Neutering male dog

Hi there everyone,
Well our dog is now just over a year old. He is a VERY small springer x cocker. We have booked him in to get him neutered next Thursday. This is only the second male dog we have owned (with our last male dog we did not have a choice as we had to get him done due to one testicle not dropping).
He is VERY active, full of energy, literally nearly bouncing off the walls sometimes, looking for something he can wreck! Hes got loads of toys, gets a run every day but still has loads more energy. What I would like to know is will neutering help calm him at all? Also, he does hump my leg quite a bit! Will neutering help that?
He is a fantastic little boy with a lovely temperament, he loves people, children and other dogs.
I'm just a little concerned about him having the op. as hes our baby and feel a bit protective over him. We have never left him with anyone before either!
Would love to hear other peoples views/experiences on this subject. Thanks.

Humping your leg is not necessarily anything to do with sex, that is training.

At one year old your dog is the equivalent of an oversexed spotty youth, so even if this is a surge of testosterone, it will pass.

If you have no overriding reason to neuter, my personal view is why fix something that aint broke?

As for calming him down, a sprocker will never be "laid back"!

Physical exercise alone will not tire a dog out he needs to be mentally challenged.

ps has anyone told you what might happen to his coat?

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=148393&page=2

http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/neuteringmaledogs

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongT...uterInDogs.pdf

Hi, thanks for your help.
The thread and the articles were very interesting. I am starting to have second thoughts about getting him done.
Yes I do try to train him into stopping the humping and it does not seem to be quite so often now!
Also, yes a lot of people have said that sprockers/springers never calm down at least until 6 years old!!!! He is definately more Springer than Cocker and looks like a miniature springer! He is the only dog we've had that we still have to put him in the puppy pen at a year old when we go out as he would wreck the house. I hate doing it though.
The only thing is if we get another female dog in the near future, the question arises again - do we get her spayed or him neutered? We have a female cocker at present who is spayed and he does take a bit of interest in her but not a lot.
Thanks again for your help, its certainly made me think again.

My neutered male was beside himself while my bitch was in season, now she's spayed peace reigns again. My non neutered males in the past were better than my current neutered one. Believe me its easier to have the bitch done, & you'll probably have to get her done even if he's done. My friends neutered male goes off his food when her bitch is in season & she puts him in kennels for the three weeks.

Let us know what you decide. My Labrador has just turned 13 months and I am not sure if I should have him neutered either.

Thousands of other neutered males have no such problems.

Like anything, it all depends.......

Hi, we have decided to cancel his op! For the time being at least.
When I rang to cancel I was told it should be done early to stop him getting into bad habits. But he is NOT a problem dog in any way (apart from being very lively) he does not try to escape or run away and his recall is excellent.
I always get the feeling that I'm being made to feel a bit guilty about not getting him done by the vets.

Deter was neutered by his previous owner, so I have no idea what he was like prior to that. I can tell you it doesn't seem to have affected his energy level though! He's still a real livewire!

So don't assume that neutering will calm your dog down that much - it may help a bit but a neutered dog can still be full of energy and mischief

Just read your latest post. He is your dog and only you get to decide what is best for him!

If your feeling is that he won't benefit from neutering, leave him be. From what you say he sounds wonderful!!

I know I've had a neutered rescue male myself who was no problem & I've had many entire males as I used to breed & show & I didn't have the problems with them I have with my current dog, but I'm just saying neutering doesn't always help. I had my current lad neutered as soon as I had him as he only had one testicle & I wanted to check one wasn't retained. I'm just glad I hadn't had him neutered to stop his behavior as it made no difference whatsoever.