..behavioral effects of neutering...

[scherner]

Hi, Tim and I are planning on getting Idaho neutered --he is about 6 months old now which is when our vet reccomended that we have it done. He is definately showing some signs of ...um..sexual maturity. I can NEVER take him off leash now when we are on our walk because he is OBSESSED with smelling where other dogs have been. When he was younger it was ALL about eating goose poop--but at least if I walked him on the streets instead of the park or something we could avoid it..but now no matter where I walk him the entire time he is sniffing trees...fire hydrants...grass clumps..yellow snow..etc. and then of course he has to add HIS mark...YEESH. Also--the humping..he started doing it to me and Tim when he was about 12 weeks old--we got him to stop doing that--but now he is doing it to ...other things. I was just wondering if these were things that would go away once we got him fixed. I am seriously hoping the answer here is yes. Oh one more thing--we live really close to two labs that went to the same puppy kindergarden that we went to. When we were in the classes all the dogs got along--played together and were fine. Now when they meet in the park there is a lot of tension--and the male lab (there is a girl and a guy) growls at Idaho and his hackles go up--I was wondering if this could be because they were beginning to get sexually mature and there could be feelings of competition about the girl in the group.

Sorry this is long--thanks for any input.
Kelly

[neil]

We had Milo neutered 4 months ago and we have not seen any change in his personality at all. I was wondering the same thing about the personality change that you are but he is the same as he has always been. As far as the ...humping... Milo still does it sometimes but not that much. After the procedure he will be kind of sore but he should be back to normal in a couple of days. We gave Milo a little vanilla ice cream like Swampcollie suggested as a special treat, I think that made him feel better more than we did.:029 Hope this helps.
neil.

[messano]

<..but now no matter where I walk him the entire time he is sniffing trees...fire hydrants...grass clumps..yellow snow..etc. and then of course he has to add HIS mark...YEESH.>

...then don't let him! Keep him on a reasonably short leash so that when he stops to sniff or mark a spot you tighten the lead, jerk him back and firmly say no! This may take a few weeks to break the habit but is very satisfying when you do so.

If you do not allow him to start bad habits, he will never develop them.
I regularly take out 5 dogs for a walk in the morning, including two very well used stud dogs. They know better than to stop me to have a sniff or urinate when I am walking with them on a lead.
They are free to sniff and mark when off the lead, but when on it they do as they are taught. I would never finish the walk in time if I let them do as they please.
This is really a training issue and does not need to become a bad habit.

Messano