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Originally Posted by gracielove  I have always seen much better behavior out of dogs that are neutered than those who are not.
My father's 3 un-neutered dogs were always fighting over every little thing and seemed to be high strung. When he finally consented to having them neutered they became much better behaved dogs over time.
It is true that a whole make can smell a female dog in heat for miles away. This may incite the escape artiest in any male dog and you could find you have a guy that tries to slip out the door every time you open it. It can create much more high strung behavior, even neurotic behavior from some.
Marking can be an issue in a whole male. I have honestly never seen so many complaints about male marking as I have here on YT. I personally don't know how I would ever deal with that kind of issue.
When my kids were young we had a male Yellow Lab. My husband did not want to have him neutered. He was a good dog and only marked outside but he was constantly trying to get out the door! With the kids being young he could easily sneak up behind them and push out the door when they were opening the door. He would also try to get out of our fenced yard. The fact that he was so desperate to go roaming made it quite evident he was seeking a girlfriend. We finally got him neutered at age 2. Since the male hormones are already throughout the dog's body by that age it took a few months before he really settled down. He became much more social with the family and stopped the high strung behavior.
It is my personal opinion that a male dog that is not to be used for breeding is a much happier pet if he is neutered. |
Gracie we all have our individual experiences, that is why research is so great and needed. They the researches amass 100's or 1000's or 10,000's of individual experiences, that can not hope to match in number or variety our individual experiences with dogs.
I will share a true story I have told before. I was at a workshop with Dr Chris Zinc for training for the performance dog. What is unusual here, is that most dogs were intact. Males and Females, we had about 60 dogs and owners in the room. And in case you are wondering, it is no accident that performance dogs (and note I don't say show dogs) are not de-sexed.
Dr Chris Zink as part of a performance lecture, and a germane point to other parts of her lecture;; asked the question to the group. How many of you here with intact dogs have experienced aggression from neutered animals? There was a huge preponderance of hands raised. The research seems to bear this out. That overall aggression to other dogs and or ppl, is not the intact dog, but the neutered or spayed dog.
We all have individual experiences that may fly in the light of this statement. Again I stress that this is where research has much to teach us.
No matter how long I live, and how much I interact with my dogs, and other dogs, in training, in competition, I will never have or be exposed to 10,000 dogs of various breeds in various situations.