I just wanted some opinions on this one.  My large breed male has hit 9 months and is turning into a 'Male'.  He is becoming less tolerant of other males when out walking(we walk with some other owners to socialise the dogs).  He is also going through a fear stage at the minute but his first thought is fight, not flight.  I made a noise at him a few nights ago, my mouth was full and he was stealing food so I mumbled a 'No' which sounded more like me growling, but his re-action was to raise his hackles.  I took his collar and lead him from the room and he has been fine since but I just don't like where his temprement is headed.

Should I look to getting him neutered now to keep his temprement easy-going?  He will be neutered eventually but I wanted to wait till 18 months and growth plates closed but I would sacrafice that to save his lovely nature.
If I neuter him now, will he be better with other dogs? or is that going to be his nature anyway.  What I mean is, I don't want to neuter him for this and he just won't accept other males anyway.
I would love to hear thoughts on what you think of this.  Thank you.

PS  The male he has taken adversion to is a 6 mth old spaniel who is no threat at all. 

> Should I look to getting him neutered now to keep his temprement easy-going?

NO!

>He is also going through a fear stage

This is exaclty why you should not consider neutering him now, any confidence he gets from his dangly bits will be gone and he will be more likely to be trapped in a fearfull state.

> my mouth was full and he was stealing food so I mumbled a 'No' which sounded more like me growling, but his re-action was to raise his hackles

hackles are not a sign of agression, they are a sign of arousal, fear, ecxitement, uncertainty are all things that are 'arousing' and can trigger the hackles going up, it's best to think of them as being a sign of 'tension' than anything else. He may well of felt threatened by your 'growl' and his hackles rose, but that doesn't mean he reacted agressively

> The male he has taken adversion to is a 6 mth old spaniel who is no threat at all.

Is this the only dog he has problems with? It may be a case that he simply does not like the dog.
Buster met his bestest friend in the whole-wide-world yesterday, an entire, male rottie (Buster is entire too). They recognised each other from a fair distance (both on lead), and when they finally got face-to-face they exploded into a greeting frenzy, like long-lost soul-mates :-) Another leashed dog was approaching, it was growling. Apparently the rottie does not get on with that particualr dog, and as it got closer the rottie was straining at it's lead, growling & posturing, so was the other dog. If they had been loose they definatley would have had a punch-up :( When the other dog had passed us, the rottie went back to being a big, soppy baby with Buster and we carried onthe walk together. Apparently there are about 3 dogs the rottie does not get on with, every other dog he loves to bits. Some dogs simply do not get on with some particualr dogs, but I doubt it's a testicle thing, it's a personality clash - even neutered dogs can take a dislike to another dog.

I'm sure somebody with more experience will give you some advice as how best to manage your pushy teenager, but I think most will agree - the dangly bits are best left in place untill the dog has also mentally matured into adulthood.

Agree with you mastifflover, castration will not help this situation and it is a the teenage years when the dog as a whole needs all the naturally produced hormones/steroids including those produced by the testis.

Dogs between approx 9 & 18 months are always a pain like teenage people but they grow out of it and with luck become delightful and well rounded dogs and people.

In some dogs everything appears at once and is very confusing for you and the dog!  They develop some confidence but at the same time as they are now being spooked by odd shaped cushions on the sofa; they start to notice other dogs at the same time as they become noticeable to others.  It's a tricky time...

The puppy anxiety isn't too surprising - your boy is now beginning to think of himself as a rather important adult and the spaniel is possibly just a bit annoying.  Think of a 15 yr old boy with his younger brother - torn between yelling at him for being soooo childish, and still wanting to play cowboys!

Going back to training really helps.  It's a good idea for big boys to learn that they can work alongside other dogs without too much interaction.  A good trainer will also help you to read and respond appropriately to the signals your lad is giving.

Don't neuter - it won't do what you want it to and will more than likely just make the problem much worse.  Keep him busy, keep up his training, give his brain some stretching exercises and make sure to walk him on his own sometimes too - it won't do either of you any good if you're both constantly on alert and watching for 'signal's :)

Mastifflover, you are probably the best person that could've replied actually!! 
I now totally understand why he used his hackles at that point.  I thought they were used aggressively, but you have explained it wonderfully(and simply for idiot me!!).
He is having 'issues' with any males which AREN'T dominant.  If the male is an older, confident male, my dog has no problems but if the male isn't dominant, it's like my dog bullies the lesser dominant male.  I have no worries with him not liking other dogs as I am quite used to having dogs like that but I just loved the fact that he loved the dog park.  Off-lead with other dogs, he has so much fun so I really didn't want him to be the poor dog stuck on a lead missing out.  He did however, listen when I disapproved of his behaviour and left the poor spaniel alone.  I think it was just because the pup was making crying noises when he was chasing for a sniff.  Thanks for the advice. 

DAB, we posted at the same time.  Thanks for your post.  I didn't make an issue of the thing with the spaniel, I just made sure mine knew that behaviour was not acceptable but I didn't put him back on lead or anything.  He stopped when I told him and left the spaniel alone after that, which is good enough.  I don't expect them to be friends but I do expect them to ignore each other.  It's such a shame for my boy.  He is huge but all his doggy friends are tiny.  Most other owners see him coming and run the other way but if only they knew he's only a baby and such a nice boy.  We took him to an obedience class but all the sits, down, heelwork, was a bit much for him to be getting up and down so much.  I will maybe try him again now he is a bit bigger.

>Mastifflover, you are probably the best person that could've replied actually!!

:-)  :-)  :-)

She's good ain't she?

(Don't tell her I said though.)

agreed!lots of good advice comes from her direction!So many people on here are lovely,and generous with their knowledge and experience!

On top of extra training I would be trying to make any meetings with other dogs a good thing - I would reward any and all good behaviour.  Anything that would make his interactions with other dogs pleasant and enjoyable is good at this stage :-) Rewarding good responses will help his confidence too, always important in a fear period.

I would do it with a reward marker - say, a clicker or a word you can say quick and high (I use 'good' as it's short, sharp and I can say it in a burst and high-pitced - it really gets through), that way you can mark the behaviour as it happens but keep the treats (or toy, whatever motivates him of course) at a distance, just in case him or the dog he's greeting might get tense with rewards being close.

HUGE big no!! To neuteringand if it was a fear reaction even more reasontoleavethe conkers in place!!

Hormones can have what's best termed as a leveling effect.............eventually!! Takes time forthe dog to work it's way through natural fear phases which can go on till around 18 monthsbut as your dog is large breed it couldlast longer. Personally hate any dog being neutered prior to 12 months as not mature mentally or physically although breed dependent.

If I go through client list of fear aggressive dogs I'd pop down to place a bet that nearly 100% of them were neutered at 6 months!! Not good for long term behaviour. We all react as we hit teenage phase and it sounds to me as if he just reacted badly to you as he had no prior reference for how to react when you mumble!! Please do not eat in front of your dog again!! Joking. Just a point where he had no place to turn so was uncertain and his usual reference poiny was doing the weird stuff. I would have handled it similarly or plain old ignored him.

As for reacting to 6 month springer, that dog probably hitting puberty too!! So maybe a little boy to boy stuff going on but as suggested get clicker out and reward calm behaviour. Don't feed into it too much or you'll be reacting oddly so he will. As before we all have personal perferences, lord knows I do! he's allowed his, rottie near me reacts negatively to nearly all dogs but my mad max can run up and stick his face in no worries! No idea why!! Rottie just doesn't view my lot as threatening I think as they're too busy running. Max also tends to get away with a lot with lots of aggressive dogs,got good body language or just too plain stupid to know when no means no, bit of both I think.