Let's talk castration!

Just back from the vets after Woody's 6 month check up. Apparently he is a favourite among everyone there and is often talked about and referred to as "that fantastic looking, well behaved springer"!! He also passed his check up with flying colours. Well done Woody.

So we obviously talked about castration. Now I thought that these days they laser them to reduce them (am sure this is what my Dad did with Jackson the Beagle), but she said they do it the old way by cutting him and popping them out.

I prefer the idea of the lasering but admit my info is VERY non existent, so what do you guys think about it all?

I'd absolutely love to stud him and keep one of the pups but am feeling more and more that this is best left to the professionals.

Looking forward to all your advice!

Hi Pidge

When Ollie was the same age I decided to leave it as late as possible, mainly due to advice I had read on this site about growth plates needing testosterone to close properly. Ollie had a nasty accident at 8 months which needed surgery to repair him, so I had it done at the same time to save him having to have another general anaesthetic (as they can be quite risky). The vet I spoke to didn't believe the growth plate theory and recommended all dogs should be neutered at 6 months. I suppose what I trying to say is, given an absolutely free choice I would have left it until he was 18+ months or completely unbearable - whichever was sooner. It certainly wouldn't have done him any harm and the growth plate theorists might be right.

Ooooooooo you've opened up the bag of worms with that one.

I have seen a lot of dogs neutered at 8-10 months and a few done at a few years of age for health/behavioural reasons.
IME the younger dogs do NOT sail through the op, their immune system is generally left compromised and they are ill.
The older dogs I've seen have been fine with it. No problems.

Cosmo has his furry plums. In fairness they are not very big. I personally think his brother stole some of his in the womb as apprently he is very well endowed. He will be keeping his bits. I have NO intention of using him at stud EVER although I do intend to get his eyes tested next year, for no other reason than his breeder has asked so she can monitor how ALL the dogs she's bred do on the health test side of things. I don't want him going through an op that will take away the things that produce the main male hormone in his body. I don't think that is a 'small' thing to do (despite the size of them) I think it is a pretty major thing to do to any animal.

IF he was a girl however...I would be far more likely to have him done, but not until he was mature enough, so I would think around 2 and a half/three...

Personally, I would wait until Woody is fully mature before even considering castration, and then you need to ask yourself why you are having him done.

Yogi is now 9 months old and I am yet undecided whether he will be neutered eventually or not, but I am erring on the side of not. I don't intend to breed from him but don't agree with neutering "just for the sake of it".

Well, I just had Ludo done yesterday. He is 11 months old, and a sheltie, so has finished growing.

To be honest, I was in two minds about it. I had planned to leave it till he was older, or not do at all, because of the growth plate thing. But after doing a lot of reading most vets seem to think that's poppycock and it's the endocrin (sp?) system that controls bone growth etc. So I waited till Ludo was regularly cocking his leg and showing other sexually mature behaviours. I had also read that the sheltie coat can be negatively affected, so that put me off a bit but I don't plan to show or breed him. As you said, best left to the experts. It also eliminates some health risks. Ludo also had a late decending testicle. It was there but would pop back up so the vet expressed some concern about that. Apparently it's a common sheltie thing but better safe than sorry I always think.

Something that cemented my decision was I witnessed a dog on the beach a couple months ago that was on heat and two off lead male dogs completely blanking their owners around and everyone was just very distressed. One of them was a springer that I see on the beach a lot and it is usually impecably behaved. I would hate for my dog to be in that situation and I figure it must be very frustrating for them to have functioning parts and full hormones not be able to use them.

I'm also a bit uncertain about my future and home situation at the moment, due to a relationship break down a few months ago and I think it will just be better peace of mind for me all round to know that Ludo's hormones are not able to cause problems whereever I go, since I might be moving into a house share situation where there is an unspayed bitch in residence.

Plus he'd gotten kind of humpy with female dogs and his bed etc. lol!

Sorry, that became a bit of a ramble, it's just been on my mind a lot since I made his appointment a couple of weeks ago.

I am in the "why not lose them if you ain't gonna use them" camp. I really see no point in keeping a pet dog intact and I have had consistently bad experiences with intact dogs when out walking my neutered boy. If I had a pound for every intact dog I had to physically drag back to its owner as it molests my dog I would be very rich.

Anyway, back to the point. I think 6 months is a little too young for a dog to be neutered. Any time after 12 months is ok, as Springer sized dogs tend to do the bulk of their growing in the first 6+ months.

I don't have a clue about laser. Mine had the traditional op (as have all my past dogs) and 24 hours later he was behaving as if he never had it done.

As for studding, I agree that it is best left to the professionals. An owner of a quality bitch (proven/health tested) will have the choice of any top male champion stud dog, so a dog needs to be more than just good looking to stand out from the crowd. Not to mention that if you wanted another dog like Woody, you can almost guarentee that you could find a dog from a very similar breeding -- a half/brother sister or something.

We had our 6 month old Beagle boy done 11 days ago. He sailed through it and would have been back to his normal antics the next day if we'd let him.

Our bitch was done at 6 months too without problem. I think early neutering is more important with a bitch for health reasons, and we did have more to consider when it came to our little boy.

At the end of the day, the clincher was that our dogs (because of their breed) really need to be off-lead playing every day to get the exercise they need to thrive. We can't avoid accidental pregnancies without restricting their freedom and exercise levels. Also, Beagles are a breed that you have to work hard with to avoid roaming. *IF* our little boy decided to go in search of a bitch in heat we'd not only risk loosing him to a car accident but we'd also have the problem of an unwanted learned behaviour.

Ours both hump each other like crazy and are very partial to regular oral sex. So I wouldn't count on that stopping when you have him done

I agree with the comments about the use of a dog at stud...

The highlighted part though...
I have found that castrated dogs DO get himped more by entire males, but that, I think, is because they give off a very confusing smell. It is also part of the reason Cosmo is keeping his bits for the foreseable.

Bryan was neuetered at about 11 months. I think that's young enough and wouldn't do it much earlier. I also agree with labrodork's comments and will always neuter my pet dogs.

However, Bryan does hump other dogs - he has a thing for male black labs whether they are neutered or not. And I agree with Ramble about neutered makes getting humped because of the change in smell, although Bryan has never been humped before (apart from by Tilly (SBT bitch)!)

I have no problem whatsoever with responsible owners of intact dogs. But they seem to be the minority over here. Just this morning I had to cut my walk short because an intact Lab bolted across the HUGE field to reach us and started humping my dog persistently. The owner (who was a speck in the distant) was just wailing the dogs name and made no effort to come and collect the dog as mine was getting more distressed. In the end I had to use my lead on this dog and drag it back to its owner.

This is a frequent occurrence for us with intact dogs.