# To snip or not to snip



## tine434 (Nov 24, 2013)

All I can tell you is that Rem was getting attacked by intact males when we would go for walks, to the vet, anywhere. Since getting fixed that has not happened the way it used to. He was not the instigator in those cases either.... As far as his behavior, not much changed really. But he wasn't a humper either. He did stop marking but he did not become insecure or unstable after his neuter.

I have HEARD what your trainer said, but I have never seen that or found any research based evidence on it.

Good luck with your decision!


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

My only input - the dog walker is wrong. Humping is not sexual and even dogs that have been neutered very early still hump at times. In fact, the worst humper I have ever seen was a Golden Retriever belonging to a neighbor - that dog was neutered at 6 months and humped everything in sight even years later.

All my goldens were left intact so far and none of them humped. My point, don't do the neutering only for solving the humping problem - because it will most likely have no impact.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Humping - if you discourage very early (when they start doing it as 9-12 week old puppies) is never really a problem with intact boys.

Dogs who are allowed to hump pillows or other dogs or whatever - the behavior becomes reinforced and over time becomes more difficult to discourage. 

And yep - worst humper I ever saw was a spayed female who humped blankets in her crate nonstop for a hours at a dog show.


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

I had Thor neutered at around 15 months just because he'll never breed and it seemed like the responsible thing to do. I will share my experience: 
We had to stop him from humping here and there before the surgery, although honestly he was getting better and better about if with consistency and managing and that wasn't the reason I did the surgery. Having said that, we have not had to deal with that at all since the neuter. 
He marks less post neuter but he never marked indoors so we didn't really mind that.
He hasn't calmed down in the slightest in terms of excitement behaviors, the progress we have seen from training is the only improvement noticed before and after. 
In terms of other dogs reacting to him I had the opposite problem to what a previous poster shared. He was singled out by some neutered dogs, not attacked as such but pushed around a bit. This has completely disappeared. Of course maybe I just haven't ran across dogs as rude as those ones we met back then, but at least one dog that was kind of mean to him in the neighborhood now loves him.
I do notice a bit more hesitation in terms of his confidence. He will stop and really observe a situation before going towards something new or an unfamiliar sound, at times seeming to be paralyzed if there are sounds coming from opposing directions, for example. I've been encouraging him with treats, play and praise and I think I can help him overcome this and turn it to our advantage, but I guess if you had a dog who is already experiencing fear aggression this may manifest in more troubling behavior changes.
That's the extent of the changes I have noticed. He was a bit uneven in terms of mood the first few weeks but now he is really the same sweet, playful, sometimes nutty youngster he was the day before.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

It is an invasive surgery and each dog will respond differently to it. 

We have had intact males together in the house for years and none of them humped each other or been aggressive towards each other and never had a fight in the house. IMHO Training and maturity solves the issue not neutering


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## Penster (Dec 28, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the awesome advice.

This has really given me something to think about, indeed I shouldn't be giving my pup surgery to fix behaviour issues. I always thought (was led to believe) that humping would be fixed with the surgery. We have been able to reduce the humping in the house and he humps his bed a lot less. This has really become more of an issue since he hit puberty, someone I see when out walking has an intact golden and said he went through the same but kind of calmed down on his own.

I find it really curious that some of you have found your dog lacks confidence after the surgery, Boo is a little timid sometimes which has something to do with him being attacked by another dog at a young age but since he can get fear aggressive I do think that my trainer may be right. I will make an appointment with the vet and see what my options are regarding temporary chemical castration so we can see what impact castration would make. He does get picked on sometime by intact males and has had a couple of bites that didn't break the skin and he sometimes has trouble coming back if there is a female in heat so I do think there are benefits to it but this has helped me to decide against the surgery until I have tried something else first.

Will start searching how to prevent the humping!

Thank you so much again for the useful responses


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

If you are on FB check this group "Ovary Sparing Spay and Vasectomy Info Group" some studies and vets who have performed both spay/neuter and OSS/Vasectomies are in that group. I checked the list for vets in your area that use alternative methods but have seen none on their list. 

We live in an era of information which can also be confusing. I had an OSS surgery done on my girl and looking back I would have left her completely intact and not just her ovaries. My flat coat female is also intact. I told my husband that from now on unless there is a health issue which would require alteration we will never do it on any of our future dogs. Males we never had altered and only one girl had the OSS.


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## Penster (Dec 28, 2013)

Hi everyone

Thank you so much for be replies and advice

I went to the vet and they discussed the options and we have decided to get the hormone injection which lasts 2 months and works fairly instantly (couple of days) I'll let you know what the results are.

This has been a tough week, we had guarding and running away and generally not listening, I think I need to step up the training too. Oddly the humping seems less


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## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

Penster said:


> Hi everyone
> 
> Thank you so much for be replies and advice
> 
> ...


I'm glad this was presented to you as an option by your vet. Vets around here are slowly coming around to the alternatives in my neck of the woods.


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