Just wanted to pick your brains has anyone used Tardak and with what results?  Were there any side effects and if so do they disappear after the hormone has worn off?

I have a 4 year old GR who is fear agressive and rather than castrate I was thinking about alternatives and thought maybe Tardak would give me an idea of what he would be like after castration???

Hi Perry. I haven't used tardak since about 98 and superlorin seems to be the favoured choice nowadays.  Longerlasting than tardak and works in a different way.  I understand superlorin stimulates the gland to produce more testosterone so that body is flooded and eventually stops producing it.  One of the side effects is that behaviour can be worse for the first 10 days or so due to testosterone flood.  Testicles shrink but return to normal after around 12 months (although a friend of mine has a dog who's testicles are still reduced in size 18 months after jab).  Coat can also reduce.

Tardak is adding female hormone so works differently. 

I am sure someone who will come along soon to give more advice, will be interested to see other opinions.

Thanks for this Zajak, I've been googling and can only find info on some dogs becoming incontinent after use.  As they are both different hormones would that perhaps alter the behaviour with each drug I wonder which one would 'mimic' castration the Tardak or Superloin?  I wouldn't want anything long term just something to give me some indication how he would behave after castration, but I guess nothing is set in stone with things, each dog is different and all that?   Will be interesting to hear any other comments!

Perry, My 18 month old had a Suprelorin implant approx. 6 months ago. (He woke up rather 'excited' a few mornings and had a lot of problems reducing the swelling, resulting in him going into shock and being rushed to the vet).
Before the implant he was a quiet, well mannered dog and his behaviour only changed in that he seemed a little more wary of other dogs, didn't wander so much on walks and his recall became excellent!
The Tardak injection was given at the same time as the implant as the implant causes a short term 'rush' of hormones.

One of my older dogs was on Tardak for the last 6 months of his life, again for medical reasons and I saw no change in his behaviour. (He was a very even tempered dog before and after)

I've found no ill effects in using either method so far but I'd worry that if your dog is fear aggresive that the implant/tardak may make him more fearful? Maybe it would be worthwhile trying the tardak and some good socialising/training classes at the same time so that he is coming in contact with dogs in a more controlled environment?

At least trying the Tardak would give you some idea to the change in his behaviour castration may cause before making an irreversible decision.

Hi thanks for your reply, we do take him to training twice a week, unfortunately he was attacked last year which started the fear agression, before that he was every dogs friend.  The training has really been helping so much so that he has been fine for a few months, but there was an incident last week where a man got hold of him and hit him (long story will not go into it) :(  we are thinking this may have sparked off the agression again???  But yesterday during training he was grumpy with a few dogs and was very down in the dumps yesterday and is not himself now.

I'm not sure I'd want the long term effects of Superloin as I really want to assess how he would be if we did have him castrated and that's why I though maybe trying Tardak would at least enable us to do that, if he improved and didn't become more fear agressive then we would have him castrated.  It does seem to be male dogs he is grumpy with, not any females that I have noticed.

I'm concerned that I have read somewhere that Tardak can cause incontincence which obviously if it does then I won't try it.  Did you find this at all with your dogs? 

My older dog was given Tardak because he was having prostate problems which caused occasional incontinence and this stopped after the injections so it actually worked the other way from the reports you've been reading about.
My younger dog has not had any problems but his Tardak was only a one-off with the implant.
Both my vets advise that the effects of the Tardak last 4-6 weeks and after that the effects wear off completely so this may be the best option for you.

It's shame he's been in these incidents which have made him so fearfull. Maybe the Tardak will take away his need to be aggresive/dominant(?) and allow him to settle into a lesser role? There may be someone on the forum who can expand on this and I'm only going on behaviour I've experienced, but I'd def. give it a try before going for an irreversible operation.

Good luck with the training.

Maybe the Tardak will take away his need to be aggresive/dominant(?) and allow him to settle into a lesser role?

A fear aggressive dog isn't dominant -quite the opposite, they just feel the best option is to attack before being attacked.

Thats why I questioned this.(?) Only the OP knows the dog so only they know why it is aggresive.

My Boxer had a Tardak injection last Monday and he hasn't suffered any side effects so far.

He had an enlarged prostate and the vet has advised us to get him castrated but we're going on holiday in a couple of weeks so didn't want to do this just yet. The vet told us to try to Tardak as an interim measure. I did a bit of research and my worry was that it would make him more aggressive as I read a horror story about a DDB that attacked another dog.

However, fingers crossed, he seems fine. The only change I've noticed is that he isn't running around like a complete loon on his walks. He still runs but not from one side of the forest to the other in a mad frenzy. I'm presuming this is due to him not being so sensitive to the smells of potential suitors in the air!

Rosie