Comments on: Male Dog Behaviour After Neutering: The Science

By: Renata

Renata — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 04:41:43 +0000

My almost 6mo spoodle has shown territorial behaviours and has broken my 4yo skin on his cheek – he had a kangaroo ear and my kid bent to pat him and hi snapped, jumped and went straight for his face. Days later he had some plastic he picked off the floor and bit me on my hand when trying to remove it. He had spent a night – his second night away from us at a kennel.

He also nipped at my (same) son when we first got him, he must have been 14 weeks old. Also after spending a night back at the breeder’s as we had a trip planned.

We are using positive training: thanks, off, take. And I have been able to safely remove objects off him twice now with no reaction.

He is truly adorable but I think it’s clear he’s not fan of my 4yo and he’s got a temper. Tairo is 3/4 toy poodle 1/4 spoodle.

I wanted to go ahead with vasectomy. My vet called back wanting to discuss pros and cons but I can tell from her tone in her voicemail, she will push for desexing him. He was scheduled soon when he turns 6mo.

After reading your article I am inclined towards desexing. But still torn. So much information is overwhelming. Thanks immensely for educating and sharing evidence-based information in a way that is easy to understand.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:38:22 +0000

In reply to Mark Curry. Hi Mark. The bad news from me is that if he has been doing this since a very young age, male hormones are probably playing very little role. I think you should really find a good dog behaviour specialist in your area. I strongly advise finding on using positive methods as they are known, and in fact, shown to deliver better results, however, this sounds like a hard one to solve. Good luck.

By: Mark Curry

Mark Curry — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 04:21:54 +0000

In reply to Ivonne. We have a 6 month old German shepherd he gets walked and exercised every day thrown the ball and so on. I too get him to sit and not eat till told to do so, gets made to sit at all intersections when street walking and kept on an extremely short leash. He has continually jumped and bitten others since a pup, has been continually been smacked at the right time and it is only me he doesn't bite or or jump on. It appears to be more of a dominance thing with him so mainly jumps on the Girls in our family. Unfortunately i cannot be there all the time to constantly chastise his behaviour so he will getting de-sexed in the not to distant future. He is my 8th German Shepherd.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 11:39:14 +0000

In reply to Jeremy Lamont. Hi Jeremy. From my experience, if he had been desexed at 6 months, it's very unlikely he would have become the way he is now. I would get him desexed ASAP, but there's no telling whether it will work or not this late.

By: Jeremy Lamont

Jeremy Lamont — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 16:39:21 +0000

My 2.5 YO toy cavoodle suddenly seems to have undergone a personality change. First up, this is after he went missing for 5 days and spent 2 nights at a stranger’s house (lovely woman) 1 night in the pound and 3 nights at my ex-partner’s place. It could be the root of the problem? But I feel certain that he was properly cared for during this time. Now he has become overtly aggressive! Like any dog, if you try taking his bone away he gets wild with anger – barking mad! Gnashing teeth. On a few occasions I have found him eating stuff he shouldn’t like avocado skins and he becomes like a demon dog from hell. Otherwise he is sweet, affectionate, and adorable, BUT now he has become territorial. He sits too close to the radiator under my desk and goes psychotic if I try to gently move him away with my foot. Yesterday I had to physically go under my desk and I was scared he was gonna bite my face. I have resorted to using a toilet plunger so he bites that harmless thing and not me. Now he stands right in my way as I try to walk across the room and even that turns into a growling standoff. My friends and vet say get him desexed ASAP but after reading so many contradictory stories on here – I don’t want him to become even worse.

By: Ivonne

Ivonne — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 05:15:49 +0000

In reply to Joey.

I think you’re blaming the neutering for simple lack of proper training. A dog that destroys household items is a BORED dog with EXCESS energy. Your dog is older now right? He’s big he’s strong and he’s clearly not getting enough exercise. He’s not getting the disciplined life he requires.

He attacks your other dogs? Because you have not established that you’re the one he needs to listen to.

I tell you from experience. I had a dog I got from the shelter who had been returned twice for destroying property. He was a great dog for me because I had 5 acres and he got to run a lot and got to play with the other dogs, he was very active. He never destroyed anything of mine.

I have a dog now that attacked my other dog. Because I did not give him structure. I made sure to exercise him plenty daily and I had him always sit down and wait to be given his meal. He was not to take any toy unless I gave it to him. And if he had a toy and I asked for it, he had to give it to me. If he even looked at the other dog wrong, I immediately redirected his attention to me and praised him when he looked at me instead attentively. Any time he STARTED to act in a way that I did not like, I immediately got his attention and told him to sit down and look at me. For leadership.

In other words, I became his leader.
He has never ever attacked the other dog since. Not even once.

So, it’s not that your dog is neutered. I don’t buy that. It’s that you’re not fulfilling his needs as a dog. He needs structure.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 07:26:32 +0000

In reply to James Woolcock. Hi James. The situation with female dogs is not as clear as with the males mentioned in this article. I’ve written before about aggression after desexing in females, and the jury is still out on whether there is a link. It’s not out of the question though, especially in certain breeds.

By: James Woolcock

James Woolcock — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 04:48:05 +0000

I have a six year old Staffy X -most likely with Lab. She was speyed at about 12 months and for her first three years was very friendly with all other dogs. She loves adults, cats also and especially groups of kids.
At about three she became extremely aggressive with other dogs, started humping legs and would regularly cock her leg to pee as well as squat. Also at about this time to complicate understanding she experienced aggression from several other dogs which may have played into the development of her aggression. I have spoken to about 10 other Staffie X owners who have encountered similar development of aggression in their bitches …speying procedure varying from 6-12 months. Not exactly a representative group. When I was a lad (1950’s) I spent a lot of time on country properties and I recall a number of working dog breeders saying that bitches should be allowed to have a litter before speying because they worked “better” and didn’t start fights . The conclusions from professional articles I have read there is quite a strong opinion based on large US trial samples standardised for environment , quality of training, health etc. that earlier speying deprives the bitches body of experiencing the development of a normal adult hormonal environment. This conclusion, when you think about it, makes good sense. Another parallel finding from these studies was that in general desexed dogs and bitches tend to be responsible for more dog and human aggression than intact dogs. I am aware there is no general consensus on this topic because of the difficulty of statistical standardisation. Anyone got any thoughts or experiences on this subject.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 30 May 2020 21:47:00 +0000

In reply to Joey. Hi Joey. That’s terrible to hear. It’s extremely unusual aggression (if that’s even what all of this is) and probably has a complex origin. As much as it may be hard to organise, getting a behaviour expert in is all I can suggest.

By: Joey

Joey — Sat, 30 May 2020 20:46:56 +0000

I think it vairies between dogs. I recently got my dog neutered. He was 180# & 2 years and 8 months at the time. He was a sweetheart and very affectionate prior to his neutering. He also grew up as a pup with 2 other older dogs. About 2 weeks after, he behavior and aggression has gotten very bad to the point I may have to have him euthanized. He has begun to destory the house. It started with small things like shoes and clothes, but escalated to a computer printer, dining room table & chairs, the couch and a filing cabinet. He has also severly attacked the other 2 dogs in the house several times, one of them needed treatment and stitches at the animal hospital. He is much larger than the other 2 dogs and his behavior gets worse everyday. I began making him stay outside during the day, but he tore off the steps to the deck and pulled the door off to the shed and now the other 2 dogs need taken out front since the backyard is inaccessible. I’m not sure what else I can do with him. This behavior is like nothing I’ve ever seen out of him before.