# A neutering question



## dave the dog (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi

I have just been reading older posts about neutering but still have a question.

Benji has been increasingly displaying sexual (ahem) behaviour . His 'lipstick' as the kids like to call it, is out, a lot! Any excitement and greetings can cause arousal. So embarrassing! There have also been a couple of occasions when his manhood has not wanted to go back in (posh medical term =paraphimosis). The vet's advise was to keep a tube of KY jelly in case it happens again . I'm talking to the vet next week about castration.

My concern is that Benji is a very timid, shy boy. I have not had him castrated earlier on the advice of a behaviourist who feels that testosterone is really important for a dog's confidence.

Has anyone got any experience of castrating/neutering an anxious or timid dog? It seems everyone has said that their dogs were either not changed or became calmer.

I would hate to make Benji more anxious or take a step backwards when he has made such good progress in the last couple of months.

I hope someone can offer some experience

Thanks

Meg xx


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## Jedicrazy (Apr 26, 2011)

Aw Meg, I can feel your worry . Are you only considering castration because of the paraphimosis? Has the vet confirmed that neutering him will solve that particular problem? My situation with Obi was different so I can't really help. Neutering has calmed his behaviour towards 'entire' males and we never had the lipstick problem to worry about. Sorry I can't help more.


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## Pollypiglet (Oct 22, 2011)

Minton will be off to the vets the minute the 'offending articals' appear usually around 6 months. Did this with my Cairn with no ill effects maybe the old saying what you havent had you don't miss may be true!


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## lola24 (Aug 14, 2011)

Iagree that it can be helpful for a nervous / low confidence dog to remain entire for longer to allow them to mature into a rounded adult. The behaviours which he has started has obviously made this more complicated. The problem is, in the vet world we do not have the one thing that we would love- the crystal ball!!

We have neutered many low confidence dogs at a young age for a variety of resons, some have continued to be low on the confidence front and some have imporoved with age. 

My advice would be to speak to your vet about the concerns and discuss with them the use of Tardak
http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/Pfizer_Limited/Tardak_10_mg_ml_Suspension_for_Injection/-31162.html
or Superlorin http://www.peptech.com/HTML/Animal_Health/Superlorin_whatis.html

These are both temporary forms of chemical castration and may be an option to give you an idea of the effect castration will have but will wear off so any behavioural changes should also be temporary (6-12 months depending on product)


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## dave the dog (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi Clare
Thank you for your reply.
It is partly due to the paraphimosis, but partly because it is an embarrassing nuisance. I'm not really sure if thats a good enough reason! I'm happy to go with the advice of my vet- who is generally anti-castration without good reason. Benji is not aggressive at all- quite the opposite!
Meg x





Jedicrazy said:


> Aw Meg, I can feel your worry . Are you only considering castration because of the paraphimosis? Has the vet confirmed that neutering him will solve that particular problem? My situation with Obi was different so I can't really help. Neutering has calmed his behaviour towards 'entire' males and we never had the lipstick problem to worry about. Sorry I can't help more.


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## dave the dog (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi Katie

That's so helpful. Thank you!

Temporary 'medical' castration may be the way to go- in that it is reversible.

I'll let you know what our vet feels.

Thanks

Meg 





lola24 said:


> Iagree that it can be helpful for a nervous / low confidence dog to remain entire for longer to allow them to mature into a rounded adult. The behaviours which he has started has obviously made this more complicated. The problem is, in the vet world we do not have the one thing that we would love- the crystal ball!!
> 
> We have neutered many low confidence dogs at a young age for a variety of resons, some have continued to be low on the confidence front and some have imporoved with age.
> 
> ...


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## JoJo (Mar 2, 2011)

Meg I have been around male dogs most of my life neutered and un-neutered .. and in all honestly they have all been different.. each dog is different .. you have the emotional side and the sexual side to think about .. I would always say speak to your vet .. xxx


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## loobylou (Nov 20, 2011)

Funnily enough spoken to my vet today about this at Charlie's 6 month check up. He is a timid dog and she suggested that he isnt done until his testerone levels are up and certainly not before he cocks his leg (he doesnt yet) she commented that as he has a lovely temperament that unless we feel strongly about doing it she was happy to leave it and certainly won't do it too early. This surprised me as I presumed that all vets are mad keen on doing it


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## Rufini (Sep 9, 2011)

We had Vincent done at 6 months. He's not timid at all but we definately noticed an increase of the lipstick, especially when he was super excited and happy (normally when he met new people).
We've noticed a definate difference, only seen it a few times since he was done, and that was only when he was soooooooooooooo excited. He has still tried to hump, but only one certain dog at his training class (he's in love with a greyhound...).

Our vet encouraged us to do it from 6 months, mainly to help stop unwanted humping and unwanted pregnancies.


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## flowerchild (Mar 21, 2012)

It surprises me how big the difference between US and UK vet practices are in this area. Here, they recommend neutering a dog after 8 WEEKS and before 6 months. Not knowing any different, all my past dogs have been done between 8 and 12 weeks, and never had any issues with it--at least that I could place on the snip. Kittens are done as soon as they reach 2 pounds, so very young.
I think UK is much more advanced--here it's still legal to declaw cats (even all 4 feet!), and dock ears and tails. There are a few states that are making the declawing illegal, but I doubt we'll catch up to you anytime soon.


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## Eddie (Sep 30, 2011)

Hi, I had concerns about getting Eddie castrated at the six months recommended by our vets because after he was badly hurt by another dog at 12 weeks I was always worried that he was overly wary towards other dogs.At 8 months he went through a phase of rolling over onto his back so much that I was really worried but it was very short lived and be became confident towards other dogs so wether that was his testorerone or experience I dont know.I got Eddie 'done' ten days ago [he is 11 months] after a lot of deliberation ,it seemed that most people ended up getting the dog neutered eventually because of problems with chasing female dogs in season.There were no 'sexual issues' with Eddie so I cant say if it would change anything in that department but he is absolutely fine after the op and is back to his lovely bouncy self and is still confident towards other dogs.Good luck with resolving the issues


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## susanb (Jan 19, 2012)

It's so hard when there is so much conflicting advice around. We took Gisgo to the vet for his 6 month check up a couple of weeks ago and they have advised leaving him "as long as possible" ideally up until he is a year old. They did, however, suggest that if we started to notice any undesirable behaviour then we ought to make an earlier appointment!


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

There are definitely different schools of thought on the right age for castration, I read an interesting article (can't do a link as I don't remember where but I expect if you googled early castration you could find it) that was very against early castration, saying it can cause problems with dogs not maturing properly and keeping many puppy behaviours which can be problematic in a full size dog. I'm not sure if it was that or a different article that said its good to wait until at least a month after they start cocking their leg, which varies from dog to dog as they mature at different rates.


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## dave the dog (Jun 4, 2011)

Thank you everyone for your experiences and comments. Thanks especially to Katie. My vet thought that a temporary chemical castration was definitely the way to go. So, he's off for the injection tomorrow! xx


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## DONNA (Jan 7, 2011)

Meg Buddy was done at 9mths and his behaviour didnt changed at all ,I have however noticed that he does seem to be getting a little carmer now he's turned one.

He did hump from an early age and he has got his lipstick out now and again but nothing major like the problems your describing,he seemed to stop this at around 8 mths though and hasnt really done it since.

Hope you find a happy soloution soon good luck x


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## dave the dog (Jun 4, 2011)

Thanks Donna
Benji is definitely calmer now he is nearing 1. He is also much much more confident although he is still timid. He doesn't hump and is not wanting to mount other dogs but his willy just pops out a lot! I think he will be absolutely fine. I think the injections are a good solution- in that they are reversable incase he takes a backward step. Great to hear that Buddy stayed his normal lovely self. I love buddy!
Meg x


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## Jane weems (Jul 21, 2017)

Bertie is 6months old and my first cockapoo always had English setters before and alway bitches he' great .he is being neutered on Tuesday not because of humping although he has tried it on with my old English but because he is just getting a little too big for his boots and once he gets to know dog he has started to exert some althority I have done a lot of research and think this may be the best for him he has a lovely nature and a lot of fun.


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## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

As a family we've previously had 4 male dogs, not had any of them castrated and not had anything that I'd consider a problem. 

All the doggie day care places near here demand they are castrated around 12 months or they won't take them. On first visit to the vet they asked about if I was considering it about that age - yet they had no really compelling reason. 

This is frustrating. I can't see the need to do this, I'm not embarrassed by a sexually excited dog, and I work at maintaining good control of him. Yet it seems this is becoming the norm and expected.

Am I missing something here?


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Neutering is very much a personal preference - but as far as day care goes I am afraid entire males are a problem either by their own behaviour or by other males challenging them because they are entire so that is understandable I am afraid


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