I have a 10 month old male Mastiff, I have no plans to get him castrated unless any medical issue require it, or if later on he has hormone driven problems.
My 14yr old lab cross was castrated when he was 5 yrs old, due to the fact that whenever he smelt a bitch in heat he would be a nightmare, he would bark & cry and try his hardest to escape, he got out 1 day & got hit by a car so he had the op!!

Hi there adrienne,

The first thing to do is...calm down, he's a dog :-D :-D.....No, seriously, he is 9 months old and of course he is getting frisky with the laaydies - I would have serious reservations if he wasn't ;-)

I doubt that he will turn into a 'sex pest' when he is matured but only time will tell. They are like people, some like the opposite sex more than others, only you will be able to decide that as and when he reaches maturity. Great that you are taking him to obedience classes as he will experience a wide variety of breeds and sex's. Be aware that in the near future he may test your patience 'off lead'- his nose will lead him ;-) So have a 'long line' in stock for these occasions and be prepared to have to 're-educate him in this department. Being a dog, the chances are that he will chase a bitch in heat - and long before he matures - i.e. NOW

Re castration - it is no guarantee. This may help alongside a training regime but certainly IME won't alter the overall character of the dog.

Your Vet is to be applauded in saying that he won't castrate before 12 months - a lot of Vets want puppy owners to have them done as early as 6 months or before. I personally, owning a large breed, would not consider getting mine done before 2 years. The general rule is the larger the breed the later you have them done because of physical/mental natural maturity.

In my own case I have an entire 6 yr old male who has done the 'Kevin stage' and a 3yr old female who was spayed at 2rys 8 months purely because she was suffering from 'hormone rage' - that and the mammary cancer threat along with deciding that we weren't going to breed from her made our minds up. Our male lived throughout 2 of her seasons but when younger could have quite easily been labelled as a 'sex pest'. Make no mistake - our Male still, when out, sniffs a fertile/or not.. female, behaves like a delinquent, but it is controllable through training/keeping his small mind busy and well......bribery :-D :-D

HTH

> Re castration - it is no guarantee. This may help alongside a training regime but certainly IME won't alter the overall character of the dog.
>

Yep, agree. When our rescue was castrated, the only thing it changed was his frustration when a bitch was in heat, he was a bossy bugger before the castration and just the same after.

I have had an entire male in the past that was never any trouble re: in season bitches (even living with an entire bitch).

Think in this case it is possible to compare the dog with the male of our own species; the majority of them do grow up eventually and start to treat females with a certain amount of respect. There are the few though who never grow up and may well benefit from castration unfortunately in our own species we are not allowed.

Although I do not think you can treat a domestic pet on the theory that it is a pack animal you can think about that when considering a dogs natural inbred behaviour, if living in the pack situation it has to stop chasing every bitch in the pack once fully mature because if it did not it would be killed, only pups and junior dogs are given tolerance in this respect.

> Think in this case it is possible to compare the dog with the male of our own species; the majority of them do grow up eventually and start to treat females with a certain amount of respect.

They do? ;-)

> They do? ;-)

Patients Karen :-)

So there is hope for my 17 year old juvenile male human, without resorting to surgey (or a pair of bricks when he is asleep ) :D

You may have a long wait :-) Human males do not reach maturity until their mid 30s many much latter.

Thanks to all. It is good to know that i'm not alone here and if any problems did arise there is some support and very good advice out there!

There is no way of telling if your boy will be a sex pest or just grow out of it.  He is being perfectly normal for his age.
However if he is not going to be one of those who grows out of it then the longer he is left in tact the more it will become a learned behaviour and harder to break later.  Unfortunatly there is no way of looking into the future to see which way your lad will go so  only you can decide if you don't want to risk it or if you want to wait and see.