I wasn't the op, just giving an example of my routine. My dog has never been "full of beans", or hyper or excited that much. So there has never been a real need to walk him in the morning, he is 13 months old now but even since we first got him at 14 weeks old he's been the same, has breakfast, have a stroke, toilet time and back to sleep mostly.

sorry but i have to completely disagree with that, neutering CAN alter a dogs personality as you`re taking away the production of hormones. i`ve heard of dogs both changing for the better AND worse from being neutered - i actually know of one who became extremely aggressive afterwards but was a well balanced and trained dog beforehand, it took months of working with a behaviorist to get him back to the dog he once was. it`s a bit of a sweeping statement saying it doesn`t change their personality, that may be your opinion and your experience but it isn`t always the case!

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owned by:

jake - chocolate labrador
sydney - liver/white english springer
twix - dlh cat
lacey - dsh cat

never forgetting my baby banjo running free at the bridge, RIP baby xx

Def takes a while for the hormones to completely leave his system. I also would have waited for him to mature a bit longer in case he retains his puppy traits. T-Bo is a jrt mix and he'll be getting done at 18 months just like Flynn. T-Bo is currently going through a nervy phase and if I had him done now I feel he may never get out of it, so I like to let them grow up properly before being neutered.

Hopefully your little guy will settle and his boisterousness will not be exaggerated by being neutered at 8 months. Time will tell and I think we're talking at least four - six weeks.

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Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

Well I can only comment on my experience and of the experience of those I know with neutered dogs. Sometimes it is most definitely the worst thing to neuter an already nervous dog because that dog needs all the testosterone he can get just to get through life!

With my neutered male here at the mo, he was a great big goofball before castration, and he's still a great big goofball at 5 1/2 (castrated at 18 months). The castration has taken away his urges in the sexual department (although when my bitch is in season, he has a VERY good nose) but he is just as bouncy and mad as ever!

So my point is that if the dog's personality is outgoing and is hitting a teenage phase, taking the hormones away isn't necessarily the cure-all the vets will tell you - better to go back to square one with training and get the dog through the phase. I'm not saying I'm against castration, I know about dog's urges (and bitches for that matter) but do not agree that whipping off the testicles is always the best option at this age unless the dog is showing aggression or being over-sexualised.

I had a puppy I bred returned to me at 9 months. He is a large breed gundog, and had hit his teenage phase, and was generally an active pup. So the owners on the advice of their vet castrated him at 7 months, thinking it would calm him down - NOPE!! So they called me, and I took him back. It became obvious from the first minute that they weren't meeting the needs of this dog. He had NO idea what he was supposed to do. It didn't take long, with regular walks and my dog/me showing him how to behave - what a beautiful dog, who was robbed of his manhood just because the owners couldn't be bothered to put the time in with him. This pup was no problem AT ALL - he got what he needed and didn't give me a moment's worry while he was here...

The dog will mature in time and calm down anyway - better to put some extra work in and end up with a better trained individual imo. i've also heard that castrating while the dog is displaying negative behaviour will "fix" the dog at that phase.

yes i agree with you that neutering when they hit the teenage phase is never gonna be the solution, the dog needs to go back to basics training wise - by all means neuter if you wish but never expect that to do the work for you and i don`t think vets do stress that it`s not the cure for bad behavior - at the same time my vet will always tell people there`s never any guarantee when it comes to the way neutering may or may not alter their dog which i think is why i like him so much, he`s very blunt and to the point but also very honest

i think i was more meaning my last post in the sense that removing the part of the dog that produces testosterone CAN sometimes alter them - as i said jake was a fantastic dog and he went crazy after being neutered but as the hormones are dying down he`s slowly coming back to normal again, that`s 2 months after neutering so it can adversely effect behavior during that raging hormone stage. the op only had her dog neutered a week ago and he still had some problems before hand so i reckon the best thing to do is try to focus on those problems now and give the dog some time to adjust to the lack of hormones

__________________
owned by:

jake - chocolate labrador
sydney - liver/white english springer
twix - dlh cat
lacey - dsh cat

never forgetting my baby banjo running free at the bridge, RIP baby xx