Neuter your Male Gun Dog... Yes/No?

[elch jager]

Thoughts on the matter.......?

Roaming and Aggressiveness... ??

Initially the plan was to keep him intact, for no other reason than I don't like the thought of chopping off nuts as a means to control behaviour or because some people don't like to see them... He is a male and that comes with some responsibility to control him. Do they indeed abandon all recall if they get a whiff of quiff? Do they automatically fight with other intact dogs?

I do not buy into the line of thinking that all dogs that are not breeding stock should be castrated to prevent unwanted pups ending up at shelters. It is the owners that abandon, neglect or abuse dogs that are the one who need gelding.

[Spy]

New studies are warning against neutering.. Do some searches

[adriaticum]

Similar to what spy says, new research says that neutering male dogs does not have any medical benefits. But i will say that my dog, as a pup, was oblivious to any of male aggression while non neutered dogs were duking it out.
Now with age he is a bit possessive.

[Big Lew]

My first lab was intact. Of all my several labs, he was the best and most durable retriever,
especially when the weather was terribly cold, likely because he was mentally tough. I never had
a problem with him with uncontrolled aggression or sexual urges, but he was extremely well
trained. I put huge amounts of time in that as he was also a trial's competitor. The lab I have
now is in a different environment and is neutered. He is a pansy because of it, but because he's
around and interacts with little children, frequent visiting strangers, and their usually poorly trained
pets, it's best. He is also very well trained and a good retriever, but when out in the field I wouldn't
bank on him physically protecting me like the first one at all. If his barking didn't scare away the
threat, he'd be behind me hoping I'd handle it.

[elch jager]

I am trying to research more current info on it.... I do want a tough rugged dog that will retrieve winter geese without hesitation and will not hesitate to fight for the family. My wife and kids will be running the poco dyke with him so he will likely be fending off more than a few Blackies.

I have read through this older thread on health aspects already... http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?117312-Hard-evidence-on-the-benefit-to-waiting-to-spay-and-neuter-your-dog&highlight=neuter

[Big Lew]

I am trying to research more current info on it.... I do want a tough rugged dog that will retrieve winter geese without hesitation and will not hesitate to fight for the family. My wife and kids will be running the poco dyke with him so he will likely be fending off more than a few Blackies.

I have read through this older thread on health aspects already... http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?117312-Hard-evidence-on-the-benefit-to-waiting-to-spay-and-neuter-your-dog&highlight=neuter

Put the time and training into him and that'll greatly reduce troubles. There is a young fellow
that has a huge intact male pitbull in the neighbourhood. He has put in huge training hours
since it was a pup and it shows. He walks that dog everywhere, greeting all manner of other
dogs without any issues at all. That dog totally ignores other males as they walk by and those
dogs, big or small, seem to understand to keep their distance.
was a pup

[labguy]

Proper training (consistently setting, maintaining and enforcing standards) is the best method of ensuring your dog beccomes a good canine citizen. This is solely on you.

As far as roaming is concerned, with the odd exception, most dogs should be supervised at all times.

Most unsupervised dogs will, at some point, engage in unwanted behaviors......chasing wildlife, getting into garbage, chasing cars etc.

A female in heat will attract any un-neutered male from a great distance. It is difficult to control no matter how well trained.

[Wild one]

I personally believe training is what is important intact or neutered

I have seen many dogs and cats become lazy and have weight issues once neutered so I won't do it. I have seen other dogs that are fine even when neutered so it's not that it will wreck every hunting dog

I choose not to do to the possibility of negative effects and I don't want to have my dog look at me thinking you prick I want my nuts back lol

Your choice I just believe any behaviour issues that may be solved by neutering can be fixed with training instead and I choose to focuse on training instead

[Iron Glove]

Labguy says it pretty well, training trumps neutering in most cases.
Our male was intact until he was @ 3 years old, we had him on a breeder's contract at the time.
He was one the best mannered males around.
While he was still intact I took him to weekly agility classes where there were @ 10 dogs, male, female, intact, not intact and he was just a teddy bear. One guy had 2 Jack Russells who were friggin' nuts and one jumped my guy and was gnawing on his mane. My guy simply ignored it. The owner did run over as I went to punt the Jack Russell all apologetic then says "It's because your dog is intact." I looked at him and said "No, it's because your effing dog is untrained." He was told that his dogs had to be crated unless they were actually running the course.
One trainer we had said that neutering later in life for aggression issues is generally not effective as by then the behaviour is learned, not hormonal.

[tinhorse]

One other issue with neutered dogs is the likely hood of tearing knees. I read one study where neutered males are more likely to have knee issues than non-neutered males. small percentage but hey if there is a 5% better chance you pup doesn't blow a knee out, all the better.