The main reason for neutering is birth control. You don't want to be responsible for him fathering unwanted puppies that end up being killed for lack of homes.

Marking is a training issue in most cases. In the rare cases where a dog is a crazy obsessive marker (my grandpa's dog was like that), neutering does help most of the time. But mostly it's about what you allow him to do.

Neutering doesn't cause a dog to be overweight---overfeeding and underexercising does that. A neutered dog does have lower caloric needs, but you just feed him less and it's fine.

If you're 100% confident that you can keep him 100% contained, neutering isn't strictly necessary. But most people can't keep their pets 100% contained. Keep in mind that dogs can breed through wire/chain-link fencing, so if he's ever left in the yard unsupervised, I wouldn't consider that to be "100% contained".

If you do decide to have him neutered, timing is also in question. Many large-breed-knowlegable people would recommend waiting until he's 12-18 months old before having it done, to allow him time to grow and develop properly.

 

I would 100% advise on getting him neutered. If your not planning on breeding than there is no reason to have an intact dog. Neutering is a way of not having to be 100% vigilant when your dog is around other animals that are also not fixed. I also agree however that for large breed dogs you should wait 1-2 years

 

Personally I would get him fixed because unfixed dogs like to mark the house, mark territory and are more aggressive towards other dogs than fixed dogs. He will not get fat if you exercise and feed him the right amount. Lots of unfixed dogs are fat too, so that is not a big factor.

Also, if there are female dogs in heat near your area that he can smell, sometimes they stop eating for quite a while and become much thinner because all they can think about is the female. He will most likely try to find a way to get out of your house and mate with the female too. Sometimes through destructive means like chewing the door, digging the fence, etc.

The downside is that there is a little higher chance of him getting fat but that's because you have to decrease food by 10-15% after neutering which seems like a good thing for me. Cheaper if my dog's eating less to maintain the same weight.

 

A neutered male dog can not get testicular cancer, and in many cases it makes the dog more submissive.

 

Majority of things you hear such as
will mark.
will be agressive.
will run away.
will only thing about mating.

is well all BS. Its training. If you know for a solid fac your dog will have no chance of getting out and mating will nilly. And you can control a intact male. read all the health benifits OF neutering and health benifits of jeeping him intact.

My 6 year old male doesnt mark inside any way (outside yes. but I allow it) is submissive enough he can hand out with manyd ogs, go to classes, go to dog parks, pet stores ect and wont pick a fight. he will stick up for himself if he is being over pushed by another dog, which again I dont mind. He should be allowed IMO to tell another dog to back off if they are bothering him. dogs speak better language then we do.

there are plenty of health reasons to neuter and plenty not to. he is 8 weeks you got a while to go to figure it out

 

I read this article b4 getting Tilba & waited until she had one season & she was 14 m/o when she was spayed. I believe it's best to wait until a male is 18 m/o b4 neutering especially with the large breeds.

http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

 

My dad, who I visited on weekends occasionally as a kid, had a Doberman Pinscher named Caesar that he kept intact. Caesar was kept on a chain in the fenced yard sometimes. Thick, heavy, chain bolted to a cinderblock in the porch wall. Wooden privacy fence so he couldn't even see the females. My dad adored this dog. I know the chain sounds bad, but my dad thought he was doing away with any chance for him to get loose while still letting him outside to play. One day we came outside and Caesar wasn't in the yard. We rushed to the front of the house to see him running far down the hill, chain and cinder block in tow. He had pulled the cinder block out of the wall and gotten through the gate that one of us kids had left open (4 kids in the house at the time, ranging from 4-9). He was gone for more than 14 hours and fathered two litters of puppies that we found out about, and who knows how many he fathered with stray dogs or dogs who's owners didn't know who to blame for their half doberman pups. That dog dragged a cement cinder block all over town in his quest to find the ladies. That's how motivated he was.

Obviously it was an unfortunate quirk of circumstance that let him get loose. The cinder block must have been loose in the wall and we just happened to have left the gate ajar that day, but my point is that even the most responsible owner can never guarantee 100% that their dog will not ever get loose, especially if it's a dog that has occasional unsupervised use of outdoor space (ie going out in the yard unleashed/unsupervised), I know there are some strong advocates of leaving an animal intact on this board and I'm sure they'll chime in soon, but my personal opinion is that there is no reason to leave a dog intact unless you are showing or breeding them.

 

It's stories like this that make me tell people to speuter their dogs unless there is a very strong prevailing reason not to. Someone posted a story on here once about a dog they owned who was very old. If I remember right he was a lab who was 12 yrs old, walked on three legs and was half blind and half deaf. They let him out to do his business figuring the guy couldn't get far in his state and couldn't find him. They got a call from the neighbors a mile or so away saying the dog was there and wouldn't leave them or their bitch in heat alone.

I don't think expecting someone to control their dog 100% of the time 24/7/365 is a reasonable expectation. To me it's like telling teenagers to practice abstinence as a means to prevent STDs and teen pregnancy. Does it work? Yes, it does when it's practiced. Is it practiced 100% of the time? No, it's not. Is it reasonable to expect every single teenager to practice abstinence? I don't think it is. Nor do I think it reasonable to expect the vast majority of dog owners to control their dogs at all times.

 

I'm conflicted on what to do myself with our pup.

We have Gavin who we got at 18 months (2 months ago). He had to be neutered because the pound won't give you a dog unless they are. I never knew they eat less when neutered. I wonder if this is why Gavin hasn't gained weight, he's lost a little.? I remember the pound saying "He's 75 pounds, but I bet he gains more after being with you a month or two" and instead he's at 73.5. I struggle to get that dog to eat. He seems happy, though. So with him I didn't get to make the choice. Even though he's neutered, he still marks inside on occasion (especially since the pup has come home). He constantly marks outside though, especially if he sees another dog. So I don't think the question of neutering has anything to do with that.

Our cocker spaniel pup is only 3.5 months old. I asked our breeder (who happens to be our daycare provider for the girls, as well) said she neuters her dogs only because the ones she's had have had major marking wars in the house and they stopped doing that when they got neutered. So she recommended I have Buster done, even though we are in a situation where we shouldn't have to worry about it where we live.

The only thing I can think of, that we just ran across, is taking the dogs to the dog park. I was watching Buster like a hawk, but I turned for a quick second to pick his ball up and he was starting to hump another dog. Luckily the owner of the other dog stopped it from happening, but it's instances like this even I saying I can watch my dog 24/7 and can guaranty it won't happen....well I was just picking up the ball and he went for it so.......it can happen, IMO.

 

I'm conflicted on what to do myself with our pup.

We have Gavin who we got at 18 months (2 months ago). He had to be neutered because the pound won't give you a dog unless they are. I never knew they eat less when neutered. I wonder if this is why Gavin hasn't gained weight, he's lost a little.? I remember the pound saying "He's 75 pounds, but I bet he gains more after being with you a month or two" and instead he's at 73.5. I struggle to get that dog to eat. He seems happy, though. So with him I didn't get to make the choice. Even though he's neutered, he still marks inside on occasion (especially since the pup has come home). He constantly marks outside though, especially if he sees another dog. So I don't think the question of neutering has anything to do with that.

I can tell you that neutering doesn't affect appetite. Brutus is neutered and has been for years. He was very fat when I got him and he is constantly begging for food. There may be more involved with your dog not eating. Most healthy dogs don't turn down food.

Our cocker spaniel pup is only 3.5 months old. I asked our breeder (who happens to be our daycare provider for the girls, as well) said she neuters her dogs only because the ones she's had have had major marking wars in the house and they stopped doing that when they got neutered. So she recommended I have Buster done, even though we are in a situation where we shouldn't have to worry about it where we live.

The only thing I can think of, that we just ran across, is taking the dogs to the dog park. I was watching Buster like a hawk, but I turned for a quick second to pick his ball up and he was starting to hump another dog. Luckily the owner of the other dog stopped it from happening, but it's instances like this even I saying I can watch my dog 24/7 and can guaranty it won't happen....well I was just picking up the ball and he went for it so.......it can happen, IMO.

Zero was neutered at 1.5 yrs and he marks all over outside. Never inside. I've never seen Brutus mark anywhere, but I have no clue when he was neutered. Marking is a behavioral thing though that can be trained. I could train Zero to not mark, but there just doesn't seem to be a point to it to me. I don't see the harm.

As I said, I don't think it's reasonable to expect owners to watch their dogs 24/7/365 for the 10-15 years their dog will be with them. I don't think that's a reasonable expectation and honestly, why would you want to put the stress on yourself unless you had intentions of breeding the dog down the road or showing the dog or there was some strong prevailing reason to not speuter.

 

I would get him castrated but at about 9 months so he can mature nicely.

 

Personally I would get him fixed because unfixed dogs like to mark the house, mark territory and are more aggressive towards other dogs than fixed dogs.

My males don't mark in the house.

Buddy did, but it was a rare medical issue (rare as in more often than not such an issue is behavioral). Buddy was neutered and his "marking" stopped. What really caused the problem was an enlarged prostate, and he was having a hard time urinating, so it just happened that he ended up urinating in the house as well as outside.

Strauss does not mark in the house. He's 5 years old and still intact.

If your puppy is male, I'd personally weight until 18-24 months to alter.

 

never had a neutered dog and probably won't ever. My dogs don't mark all over the place, aren't agressive (my old man did therapy work AND was used at stud), they are perfectly healthy and don't run all over the place making puppies...

 

I've never had an intact dog of either gender and likely never will. I have heard from several people who have intact dogs though and have no issues with them marking.

 

Sometimes bitches will lift their legs also. LOL The worst one we ever had was our spayed mutt. She was alpha of the farm and everyone knew it, she'd get into peeing wars with the males.

Almost a decade of intact dogs, never had any problems. Mine are well trained, too.

 

Sometimes bitches will lift their legs also.

there is one female dog at the DP. her and Blaze get in to pee wars it is way to funny.

Intact males are fairly prone to testicular cancer. Goldens as a breed have a high rate of cancer in general, so it's worth neutering him to remove a possibility of getting one kind of cancer.

And testicular cancer is a quick fix. neutering also has cons and makes a dog more suseptable to other diseases, worse then when he was intact.

IMO if it aint broke dont fix it falls here for me. I wont fix my dog unless.
A) he comes like that from a shelter.
B) I have no choice through the breeder. and depending on the breed, I hope the breeder would let me wait a year or 2 for neuter.
C) Medical reason it needs to be done to save his life.

In reality I should have a medical mess of a dog. from terrible breeding, brought up in a puppy mill, taken from litter at probably 5 weeks, to make sure he makes it to the pet store in a good amount of time. lives in a nasty dingy pet store, finds me, no health care or training done to the dog until i open my eyes get a job and take responsibility for the "family" dog 9about 2 years after the fact we bought him). now he is all mine. 100% healthy aside from a heart murmur, wonderful companion, trained like crazy. just becuase he is intact doesnt mean he will die, get sick, kill another dog, or run off from me.


dogs live to 15 with no issues being intact 50 years ago, whats the major difference now? people are to gung ho surgery this.

 

I think some breeds are more likely to mark, and certain individuals are more likely to mark, regardless of breed. My grandpa's Lab (the one Hulk mentioned, that hobbled a few miles in his old age to see a bitch in heat, same as the one I mentioned who had a marking problem) never marked inside, but if you tried to take him for a walk he would, very literally, stop every 5 feet to pee on something. I don't know where he stored all that pee, LOL. It was seriously annoying to try to walk with him.

Barbara Woodhouse (old-school trainer that wrote some books in the 60s and 70s, that I read about 15 years ago) had some very interesting idea in her books. She said that there are some "oversexed" male dogs who absolutely NEED to be neutered, and some who just aren't as obsessed. Now, she felt that all male dogs not being used in a breeding program should be neutered, because she thought that spaying was too dangerous to be done routinely (maybe it was in the 60s and 70s, I dunno), and she thought that the females shouldn't have to put up with a lot of males hounding them whenever they were in heat, but her ideas about oversexed dogs were interesting reading. For me anyway.

 

Thnx. For all of the replies. The only thing I am now concerned about is him marking, I read that some of you have intact dogs and they were fine. And others said they marked. I just don't want it him marking in the house. But thankyou for all the replies. I still have over a year to decide

 

Very good thread. I just saw my cockapoo lift his leg outside for the first time and I started thinking about neutering now (he's 6.5 months). I was thinking of delaying it until he was a year old so he could have a chance to develop and mature intact. But I'm still getting a lot of conflicting information on what the added benefits really are, specifically for a small breed dog - he's only 8-9lbs, probably won't get much bigger.The one thing I DO NOT want to deal with is marking inside the house. He's perfectly paper-trained right now. I'd hate to see him break my trust.

 

Intact males are fairly prone to testicular cancer. Goldens as a breed have a high rate of cancer in general, so it's worth neutering him to remove a possibility of getting one kind of cancer.

 

What should i do?

Unless you intend to breed your dog - yes you should have him neutered.

IMHO, since there are so many goldens around and not all are good ones, only quality show line or quality working line or quality dual-purpose line dogs with good or better OFA and CERF certifications should be bred. But that is just my opinion.

I'm not just picking on goldens - I'd say the same for other breeds as well.

In any case, as already mentioned wait until he is at least a year old if not older. Most good breeders will insist on that anyway as part of their contract.

That means you take the responsibility of keeping him from getting at any females in season from the time he reaches sexual maturity - which will be about nine months.

Also do males usually mark if not fixed?

Entire males in general will have a tendency to mark but some can be trained not to at least to some extent. How sucessful that is depends on the biddability of the dog.

If you wait as recommended, the marking behavior will already be established. It won't be automatically ended by the neutrering.

However, goldens are usually very biddable, so this should not be a problem for you. With other breeds, especially "difficult" ones, you are generally stuck with at least some remnant of marking behavior if you wait until after they are sexually mature.