No kidding. Sheesh people need to get out more. I’m bracing dogs for a hunting test now and expect nearly every one of them to be intact, except possibly for my almost 12 year old bitch.
We’ve got about 100 entries. It might be a love fest, right? Um… no. It won’t be.
This isn’t a very good reason to neuter a dog. For one, many neutered dogs AND spayed bitches will hump other dogs, toys, etc. So it may not change the behavior anyway.
Secondly, this behavior isn’t usually constant, or permanent, and it’s not unnatural. Neutering a puppy because we don’t want to see them to exhibit any type of normal hormonal or behavioral issue…is bizarre.
I had him neutered so he could not reproduce.
However, it does cut back on the humping as well.
What I had mentioned was that he already had the appointment, however he seemed more active around 6 months of age.
Most dogs around my area are neutered early. Only some breeders seem to tell new owners to wait until they are older, which the vets discourage.
Vets discourage it because they see the products of irresponsible dog ownership too often. There is ample evidence for waiting to desex dogs, but vets have to weigh that against the likelihood of people not being responsible. I’m sure it only takes a few times of being required to spay a pregnant bitch or euthanize a litter of puppies to come to the conclusion that early spay/neuter is safer, even if it not technically “healthier” for the animal.
As the owner of two unneutered males - it’s very possible to have intact dog/bitches and not have accidental litters. But yes, it requires owners to be responsible.
Off leash does not equal unsupervised. The vets I know, who keep up on the current research, are recommending that people wait to spay/neuter due to the fairly recent correlation with increases in cancer and orthopedic issues with early neutering.
This exactly! My family all have intact dogs as we show conformation and performance events and occasionally breed. We maybe average a litter every 5 years as we are breeding for our next dog and only when we have a waitlist, etc.
I have intact females as I like females only. My sister has intact males as she prefers males. Our dogs are off leash together on a regular basis. They are always under supervision. And if a female is in heat, she is not allowed off leash or around the males for 4 weeks.
We have never had an accidental litter, as we are very strict about it. Our male dogs learn from a young age how to behave around the girls.
At conformation shows and some performance events (although less often), you can have in heat females in the same ring with the males. They all learn how to behave. Of course it helps when the owners of the females are respectful-I warn the male’s owners, keep my females far away until they are ready to walk into the ring, keep them out of the building until they show. But these dogs learn to work with the distractions.
Even the males we are not showing do not get neutered until 18-24 months for health reasons.
I get the average pet owner does not want to deal with the hormones/behaviors and may not be as careful about keeping their intact male away from in heat females, etc. This is why vets recommend earlier spay/neuter.
I have never met a vet that advocates waiting, and I have worked for a few vets.
Because he is on my property which is 20 acres and has trails for riding and walking. He is not unsupervised off-leash, ever.
He had, until last week, been glued to our sides so we never had a worry about it. Since he got away from us on our on-property, supervised, off-leash walk, he is now on-leash. The fenced-in yard around the house is 1 acre or so, so he’s obviously off-leash in the dog yard.
Trying to add a picture …
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My neutered male and females have always been the ones humping the intact puppy, my kids, etc lol. Watching an old Aussie female hump the head of a boxer is pretty funny…I always heard around 1 year, I know they are pushing it back til later for health, although my 8 month Corgi definitely is getting some machismo.
What a cutie, my dad always wanted one, ex convinced him to get a Lab puppy instead ::facepalm:: Not a great choice in your 70’s.
Of course he is. He’s going through puberty. That’s why this is the age at which dogs need more training and usually more correction than as younger puppies.
Imagine if we took the same approach to behavior training with our children - neutering our young boys because they were growing into an adult. It’s a bizarre concept. Obviously unintended litters are to be avoided, but clearly there is a purpose to hormones other than just reproduction.
Callista17, I could introduce you to my primary care vet and also my previous shepherd’s orthopedic surgeon who performed both of the TPLO’s he had to have. He told me that Dennis’ only risk factor to blowing his crutiates was early neutering. I will admit that it’s a fairly recent change for my primary care vet and he may not recommend it for all his clients, but he knows me and knows that I’m a responsible dog owner. Hence, wait until 2yrs to neuter
This is new information based on primary research papers that were published in the last few years. It is starting to trickle out of academia/specialty circles to larger CE meetings, but it is certainly not something that is widely accepted by general practitioners.
Maybe you should have your vet read this; https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Reference/AnimalWelfare/Pages/Elective-Spaying-Neutering-Pets.aspx
This!!! Working at a vet office, we recommend spay/neuter on the earlier side (6ish months) because we see the results of irresponsible owners far too often… Like daily. And my friend who works in a shelter sees it even more. I don’t disagree though that if you’re a truly responsible owner, that waiting can be a good option… but you have to be extremely honest with yourself on how you can handle an in-tact dog. Unfortunately, in my experience, the average owner is not as responsible as a lot of you on this forum. We also see a ton of people with mutts with behavioral/health issues that are kept in tact because the owner is determined to breed them… ugh.
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