I'm only asking because Ozzy is now 16 months old, very healthy, friendly boy, but in our area there are lots of bitches in season being walked regularly and Ozzy has been going mental with the same amount of regularity.

He is going for around 5 walks a day, and whereas usually his walks are strictly for poo purposes, these days it's like OCD: He has to walk the same route, smelling the same trees and general areas, sniffing the ground and licking the grass. He has gone off his food and is generally unsettled. I would have considered taking him to the vets, but he is exhibiting exaclty the same behaviour he did when the bitch next door was in season. He is sex-crazed and is trying to hump everything from pillows to footballs to my daughters, and can't seem to keep his nose from up my skirt!

I have read a lot on the downsides of castration for dogs, and generally speaking everything I've looked at seems to warn me against castration too soon. I have fully intended to wait as long as possible if I deem it necessary to get him "seen to" as I don't want to take any risks, but opinions seem to vary so widely I just don't know what to do!

He is so unsettled recently, and I know the dog next door will be in season again soon, causing him to destroy the fence once again in a bid to get to her, I was wondering if anyone knows whether chemical castration is any good as a short-term solution? I thought maybe chemical castration until he was old enough to get it done properly, just as a stand-by.

Please forgive my ignorance, as I've only ever owned female dogs before and this is a new situation to me! I would hate to be shouted down about this, as I'm really just trying to find out what is best for my boy, and don't want to cause him any uneccessary distress.

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Mum to:
Ozzy: The Mental Malamute X
Daisy: The clumsiest tabby in the world
Sooty: The split personality - in other words a typical cat!

And Bernie: Our cocky little angel RIP 21st October 2010

Just wanted to give you my view on neutering your male dog. Please don't take the following as patronising or preachy, I just find it a really good way of looking at it...

If someone told you that you could never have sex or release your sexual urges again, would you rather...
- keep those sexual urges and be unhappy knowing you would never be able to release them
- get rid of those sexual urges for good and not have the temptation

Your dog obviously has a high sex drive but you, his owner, is preventing him having sex. A completely natural behaviour for him. All in all, from this viewpoint I think it's fairer to neuter a dog, especially one who is regularly affected by bitches in season.

As I said, I'm not being preachy and please don't think I'm pushing anything on you or accusing you etc etc It's just my opinion and has worked for many male dogs I've fostered (and most of them were around a year old)

What breed of dog do you have? If a large breed I would reccomend waiting until he is fully mature around 2 years of age before castration.

I've never had a dog chemically castrated so I can't comment.

I think you're right to wait until he's mature to neuter him, but I would try now to get him to a good behaviouralist/trainer to try and sort out his humping issues.

A good friend of mine used the suprelorin implant on her dog, once it's been in for a week (I think) you can't remove it, it turns into a jelly like mass that has to stay there until it basically wears off. Unfortunately, with my friend's dog, the implant affected his temperament and behaviour, where as before, he was quite a happy go lucky if a bit full on character, he suddenly became dog and human aggressive. She had to wait for several months to see if the effects wore off, which, thankfully they did, but you don't know how they're going to affect your dog until the implant becomes irremovable.

So personally, with the sexual behaviours your dog's exhibiting, I wouldn't risk the suprelorin route and then neuter, I would go for the behaviouralist, the last thing you want once you get to the point where he's fully mature and you want to have him neutered, is a dog with a huge sex drive and behavioural issues caused by the implant.

That's my personal opinion on it, I'm sure others may disagree and will have had different experiences with implants. It's not an easy decision for you but lots of research and asking questions is the right way to go about it, good luck!

i`ve never used chemical castration but was looking into it at one point until i spoke to someone who had done it on their dog. her experience was enough ot put me off - the dog became extremely aggressive afterwards not only towards other dogs but towards people including her and her family. he also developed a large number of behaviour issues. i`m not sure if the drug wears off or it has to be reversed but afterwards it took over a year with a behaviourist for this girl to get her dog back to the loving family pet he once was

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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

Ozzy is a large malamute cross, and I've seen a lot of stuff on the internet about the dangers of castration too early for larger breeds, which is why I want to wait. My husband wanted to get him done at a year old, but I dug in my heels and they are staying dug in right now despite the problems we're having!

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Mum to:
Ozzy: The Mental Malamute X
Daisy: The clumsiest tabby in the world
Sooty: The split personality - in other words a typical cat!

And Bernie: Our cocky little angel RIP 21st October 2010

I've heard bad things about the injection re hugely increased risk of cancer in later life. Think it was on Horse and Hound, let me search for it and I'll link it.

Here we go:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forum...1&postcount=18

The poster is a vet nurse.

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Transplanted Geordie
RIP Jake, my best dog. 10.8.10
RIP Boomerang, beautiful horse. 27.5.08

Zimba, our Ridgeback had the injection twice, it did calm him down a bit but he still wanted to hump, just not as much, and still seemed to smell female dogs and sniff just as much. We did it as we wanted to buy some time.

We have him 'done' at 17 months as I felt we was frustrated and unhappy. I've never regretted the decision to have him done at that time, I believe he's much happier. I think you just have to look at the evidence and weigh it up for your situation.

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