Post by Adrianne on Dec 8, 2013 8:30:37 GMT
How Will Neutering Change My Dog?
You’ll gain medical and behavioural benefits by having your male dog neutered. You’ll also help control the pet overpopulation crisis, which results in millions of healthy dogs and cats being euthanized each year simply because there aren’t enough homes to go around. While the traditional age for neutering is six to nine months, puppies as young as eight weeks old can be neutered as long as they’re healthy. Dogs can be neutered as adults as well, although there’s a slightly higher risk of post-operative complications in older dogs who are overweight.
Medical Benefits
There are significant medical benefits to be gained from neutering your dog. Neutering prevents the following medical conditions:
•Testicular cancer Neutering removes the testes and eliminates the risk of your dog developing testicular cancer, a common and life-threatening cancer in older male dogs.
•Prostate problems Without neutering, your dog’s prostate will gradually enlarge as he gets older. This can become uncomfortable for him and even make urination difficult. If the prostate becomes infected, it’s difficult to treat without neutering. While neutering doesn’t completely guard against prostate cancer, it does prevent enlargement and possible infection of the prostate.
Behavioural Changes
The only behaviours influenced by neutering are related to male sex hormones. Neutering won’t affect your dog’s working abilities, friendliness, playfulness or personality. However, hormones like testosterone are reduced by neutering, which can reduce behaviours associated with them. You may see a reduction in the following behaviours after neutering your dog:
•Urine marking - Testosterone makes a dog more interested in advertising his presence by urine marking. Neutering your dog will reduce his desire to excessively mark his surroundings with urine. This includes areas outside and around your yard, as well as inside your home.
•Roaming - Unaltered dogs often try to leave home in search of females in heat, which puts them at risk of getting lost and being injured or killed on roadways. Neutered dogs tend to live longer than sexually intact dogs, probably because they’re less likely to engage in risky behaviours like roaming. Neutering will lessen or eliminate your dog’s urge to roam.
•Aggression
Some studies suggest that neutering can decrease aggression toward other male dogs because testosterone might increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour. Other studies have found no significant relationship between aggression and neutering. It’s possible that competition for mates results in aggression between male dogs, so a dog’s urge to fight with other males might go away when his desire for females is eliminated by neutering. However, there are many complex reasons why dogs fight, and you may not see any changes in your dog’s aggressive behaviour simply because he’s been neutered.
•Social problems Other male dogs can easily detect an unneutered dog’s high testosterone level and become aggressive. This can make your intact dog a target of harassment by other male dogs. Neutering can reduce or eliminate this undesirable attention.
•Inappropriate mounting - Your dog might be less likely to mount other dogs, people and inanimate objects after he’s neutered. However, mounting is a complex behaviour. It can be a sexual behaviour, but it can also be a playful behaviour or an attempt to control anxiety and stress. Only sexually motivated mounting can be reduced by neutering. And although a dog’s interest in females in heat will diminish after neutering, it might not be completely eliminated. He might still become aroused and try to mate if he encounters a receptive female.
To PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT of the behaviours listed above, it’s best to neuter your dog before he reaches sexual maturity at six to nine months of age. That way, he’s unlikely to develop unwanted habits. If your dog has practiced these habits for months or years, they might persist even after neutering. However, if you have an older dog, it’s still a good idea to neuter him. Even if you can’t completely get rid of his problematic behaviours, you might see them less often after he’s neutered—and neutering will still be beneficial to his physical health.
If your dog still has habits that you dislike after you neuter him, like excessive urine marking, roaming, aggression or inappropriate mounting, it’s best to seek professional advice. Getting help is particularly important if your dog has an aggression problem.
A Common Myth
Neutering as a Quick Fix for All Behaviour Problems
Some people think that neutering a dog will immediately get rid of all his behaviour problems. Although it often reduces undesirable behaviours caused by a higher level of testosterone, there’s no a guarantee that your dog’s behaviour will change after he’s neutered. Although the surgery will reduce the amount of testosterone in your dog’s system, it won’t eliminate the hormone completely. The effects of neutering are largely dependent on your dog’s individual personality, physiology and history.
Neutering is unlikely to change fearful or aggressive behaviour toward people or other dogs unless the aggression is specifically related to competition over access to female dogs. If your dog continues to have serious behaviour problems after he’s neutered, find a behaviour expert near you.
Potential Detriments of Neutering
Although neutering is beneficial in many ways, there are a few potential effects to be aware of:
•A small percentage of male dogs become attractive to intact male dogs after being neutered. Other male dogs may become sexually aroused and try to mount your neutered dog.
•Dogs neutered before they’ve stopped growing may grow slightly taller than they would have had they not been neutered.
•There is a very slight increased risk for neutered dogs to develop osteosarcoma and hemangiosarcoma (two kinds of cancer), particularly those breeds that are already predisposed to these diseases.
•Dogs neutered prior to five months of age may be slightly more likely to develop hip dysplasia and cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture, particularly those breeds that are already predisposed to these diseases.
•Neutered dogs are at increased risk of developing hypothyroidism.
•Physiological changes after neutering may affect your dog’s metabolism and appetite, making him prone to weight gain. There’s some evidence to suggest that puppies neutered before five months of age are at greater risk of becoming obese than puppies neutered later. This potential drawback is easily controlled with appropriate diet and exercise. If you notice that your dog looks overweight, you can decrease the amount of food you give him and increase his exercise.
The subject of castration has to be dealt with rationally as there are definite circumstances where the surgical removal of a dog's testicles can help to improve problem behaviour. Indeed, castration can help prevent the development of some behavioural problems which in addition to the prevention of unwanted litters, is a good reason for the neutering policy adopted by many rescue organisations.
Sometimes owners are reluctant to neuter their dog because they know someone whose dog was castrated but its behaviour did not improve. Sadly there are occasions when this occurs, normally because the operation was not appropriate in the circumstances. For example, an owner may be led to believe that castration may stop the dog being aggressive to other people and dogs, but they will be disappointed if the aggression is motivated by fear, which is not a testosterone (male hormone) related problem. Accurate diagnosis is therefore essential to determine whether castration is appropriate.
As a rule of thumb, castration is most likely to be curative when the problem behaviour is sexually dimorphic. In other words, it is specific to, or more common in, one sex than the other. Males exhibit behaviours which are influenced by testosterone, such as scent marking, roaming away from home to find potential mates, inappropriate sexual behaviour, aggression towards other males, and sometimes competitive aggression towards humans.
Even when castration is relevant, there is only a percentage chance that it will work. This varies from 90% for some problems, such as roaming to find potential mates, down to 50% for others such as inappropriate scent marking. This is because the male brain is programmed to display male behaviour by testosterone even before birth. If the accurate diagnosis of a problem shows that castration is likely to help, the chances of success are greatly improved if the operation is done in conjunction with behaviour modification therapy, preferably carried out under the guidance of a behaviour counsellor.
One of the emotive arguments against castration is that it is unnatural. Well, yes it is, but we expect our dogs to live in an unnatural world. They are subjected to pressures they would not encounter if they were running wild like their cousins the coyotes etc...
For example, it's natural for packs of wolves to attack any other wolves they encounter on their territory, whereas a dog, which still has many of the same instinctive drives, is expected to accept all the male dogs it meets in the park quite happily. It's natural for males to mark their territory with scent by leaving droplets of urine in prominent places, such as trees, but it's rather distressing if the dog develops the habit of anointing the furniture or the reverend's leg! It's also natural for dogs to compete with other group members for access to food or other resources. However, things can get difficult if this competition is directed at other dogs or human members of the family.
Understandably, dog owners are often concerned about removing their dog's reproductive drive and its potential to mate. However, breeding should not be undertaken lightly - there are enough unwanted dogs as it is. Certainly, mating should never be allowed in the hope that relieving the dog's frustrations will cure his behavioural problems. Once he has bitten that particular apple, his machismo and inclination to perform problem behaviours is likely to increase, not decrease.
Perhaps the fact that most dogs are not allowed to mate for fear of creating unwanted puppies is the most convincing argument for the routine neutering of dogs. An unneutered male can lead a frustrated life, especially if he is likely to encounter the smell of bitches on heat. Surely it's better to save him that agony. After all, if he's never read Playdog, he won't know what he's missing!
Castration Risks and Benefits: Dogs
Recent research suggests that the health risks of castration may outweigh the benefits for most male dogs, although there may be individual exceptions to this. The advice below may change in the light of future research.
Castration likely to be beneficial in:
Dogs showing masculine behaviours likely to be related to testosterone:
o Escaping to find bitches and showing excessive interest in bitches including mounting
o Indoor urine marking
o Confident aggression to other male dogs only (particularly entire males)
o Excessive mounting of bedding, people, other items
NB castration should reduce the severity of these problems but may not completely eliminate them; behaviour modification may also be needed. Castration sooner rather than later should reduce the effect learning may have in maintaining behaviours longer term.
• Dogs that live with or near entire bitches and become very frustrated when they are in season or if there is a risk of unwanted mating.
Castration may be beneficial in:
• Aggression between two entire male dogs that live together: if two entire male dogs are competing for resources, and do not tend to defer to each other to diffuse conflict, castrating the slightly less confident dog may help reduce the tension between the dogs but ONLY if done alongside BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION (advise behaviour consult before castration).
• Dogs showing aggression that does not seem to be motivated by fear, but ONLY if done alongside BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION to address the reason why the dog is showing aggression (advise behaviour consult before castration).
Castration unlikely to be beneficial in dogs showing:
• Unruly, over-excitable adolescent behaviour: this will respond better to reward-based training and appropriate mental and physical stimulation.
• Inappropriate predatory, hunting or herding behaviours e.g. chasing inappropriate targets, digging etc.
Castration may be detrimental in:
• Dogs that are generally fearful/unconfident or specifically fearful of unfamiliar people, places and being handled:
o These dogs should be left entire if showing no testosterone - related behaviour problems.
o If these dogs are showing testosterone - related behaviour problems, behaviour modification should be implemented first to reduce fear, before considering castration.
• Large breeds of dog, especially those prone to joint problems and osteosarcoma (e.g. Rottweiler), and active/performance dogs such as those engaging in agility, flyball, canicross etc.
o These dogs should be left entire if showing no testosterone-related behaviour problems
o If castration is necessary, ideally wait until after the dog is skeletally mature (all growth plates have fully fused).
• Dogs with history of vaccine reactions, or auto-immune disease, including hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, Addison’s disease (or known history in close relations): castration can aggravate these problems
• Dogs with chronic skin diseases e.g. atopy, ear infections, anal gland infections: castration can aggravate these problems and may also increase the risk of dog becoming attractive to other male dogs due to pheromone alteration.
You’ll gain medical and behavioural benefits by having your male dog neutered. You’ll also help control the pet overpopulation crisis, which results in millions of healthy dogs and cats being euthanized each year simply because there aren’t enough homes to go around. While the traditional age for neutering is six to nine months, puppies as young as eight weeks old can be neutered as long as they’re healthy. Dogs can be neutered as adults as well, although there’s a slightly higher risk of post-operative complications in older dogs who are overweight.
Medical Benefits
There are significant medical benefits to be gained from neutering your dog. Neutering prevents the following medical conditions:
•Testicular cancer Neutering removes the testes and eliminates the risk of your dog developing testicular cancer, a common and life-threatening cancer in older male dogs.
•Prostate problems Without neutering, your dog’s prostate will gradually enlarge as he gets older. This can become uncomfortable for him and even make urination difficult. If the prostate becomes infected, it’s difficult to treat without neutering. While neutering doesn’t completely guard against prostate cancer, it does prevent enlargement and possible infection of the prostate.
Behavioural Changes
The only behaviours influenced by neutering are related to male sex hormones. Neutering won’t affect your dog’s working abilities, friendliness, playfulness or personality. However, hormones like testosterone are reduced by neutering, which can reduce behaviours associated with them. You may see a reduction in the following behaviours after neutering your dog:
•Urine marking - Testosterone makes a dog more interested in advertising his presence by urine marking. Neutering your dog will reduce his desire to excessively mark his surroundings with urine. This includes areas outside and around your yard, as well as inside your home.
•Roaming - Unaltered dogs often try to leave home in search of females in heat, which puts them at risk of getting lost and being injured or killed on roadways. Neutered dogs tend to live longer than sexually intact dogs, probably because they’re less likely to engage in risky behaviours like roaming. Neutering will lessen or eliminate your dog’s urge to roam.
•Aggression
Some studies suggest that neutering can decrease aggression toward other male dogs because testosterone might increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour. Other studies have found no significant relationship between aggression and neutering. It’s possible that competition for mates results in aggression between male dogs, so a dog’s urge to fight with other males might go away when his desire for females is eliminated by neutering. However, there are many complex reasons why dogs fight, and you may not see any changes in your dog’s aggressive behaviour simply because he’s been neutered.
•Social problems Other male dogs can easily detect an unneutered dog’s high testosterone level and become aggressive. This can make your intact dog a target of harassment by other male dogs. Neutering can reduce or eliminate this undesirable attention.
•Inappropriate mounting - Your dog might be less likely to mount other dogs, people and inanimate objects after he’s neutered. However, mounting is a complex behaviour. It can be a sexual behaviour, but it can also be a playful behaviour or an attempt to control anxiety and stress. Only sexually motivated mounting can be reduced by neutering. And although a dog’s interest in females in heat will diminish after neutering, it might not be completely eliminated. He might still become aroused and try to mate if he encounters a receptive female.
To PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT of the behaviours listed above, it’s best to neuter your dog before he reaches sexual maturity at six to nine months of age. That way, he’s unlikely to develop unwanted habits. If your dog has practiced these habits for months or years, they might persist even after neutering. However, if you have an older dog, it’s still a good idea to neuter him. Even if you can’t completely get rid of his problematic behaviours, you might see them less often after he’s neutered—and neutering will still be beneficial to his physical health.
If your dog still has habits that you dislike after you neuter him, like excessive urine marking, roaming, aggression or inappropriate mounting, it’s best to seek professional advice. Getting help is particularly important if your dog has an aggression problem.
A Common Myth
Neutering as a Quick Fix for All Behaviour Problems
Some people think that neutering a dog will immediately get rid of all his behaviour problems. Although it often reduces undesirable behaviours caused by a higher level of testosterone, there’s no a guarantee that your dog’s behaviour will change after he’s neutered. Although the surgery will reduce the amount of testosterone in your dog’s system, it won’t eliminate the hormone completely. The effects of neutering are largely dependent on your dog’s individual personality, physiology and history.
Neutering is unlikely to change fearful or aggressive behaviour toward people or other dogs unless the aggression is specifically related to competition over access to female dogs. If your dog continues to have serious behaviour problems after he’s neutered, find a behaviour expert near you.
Potential Detriments of Neutering
Although neutering is beneficial in many ways, there are a few potential effects to be aware of:
•A small percentage of male dogs become attractive to intact male dogs after being neutered. Other male dogs may become sexually aroused and try to mount your neutered dog.
•Dogs neutered before they’ve stopped growing may grow slightly taller than they would have had they not been neutered.
•There is a very slight increased risk for neutered dogs to develop osteosarcoma and hemangiosarcoma (two kinds of cancer), particularly those breeds that are already predisposed to these diseases.
•Dogs neutered prior to five months of age may be slightly more likely to develop hip dysplasia and cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture, particularly those breeds that are already predisposed to these diseases.
•Neutered dogs are at increased risk of developing hypothyroidism.
•Physiological changes after neutering may affect your dog’s metabolism and appetite, making him prone to weight gain. There’s some evidence to suggest that puppies neutered before five months of age are at greater risk of becoming obese than puppies neutered later. This potential drawback is easily controlled with appropriate diet and exercise. If you notice that your dog looks overweight, you can decrease the amount of food you give him and increase his exercise.
The subject of castration has to be dealt with rationally as there are definite circumstances where the surgical removal of a dog's testicles can help to improve problem behaviour. Indeed, castration can help prevent the development of some behavioural problems which in addition to the prevention of unwanted litters, is a good reason for the neutering policy adopted by many rescue organisations.
Sometimes owners are reluctant to neuter their dog because they know someone whose dog was castrated but its behaviour did not improve. Sadly there are occasions when this occurs, normally because the operation was not appropriate in the circumstances. For example, an owner may be led to believe that castration may stop the dog being aggressive to other people and dogs, but they will be disappointed if the aggression is motivated by fear, which is not a testosterone (male hormone) related problem. Accurate diagnosis is therefore essential to determine whether castration is appropriate.
As a rule of thumb, castration is most likely to be curative when the problem behaviour is sexually dimorphic. In other words, it is specific to, or more common in, one sex than the other. Males exhibit behaviours which are influenced by testosterone, such as scent marking, roaming away from home to find potential mates, inappropriate sexual behaviour, aggression towards other males, and sometimes competitive aggression towards humans.
Even when castration is relevant, there is only a percentage chance that it will work. This varies from 90% for some problems, such as roaming to find potential mates, down to 50% for others such as inappropriate scent marking. This is because the male brain is programmed to display male behaviour by testosterone even before birth. If the accurate diagnosis of a problem shows that castration is likely to help, the chances of success are greatly improved if the operation is done in conjunction with behaviour modification therapy, preferably carried out under the guidance of a behaviour counsellor.
One of the emotive arguments against castration is that it is unnatural. Well, yes it is, but we expect our dogs to live in an unnatural world. They are subjected to pressures they would not encounter if they were running wild like their cousins the coyotes etc...
For example, it's natural for packs of wolves to attack any other wolves they encounter on their territory, whereas a dog, which still has many of the same instinctive drives, is expected to accept all the male dogs it meets in the park quite happily. It's natural for males to mark their territory with scent by leaving droplets of urine in prominent places, such as trees, but it's rather distressing if the dog develops the habit of anointing the furniture or the reverend's leg! It's also natural for dogs to compete with other group members for access to food or other resources. However, things can get difficult if this competition is directed at other dogs or human members of the family.
Understandably, dog owners are often concerned about removing their dog's reproductive drive and its potential to mate. However, breeding should not be undertaken lightly - there are enough unwanted dogs as it is. Certainly, mating should never be allowed in the hope that relieving the dog's frustrations will cure his behavioural problems. Once he has bitten that particular apple, his machismo and inclination to perform problem behaviours is likely to increase, not decrease.
Perhaps the fact that most dogs are not allowed to mate for fear of creating unwanted puppies is the most convincing argument for the routine neutering of dogs. An unneutered male can lead a frustrated life, especially if he is likely to encounter the smell of bitches on heat. Surely it's better to save him that agony. After all, if he's never read Playdog, he won't know what he's missing!
Castration Risks and Benefits: Dogs
Recent research suggests that the health risks of castration may outweigh the benefits for most male dogs, although there may be individual exceptions to this. The advice below may change in the light of future research.
Castration likely to be beneficial in:
Dogs showing masculine behaviours likely to be related to testosterone:
o Escaping to find bitches and showing excessive interest in bitches including mounting
o Indoor urine marking
o Confident aggression to other male dogs only (particularly entire males)
o Excessive mounting of bedding, people, other items
NB castration should reduce the severity of these problems but may not completely eliminate them; behaviour modification may also be needed. Castration sooner rather than later should reduce the effect learning may have in maintaining behaviours longer term.
• Dogs that live with or near entire bitches and become very frustrated when they are in season or if there is a risk of unwanted mating.
Castration may be beneficial in:
• Aggression between two entire male dogs that live together: if two entire male dogs are competing for resources, and do not tend to defer to each other to diffuse conflict, castrating the slightly less confident dog may help reduce the tension between the dogs but ONLY if done alongside BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION (advise behaviour consult before castration).
• Dogs showing aggression that does not seem to be motivated by fear, but ONLY if done alongside BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION to address the reason why the dog is showing aggression (advise behaviour consult before castration).
Castration unlikely to be beneficial in dogs showing:
• Unruly, over-excitable adolescent behaviour: this will respond better to reward-based training and appropriate mental and physical stimulation.
• Inappropriate predatory, hunting or herding behaviours e.g. chasing inappropriate targets, digging etc.
Castration may be detrimental in:
• Dogs that are generally fearful/unconfident or specifically fearful of unfamiliar people, places and being handled:
o These dogs should be left entire if showing no testosterone - related behaviour problems.
o If these dogs are showing testosterone - related behaviour problems, behaviour modification should be implemented first to reduce fear, before considering castration.
• Large breeds of dog, especially those prone to joint problems and osteosarcoma (e.g. Rottweiler), and active/performance dogs such as those engaging in agility, flyball, canicross etc.
o These dogs should be left entire if showing no testosterone-related behaviour problems
o If castration is necessary, ideally wait until after the dog is skeletally mature (all growth plates have fully fused).
• Dogs with history of vaccine reactions, or auto-immune disease, including hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, Addison’s disease (or known history in close relations): castration can aggravate these problems
• Dogs with chronic skin diseases e.g. atopy, ear infections, anal gland infections: castration can aggravate these problems and may also increase the risk of dog becoming attractive to other male dogs due to pheromone alteration.
