Ralph was "done" when he got older as he exhibited all the undesireable behaviour which intact males can potentially have; mass scent marking, humping everyone and everything, very snappy at other male dogs, roaming etc, and he was generally quite erratic in other areas of life as he had quite complex issues and our vet advised..well a vet at our practice who we hadn't seen before, that we castrate as the hormones would be gone allowing us to focus on other areas..or something to that affect, I don't exactly remember.
It's been the worst thing ever, made his coat go mayhem, him very "tetchy", and he's been considerably more "on edge" since the chop. All things our actual vet said can be negatives.
Be warned, ESS when "done" get terrible TERRIBLE coats! I have to clip him now as stripping was becoming a nightmare!

Totally agree LS. They are just learing about the world, that's all...and practising. As I said before, they just need to learn manners.

Cosmo humps Biff at points. I know for sure some people would walk in and say he was being 'dominant'. It isn't though...it is frustration as it normally follows him spending half and hour trying to get Biff to play instead of sleep. It is his last ditch attempt at play. He then gives up and cuddles him instead. Aw.

Ralph was "done" when he got older as he exhibited all the undesireable behaviour which intact males can potentially have; mass scent marking, humping everyone and everything, very snappy at other male dogs, roaming etc, and he was generally quite erratic in other areas of life as he had quite complex issues and our vet advised..well a vet at our practice who we hadn't seen before, that we castrate as the hormones would be gone allowing us to focus on other areas..or something to that affect, I don't exactly remember.
It's been the worst thing ever, made his coat go mayhem, him very "tetchy", and he's been considerably more "on edge" since the chop. All things our actual vet said can be negatives.
Be warned, ESS when "done" get terrible TERRIBLE coats! I have to clip him now as stripping was becoming a nightmare!

Why PUT him through the OP?

Apart from that, I prefer my dogs to be as God intended

No offense, but you act like it is a major operation. It is not. Most vets have performed the surgery hundreds if not thousands of times. I have watched the surgery being performed as part of my degree and literally all they do is remove the sacks and tie the tubes.

From your perspective if your dog has issues with being put under GA, fair enough. But in the swing of things statistically very few dogs have issue with being put under anesthetic.



God didn't intend for dogs to sleep on their humans beds in heated houses and eat kibble, but they do. If more people had the "leave them as God intended them" attitude I dread to think how many more unwanted dogs there would be out there.

How do you teach it as unacceptable though. I just pull him off and say "no".

Thats all I have ever done and its worked

Can I ask the reason why those that go with leaving in tact chose to do this. Alot have mentioned that they wouldn't do it unless they had to but not mentioned the reasons why. Would really help us to know (as we sit here discussing Woody's balls over a nice bottle of red ;o)[/QUOTE]

I had all mine intact because I showed my dogs, as mentioned previously, bailey is no longer shown, and so is now neutered.

Mo

It isn't dominance. He is being a pushy puppy, that is all. If a young dog can turn a situation into his advantage (eg: getting a sneaky hump in ), it will!

If you correct him and then remove him immediately, and of course apologize to the owner, you are handling the situation the right way.

Has he been well socialised with other dogs? Not just in the park but on sort of playdates...has he spent lots of time in the company of an older dog? Yes, very well socialised - He has been in all kinds of situations
Yes, with the other dogs he is probably pushing his luck, but I do think it's dangerous to assume it's 'dominance' that word tend to blind people sometimes to other things that are going on.
It may be that Woody, for whatever reason, thinks that it is appropriate behaviour...you then have to look at why he would think that.I don't know...only you can look at when he is doing it...who he is doing it to, what he is doing it to and how frequently. (Is it EVERY male dog...or just some,what breeds, in what context...what does he do when they tell him off...does he accept it from that dog or does he keep trying it on?) It isn't necessarily 'dominance'... It's not just males, it's females too. There seems to be no pattern, some he does, some he doesn't

Out of interest is he cocking his leg yet? Nope

Okay...so why is Cosmo keeping his bits.
Partly because he is the opposite of macho,therfore I don't think it would do him any good. As has already been mentioned, neutered dogs can attract attention from entire males and he doesn't need that (and would get it I think).
He has never shown interest in bitches in heat...
I have seen young dogs castrated and I don't want to put him through it. It is great that others have seen young dogs bounce back from the op, that hasn't been my experience at all.
As far as I am concerned...testicles are an important part of a dog's anatomy and testosterone is an important hormone. Whilst it may be a small 'op' it still takes away quite an important thing (or things).
I do not want him being put through a GA at such a young age.
I do not want his coat to be spoilt by neutering, I love his coat and it will be spoilt if he loses his bits.

When Monty is humping Rich or his bed, or the sofa, or anything else (non dog) that takes his fancy we distract him with something else or give him a stern "no" and he stops. Mostly he does it when he's over excited so usually when we're playing.

He's never humped another dog so couldn't comment on what we do in that circumstance.

He also has humping dreams which we obviously don't stop him doing as i don't think its fair to wake him!

Just wanted to add that this isn't the case for all ESS. There are several working types in the village that have been neutered with no change to their coat at all, but it's definitely something to consider.

I would personally leave a male dog intact, but spay a bitch if she wasn't to be bred from.

As for breeding, definitely best left to the professionals. I must've spent in the region of £1,500 on health tests for Isla (PRA DNA, Gonioscopy, yearly MRD, GPRA & CPRA and hipscores not to mention many blood tests and a cardio referal) only to find she has cataracts. Imagine not doing the health tests and then finding your Woody had passed on a hereditary eye condition to the pups. Doesn't even bear thinking about!

No offense, but you act like it is a major operation. It is not. Most vets have performed the surgery hundreds if not thousands of times. I have watched the surgery being performed as part of my degree and literally all they do is remove the sacks and tie the tubes.

From your perspective if your dog has issues with being put under GA, fair enough. But in the swing of things statistically very few dogs have issue with being put under anesthetic.



God didn't intend for dogs to sleep on their humans beds in heated houses and eat kibble, but they do. If more people had the "leave them as God intended them" attitude I dread to think how many more unwanted dogs there would be out there.

In fairness, you don't seem to know much about LS and Loki. If you did you wouldn't have just said all that. She is also one of the most responsible owners on here.
I do get your point but I think you are making it to the wrong person.

I will reiterate that my dog is epileptic and any medical intervention has to be considered extremely carefully because it could prove to be fatal.

But that aside, I stand by my statement - I would not put a dog through an operation of any kind unless it was medically necessary.