Dilemma: When to Neuter?
Here's my dilemma: We have a five-month old male sheepie and we want to neuter him. However, I'm torn about when to neuter him. One of his testicles has not descended, so we have to neuter him. My vet recommends we neuter at 6 months, but I'm worried that neutering him at six months will affect his growth rate and that he will grow disproportionately and not conform to the breed standard. On the other hand, if we wait a couple months, he will begin marking and lifting his leg and we don't want to deal with his need to hump everything. With our last OES, we neutered at about 6 months when he started humping. Consequently, he never learned to lift his leg to eliminate and he grew into a big dog with very long rear legs. Any advice from the members here on when I should neuter? And how to I deal with a dog who gets mating urges, if I wait until he's seven or eight months old. Thanks, Big Al |
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| I don't know the "right" answer... no one answer fits all dogs. I've had two cryptorchid dogs... Bumble was altered at 9 months and Kobuck at 8 months but he was mistakenly left cryptrochid-intact (is that a word?). I don't think there's any need to rush out and neuter a dog just because he starts humping... consistent training probably works for many dogs, training for better self control of those new urges. Training I think is the biggest thing but others can tell you more. I may have been able to leave Bumble intact longer because he was a gentleman and listened... he never was much of a humper but he was a lower energy dog. I had a hard time finding information on how long you can leave a cryptorchid dog intact before the cancer risk rises. I think now that a couple years even may be safe but at the time, no one could tell me. And I was dealing with a family member with cancer so I erred on the side of being overly cautious. Early training is essential but it depends on how motivated a cryptorchid dog is... each dog will be different. Bumble had to be told a few times not to hump... emphatically one time as a young pup when he tried to hump me (I will always thank you for that, Lisa). He actually tries to hump a little more now with Kobuck here, and it's only Kobuck, so he's told- OFF! (Funny really because the humper has become the humpee  ) I don't allow it because I see it as rude and a source for problems. The boy that was inadvertently left cryptorchid-intact developed obsessive behavior shortly after his first neuter. He was a little under 2 years old when he arrived and this was a first introduction to Bumble- http://oesusa.com/BumblesBounceWithKobuck.html There's a more graphic video of how intense the urge was but I won't post it here.  We were able to get the mounting behavior under control just before his second neuter surgery with strict supervision and zero tolerance but clearly the immense urge to do so was still there. We had tested to see if he might still be intact, testosterone levels indicated an intact male, he was successfully neutered and behaviors stopped within 3 weeks. I mean simply STOPPED. They say it's hard to "unring" a bell with some behaviors sometimes but it was amazing. Probably something to do with him being cryptorchid-intact, not just intact. That was it... no more humping, no more marking (he stands in one place now and empties his bladder), his focus went from the back half of all dogs to the face end, no more drooling, licking and he could focus on play rather than procreation. But again, he was 2 years old when altered. This was most likely one of the more extreme (putting it mildly) cases but I only have these two dogs to base my opinions on so remember this when making your decision. Oh, and these two boys live with 6 girls (spayed). I was afraid to bring my first male thinking he'd be humping everyone but it never happen... then I purposely brought in one that was an obsessive humper. Go figure...Good luck with your decision! |
Our Nelson has never once exhibited any humping behavior and he's 6 yrs. old and intact. When he was through showing we just never saw the urgency to neuter him and he's never out of our sight. He's great with people and other dogs (TDI therapy certified) and still squats to pee, or barely lifts his leg on occasion.  We would never consider breeding him. I often wonder if he's sporting "neuticles".  On the other hand, we've fostered dogs that had been neutered as soon as the previous owner's vet would do it. In some cases that's very young. Some of these dogs were worse humpers and higher leg-lifters than many intact dogs that have come into our rescue. Remember that not all humping behavior is sexual, it's usually an exhibition of dominance over their people or other pets. Given a choice I would probably wait until your pup is a year old. You may be worrying about "bad behavior" for no reason. It's a valid point about a dogs growth although his structure will probably have more to do with genetics than the age of neutering. Unlike a female in season, if your pup does begin to exhibit an attraction to the ladies there's no reason he can't be neutered then. With the girls a vet will prefer to wait until they're through their heat cycle to alter. |
We had Oliver neutered at 8 months. He was starting to hump his favorite zebra stuffie at about 6 months, so we just got rid of the stuffie. If I would have known better back then, I would have waited until he was a year old. At about a year their bones are fully hardened and they are pretty much done growing height wise (they will fill out for another year or so). Leg lifting is a learned behavior, so I wouldn't be worried about him squatting even if neutered young. Oliver out of the blue one day starting lifting his leg when he was 3  . Do keep in mind that the older he is, generally the more it costs to neuter. |
| I would wait.... it really is healthier for them. In my own somewhat limited experience with males (have only had 2 male oes, but know others very well) I don't know any males that hump things they aren't supposed to, even stud dogs. Of the males I've had and have no one lifts their leg, but Willy is only a little over two so that may change. Every dog is different though... none of the males I've known have had dominant personalities which is what I think it would take to bring those behaviors out. I've had a female who used to lift her leg and hump things tho |
| I have male intact dogs, my first male never tried to hump anything. My second male tried on me at 6 months old and we got on top of that straight away with training, he never humped any toys or any one else in the family just me and I think it was a dominence try with me and being a female. He only did that once outside with me and I won and he has never tried it again. He is 3 now and with dangles has never marked in the house and still squats to pee and so far has never lifted his leg. Which I prefer as less messy with pee running down the legs when they do lift there leg. Now with your chap if you can wait till over 12 months better health wise for him in the long term of things and yes with the undescended testie it has to come out but later after turning 1 is more beneficial for him and it is more of an operation then just a standard neutering, more like a bitch spay as they have to go into the body cavity to find the missing testie. Here is some info on desexing so yes you do have too but if you can wait, better for your boy http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTerm ... InDogs.pdf Oh and stacey his sister humps him usually the head  to dominate her bro, we have to tell her now "OFF"  and with Kelsey and being a girl, she lifted her legs to pee on the run, too busy to squat like a lady and left this long zig zag trail behind her on the run |
| Langley will hump his bed sometimes usually when he is being ignored. Laika (female) humps him. I think he thinks it is a game. Sometimes I can hear them in the other room after running around and I hear the squeak squeak of the couch.  Makes me laugh. They never tried humping me with me ever.  Pillow is the colour of a sheepdog... hmmm.  |
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