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Dogomania

Neutering....


LuvMyMiko

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Hey Everyone,

I have a 1yr & 8mo old lhasa. And lately he has been marking up my house.

I was reading the training forum and found that it was recommended to have your dog neutered at 6months.

My question is .... is it ok for me to neuter my dog at his age now? Are there any cons? and lastly how much does it generally cost?

thanks

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my lhasa weighs about 15lbs max, he is a small dog.

my main concern is that his personality will change. someone told me he will become sad b/c his "manhood" will be taken away. :(

but i def. have to do something about his wanting to mark every corner in the house b/c he is driving my mother absolutely crazy. :roll:

up until recently he's even gone as far as urinating on my sister-in-law's bed everytime he has a chance to sneak into her room :oops: . everytime we visit (every weekend) she has to keep her bedroom door shut.

im open to any ideas.

Thanks.

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The age old neutering argument, does it or doesn't it make a male dog incomplete somehow??
People will argue blue in the face about this, especially females, but ask most males and they will say that castrating a male dog changes him more than they tell you. It is such a subtle difference that you can't really define it accurately, but the subtle difference shows in everything he does.

If a change of behaviour is what you require then I am all for chopping the fella's nurries off, but he will also lose his male essence.
Castrating will repress dominant behaviour, aggression, territory marking etc but these things are the things that make a male dog what he is.

Intact male dogs have a certain cockiness, a blase attitude to life, an often foolhardy and energetic tilt on how they should behave. They like to scrap or act tuff, depending on the breed, and they all like to strut around like they own the neighbourhood. I think, purely my opinion here, that male dogs tend to be more fun and up for it than females. I think female dogs are often more aggresive than males too. I love female dogs, don't get me wrong, but as far as having a mate, one of the boys, a dude to do stupid stuff with, a male is better. The female will do all the stupid stuff with you but you can see she's only doing it to keep you happy, the male dog does it because he thinks the stupid stuff is as much fun as you do.

When the testicles are removed, the cause/byproduct of these behaviours is removed and the dogs change.
I'm very much against backyard puppies and families who think it would be cute to let their little pet have pups to the neighbour's mutt, so I'm all for castration of dogs and spadeing of bitches unless you can be absolutely sure that your intact dog or bitch doesn't get out of the yard unsupervised.
In my case, if I had Reg's nuts removed he wouldn't be the funny, foolhardy, ever ready, indomitable hero that he truly believes he is.
He'd still be a lovely pet but the "glint" in his eyes would be dulled.

God, I'd hate it if it were done to me, there'd be no point to life???
:drinking: :cry: :drinking:

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Miko --- there seems to be some differences in opinions about the neutering of a male dog.

First --- all that neutering does is ensure that he can not impregnate a female.

It does not, however; ensure that he will lose the "glint" from his eye. Mounting, fighting, posturing are all signs of a dominance behaviour --- found in BOTH sexes. Many neutered males do not lose this attitude, many do.

I've seen male dogs (first hand and I have one) that still will go thru EVERY motion with a female dog. He will ejaculate and hang up. He just is sterile. He will mark (NOT as bad, because of training) when a female is in heat. He postures, he is sure that he is the alpha dog, he is cocky as any in-tact male and a royal pain in the butt sometimes. He is JUST like an in-tact male, without testicles.

NOT every male is like this, some are, some aren't (most aren't).

My in-tact male, woke up one day (literally) and started marking. I caught him in the act and really scolded him hard. He'll start to mark and look right at me. All I have to do is point at him and he stops. After that episode, he hasn't marked since.

By all means, neuter your male and spay your female. They both will be the SAME dogs, attitude wise --- maybe better --- and I'll bet he'll stop marking his territory (after you scrub everything clean) and there will be no unwanted puppies. And.....life will be enjoyable. :wink:

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LuvMyMiko, I had my male Lhasa neutered at about 3 years old. We waited so late because we didn't really have a need to before then. All my females were spayed and he didn't mark MOST of the time. However, there are a lot of dogs that roam our neighborhood and every time a female in heat would come through, he would make himself and us crazy. THEN he would start the marking and drooling and pacing.

Anyway, even though it was done so late, it didn't change him a bit. One thing is that he seemed to be a bit more sore and took a little longer to heal than my other dogs (male and female) that I'd had done earlier, but he had no major longterm problems. He definitely still has all the spark he had before and it hasn't altered his character one bit. He just no longer gets really stupid every time some ho' dog comes around.

I vote "yes," also! :)

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I read somewhere that neutering at an older age will not change the dog much at all because he's already mature. It will probally stop the marking but the dog's personality will be much the same. Unless you can put up with the marking and the hassle when there's a female around I do suggest you neuter him.

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I don't know, bk was snipped at 6 months and he is still very "intact" in his behaviour at age 7. If ever there was a glint in a dog's eye, it's in his. :wink:
I don't think you've got anything to lose by neutering him. It has a lot of benefits and yes, he should be mature by now, so his personality shouldn't be too affected. :)

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Jesse was neutered at 6 months. While he is a bit mellower than some intact males we've encountered, I don't think the operation was the direct cause. He certainly still acts STUDLY around the ladies. At agility class, a female golden was ringside, Jesse pranced up to her, practically stood on his tip toes and was most definitely whispering lewd suggestions in her ear as she nipped his muzzle. This golden gets along famously with both my girls and is very laid back with other dogs. Jesse has challenged other males and been challenged, I intervene before serious threats come about. He's 11.5 years old, he STILL thinks he is lord and master of his domain.

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I had Alex neutered at 2 years ( he's a rescue) and other than take away some of his determination to run off (not ALL of it, by any means) his personality remains pretty much the same as it was before I got him. (according to my son, who used to play with him while he was left tied up outside all day) He is not an aggressive dog to begin with, so his personality didnt get "tougher" or "weaker" - he pretty much remained the same.

My female is more aggressive than my male; but both still mount when they are trying to be dominant - Neither is less playful or has less "spark".... It costs less to neuter a male because it is not extensive surgery. Spaying can be quite costly. And both will still guard the house
and bark at strangers, etc. Nothing really changed, except now neither of them have an unfullfilled sexual urge.

So I vote yes! Just do it!

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Guest Anonymous

I'd say neuter him...but training can help too. Is he allowed on furniture? don't let him on the furniture and keep a squirt bottle always in your hand...get the ninety eight cents one at walmart, set it on stream (you'll get a fifteen foot squirt that way--hit him from across the room) and watch him always. if he doesn't know come, teach it to him, and make him follow you from room to room. put him in a crate when you absolutely cannot watch him. get a big bottle of vinegar and go to all the areas he's already marked...if they are very old, first sponge them with warm water, then pour the vinegar on. get as much out of the carpet as you can, and let it dry. He may keep going to those spots because he feels they are his, but if he can't smell his "smell" there he will most probably stop going there. I put dirty, smelly clothes down (my workout clothes-yucky) where my dog was marking, after removing his smell. He didn't mark over my smell.

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