# Neutering - 6 weeks on



## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

As I’ve said in other threads, I’m not a fan of neutering...

We had Lucky neutered just after 12 months. I wanted him to mostly mature, both physically and mentally, before having the chop. Several vets advised against early neutering. We had him done only because local doggy daycare centres all demanded it for adult dogs and we really needed something like that and he loves going (half day a week). 

The op went well. After picking him up he was groggy. He is a licker so I was expecting the lamp shade would be required. He looked so unhappy with it on, so I caved in. Fortunately he ended up not needing it at all, whenever he went to lick we told him no and he got the hang of it quick, not even licking at night. So the healing went well. We made sure he took it easy for 10 days but he was close to normal after 3 days. 

How has it affected him?

He hardly cocks his leg up on walks now. Tends to do few big wees, usually squatting. He used to **** his leg up a lot on our regular walk, no more. I feel a bit sad about this. 

He had been having a lot of dripping fro pm his prepuce. Smelly and yellow stains around the house. This has stopped totally now. Good!

He is a little more obedient on walks - still selectively deaf at times and loves to go play with other dogs but no longer persistently follows them and will soon come back. This doesn’t seem like a massive difference, but so far noticeable. 

He’s got more cuddly. He’s always been a hot dog, preferring to be outside and prefers to lie somewhere cool. As he got older and we cut him short, this did reduce. But he’s rarely wanted to be on your lap. Now he’s got more cuddly, still no a lap dog but will come and lie next to us on the sofa. 

One thing I’m not totally sure of and I may be reading too much into this, but I think he’s got a bit less sure of himself. He’s always been a self confident dog, very rarely spooked by anything, any people or other dogs. He seems a bit more jumpy now, just a tiny bit. 

With other dogs he’s always been confident and good, wanting to play. As he got older he did occasionally bully some dogs, particularly puppies, and wanted to dominate them. This wasn’t something that happened a lot, maybe 4-5 times I’d noticed it over the months. And never a fight or viscous, just beyond normal play wrestling and dominating. Since neutering he seems more defensive, as though he feels threatened. A couple of times he’s been ready to go into a full blown fight, lips fully curled back and vicious snapping. Once was when a bull mastiff flew at him to fight, unprovoked, so that was understandable. But another time seemed to have no reason other than it was near to home. 

Maybe this is an age thing and nothing to do with neutering. It’s also not common, he’s been the same as usual most of the time with other dogs. 

So that’s my observations on the affects of neutering.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Neutering can affect boys confidence as they no longer have the testosterone so is often advised to be cautious if boys are not confident.

As Lucky was reasonably confident to start with I wonder if the mastiff having a go is a large part of the reason rather than the neutering as just one really scary experience like that can have a huge effect. Scary encounters whilst sore and recovering can also have a larger effect than they otherwise would.


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## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

I’m now slightly more concerned about this. It’s been a very nice weekend and so out on long walks. A couple more times dogs have acted aggressively to Lucky, unprovoked in my eyes. He’s been of general playful demeanour, no different than before, yet a couple more dogs snarled and snapped at him. Not full on fight, but much more than a warning to stay away. 

He’ll be ok and seems to be taking it in his stride. 

Let’s just say I remain convinced in my opinion of neutering and the vast majority of reasoning people give for it (beyond reproduction) is total BS.


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## cfriend (Dec 22, 2016)

I've definitely heard/ been told that neutering a dog can cause other male dogs to bully him although this has mostly been an argument against early neutering which isn't the case here. I wonder if it could still be true. Glad Lucky is taking it in strides!


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