Some vets may advise you to wait until your dog hits puberty, which is roughly around six months of age. Older dogs may also be neutered if they are at risk of impregnating a female or are displaying undesirable behaviors that neutering may help control.
If your dog is older, it is important that he is in good health with a good prognosis for recovery. Otherwise neutering him may not be in his best interests. You should always discuss your options with your vet because every dog and their situation will be unique. Dogs that have been neutered will not be free of hormonal behavior issues right away. So, patience is key in these cases, because you may not see immediate improvement in their behavior. Keep in mind that your dog will not necessarily change after being neutered.
They will still be the same dog, with the same personality and habits that you have come to know and love. What will change is undesirable traits like bull-headedness, aggression, and roaming will be reduced or eliminated.
A good rule of thumb is to remember how long it takes you as a human to heal from surgery. If you just had a procedure that removed your testes, you would probably be fairly restricted in your activities and movements.
Your dog should be restricted in the same way as much as possible. The cost of neutering your dog can vary depending on where you take them to have it done. However, there are other options that are more affordable for pet owners through low-cost programs in clinics, such as the Humane Society. Fees usually go by the weight of the dog. Typically, your dog will be sedated under general anesthesia.
The vet will then tie off the blood supply in the spermatic cord, known as vas deferens. The procedure for a male dog in good health, depending on their age and size, could take anywhere from five to twenty minutes. Obviously, recovery will take longer, but the procedure itself is relatively quick and simple. Spaying can reduce or eliminate the instinct to fight.
There is a variety of research and information on the best time to spay a female puppy. Most veterinarians recommend spaying a female puppy before she reaches sexual maturity—between six to twelve months. One of the primary benefits of spaying early is to avoid the development of unwanted aggressive behaviors that can appear after puberty.
It is good to note that spaying is not a quick fix that will get rid of all unwanted behavior. Recent studies, however, have caused the American Kennel Club AKC to update its stance on the timing of spaying and neutering.
There has been growing research and health concerns for getting certain dog breeds fixed too early. Particularly larger breeds like Golden Retrievers , Labrador Retrievers , and German Shepherds have elevated risks of developing joint disorders, orthopedic injuries, obesity, and certain cancers.
While there is no conclusive data, the concern for spaying or neutering certain dog breeds too soon could stunt their growth. One other option is to enroll in a pet wellness plan , which may cover a portion of the procedure done by your veterinarian.
It can also be used for other preventative vet visits, vaccines , treatments, medications, and more. The first priority of pet owners should be providing a safe spaying and neutering experience for their pets. This type of experience is provided by all licensed veterinarians regardless of whether they work at a private practice clinic, a low-cost clinic, or at the ASPCA or Humane Society.
Using a private practice vet will allow you to build a relationship with your vet with whom you and your dog will have a lifelong relationship. Local shelters are often overpopulated.
If all pet owners spayed and neutered their dogs, their local animal shelters would experience a reduction in their pet populations. This reduction would result in fewer animals living on the streets and being euthanized and increasing the available space in shelters for animals that may otherwise be thrust into homelessness. Neutering male dogs eliminates the risk of testicular cancer and reduces prostate problems.
Spayed females have a reduced risk for uterine infections and mammary and breast tumors. This includes tunneling under fences and leaping over gates. The scent of a female in heat can carry for considerable distances making it extremely difficult to contain a male pet.
These pets can be challenging to control and train. Hormones also play a role in instincts, such as marking behavior and shows of dominance and aggression. While neutering may reduce these behaviors, a recent report from Frontiers in Veterinary Science states that gonadectomy plays a minimal role in dog aggression.
Like the effect on hormones that neutering has on male pets, the same will be true for spaying a girl dog. Mating is a messy business. Not only do males release ejaculate, but females experience menstruation. In dogs, the heat cycle during which the female bleeds can begin as early as five months old.
This cycle occurs approximately twice a year and lasts for three weeks. During heat cycles, females need to wear protective garments that must be changed frequently to prevent blood on furniture and around the home. Females in heat must be kept away from all males. This means the female must not be allowed unsupervised access to anywhere she could potentially be mounted by a male. Veterinary nurses should ideally be able to give appropriate advice to owners of over-excitable adolescent dogs, or, if there is no one with suitable expertise within the practice, be able to refer the owner to an appropriately qualified dog trainer or behaviourist because behaviour problems in adolescent dogs are a significant risk factor for them being rehomed or even put to sleep.
It seems to be widely assumed that castration will solve all behaviour problems in male dogs and this is often a first intervention in a dog showing problem behaviour, before any comprehensive behavioural assessment and advice are given. This can be problematic because although castration will improve some problem behaviours it is often more effective alongside behaviour modification, and in some dogs castration can potentially have adverse behavioural effects.
Unsurprisingly, castration is most likely to improve problem behaviours that are directly influenced by circulating testosterone, including roaming in search of in-season bitches, indoor urine marking, mounting other dogs, people, inanimate objects and confident, competitive aggression directed specifically at other male dogs Hart and Eckstein, Circulating testosterone can also increase the likelihood of dogs being very distracted by other dogs or showing signs of high arousal and frustration, particularly around bitches in season.
However for a number of reasons castration does not always reliably eliminate these problem behaviours Hart and Eckstein, Masculinisation of the male brain, which occurs due to exposure to testosterone before birth, is not affected by castration. Also, some of these behaviours can have other causes e. Compared with inter-male aggression, aggression in other situations is less directly influenced by circulating testosterone.
However circulating testosterone can lower the threshold at which aggression is shown and increase its intensity through its effects on a number of other behavioural traits including increasing vigilance and responsiveness to threats, behavioural persistence and risk-taking behaviours, all of which can increase the likelihood of an animal responding to a threat with aggression Eisenegger et al, ; Overall, ; Terburg and van Honk, Therefore castration can potentially reduce the likelihood of a male dog showing aggression in response to threats, although in animals that are already showing aggression this effect is only likely to be significant if combined with a comprehensive behaviour modification plan to address the dog's underlying emotional state and the triggers that cause him to show aggression.
These will need to be addressed through identifying and addressing the underlying cause of the problem behaviour. Although in many cases castration will either have a beneficial effect on behaviour or no effect at all, there are a couple of ways in which castration can potentially cause or exacerbate problem behaviours in dogs. Circulating testosterone is associated with increased self confidence and reduced fearfulness Terburg and van Honk, so castration can potentially increase fearfulness, especially in dogs that are already nervous.
For dogs that are fearful of strangers, of being handled, or of being in unfamiliar places, the experience of being hospitalised and handled for the castration operation itself may be scary and further increase fearfulness in these situations. If it is necessary to castrate a fearful dog, there are things that can be done to reduce the likelihood of the castration operation itself causing the dog to become more fearful, and this also applies to spaying fearful bitches.
It is a good idea to do some behaviour modification beforehand to accustom the dog to being handled by unfamiliar people in the surgery environment and also to wearing a Baskerville muzzle so they can be handled safely with minimal restraint. Ideally there will be someone within the practice with the expertise to do this but if not it is wise to enlist the help of a suitably qualified behaviourist.
If not contraindicated for other reasons, giving a benzo-diazepine such as midazolam or diazepam may be beneficial, as benzodiazepines can impair long-term memory formation Beracochea, Occasionally after castration some dogs become highly attractive to other male dogs, who behave much as they would with an entire bitch: sniffing intrusively around their anogenital regions and making persistent attempts to mount them.
This is likely to be associated with changes in pheromones produced after castration. Sometimes there is an obvious underlying cause such as an anal gland infection which can alter the properties of the pheromones produced Mills et al, , and once treated the problem may stop.
A similar effect can be seen in dogs that have been bathed in shampoos containing compounds such as methyl parabens Methyl p-hydroxybenzoate Person, Before castration these effects may have been masked by testosterone.
However sometimes there is no obvious underlying cause that can be treated and dogs may remain attractive to other male dogs long term. This can be a significant problem because, unsurprisingly, dogs usually find these attentions from other dogs distressing and will often show defensive aggression in response.
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