The chop

[crappieflop1212]

I have a male pup. Just wanting opinions on what neutering does to a male's hunting abilities?

[setterguy]

I would say none, in fact I would argue that it will make your dog a better hunter. He will not be as distracted by female dogs or male dogs for that matter that he feels he has to dominate. If you aren't going to breed him it will make your life a lot easier.

[WaveWacker]

I agree. Less worries about getting into a scuffle around the vehicle when there's another male.

[jigging-matt]

My Britt is just over 2. Had him neutered as soon as the Vet said I could. I would say it hasn't affected him at all. If it slowed him down at all I would have hated to see all the energy before that.

[Sportfish1850]

If you have friends with male dogs and you intend to hunt together OR plan on getting a second male dog I'd say its almost a requirement unless you are prepared for a possible fight. I have 2 male GSP's that are just old enough to do. They are heading to vet at the end of the month.

Online research told once a dog has that fight with a housemate or hunting partners dog, getting them neutered at that point won't reduce the hostility between the dogs that fought. Don't know if its true or not but why take the chance.

I had a M lab and M brit at the same time and both were neutered and there was no change or decrease in their ability in the field. Infact I'd say it actually focused the brit more on birds and less on random scents.

[FCspringer]

Well I'll step in and say you will not notice much diff, But the Nutered dog will probably live longer with less chance of health issues as long as health issues have been screened for ahead of time. It will make the dog in most cases a bit more calm. But when a female comes in heat he will still want to partake and can for the most part, just no unwanted pups. Not much different then there human owners that get them tied in fact. A friend of mine just had his nutered male caught in the act with his girl the other night, but no worries mate they say. He wont lose a bunch of speed or drive you might say in most cases but not all. It does tend to make already agresive males less so. but males should be able to get along too or there is a temperment issue possibly with the breeding history, or they may have been pushed enough from other males in the past so they start to defend themselves at the glimps of another male, which can be corrected where the down right meanness most times can't. He may in most cases add some tonage around the waste as well. You may have to ajust his diet, If you don't it will out weigh the benifits of the health gains of the nutering. A google will be very helpful to you as well as your vet. I comend you on being a responsible owner willing to take the plunge if you have no breeding ideas for your dog, I think over all you will be happy with your decision.

[grousehunter]

A little something from another forum..he wrote it better then I could.

"Most of the recent studies that I've read from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, and others show that castrated dogs are at substantially greater risk for prostate cancer than intact dogs. While castration obviously eliminates the potential for testicular cancer -such cancers are typically relatively slow moving cancers that are easily treated in intact dogs by the removal of the testicle affected. Testicular cancer is rarely life threatening. On the other hand, prostate cancer in canines is typically fast moving and generally fatal. From the long term health perspective of a dog - castration seems like a poor recommendation. As for an enlarged prostate - there are pharamaceutical treatments that are quite effective"

I don't think there is any health reason to neuter a dog early or ever for that matter that would outway the negatives of doing it. It also can affect the way the pup grows giving the dog longer legs and less muscular which can affect their gate.

It will help give your dog more focus on you though and keep it from chasing females in heat around. If you train it well and don't let it run free without you around that should not be a problem anyways. It should not affect drive and hunting ability by neutering early though. Overall there I do not see enough reasons for me to do it early on, but I don't think it is that bad to get it done after 9 months either.

[crappieflop1212]

Wow, thanks for all the responses. He is a 10 week old Brittany that already listens very well. I planned on getting him snipped right at 6 months and figured I would check into this. I have heard from people that they lose their drive and just wanted to hear more about it. Seems like a myth to me though.

[FCspringer]

A little something from another forum..he wrote it better then I could.

"Most of the recent studies that I've read from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, and others show that castrated dogs are at substantially greater risk for prostate cancer than intact dogs. While castration obviously eliminates the potential for testicular cancer -such cancers are typically relatively slow moving cancers that are easily treated in intact dogs by the removal of the testicle affected. Testicular cancer is rarely life threatening. On the other hand, prostate cancer in canines is typically fast moving and generally fatal. From the long term health perspective of a dog - castration seems like a poor recommendation. As for an enlarged prostate - there are pharamaceutical treatments that are quite effective"

I don't think there is any health reason to neuter a dog early or ever for that matter that would outway the negatives of doing it. It also can affect the way the pup grows giving the dog longer legs and less muscular which can affect their gate.

It will help give your dog more focus on you though and keep it from chasing females in heat around. If you train it well and don't let it run free without you around that should not be a problem anyways. It should not affect drive and hunting ability by neutering early though. Overall there I do not see enough reasons for me to do it early on, but I don't think it is that bad to get it done after 9 months either.

Verry interesting, I have never heard this before. Worth some looking into and a few ?s for the vet no doubt. Just when you think you have it figured out some brain in college shows a person different. Thanks for the info, Interesting post and maybe before the Chop it will be worth a look into this.

[crappieflop1212]

My Britt is just over 2. Had him neutered as soon as the Vet said I could. I would say it hasn't affected him at all. If it slowed him down at all I would have hated to see all the energy before that.

This is exactly what I hoped to hear. Especially with being the same breed. Thanks!

[lenny7]

I don't think there is any health reason to neuter a dog early or ever for that matter that would outway the negatives of doing it. It also can affect the way the pup grows giving the dog longer legs and less muscular which can affect their gate.

My vet suggested to me that unless there was some overriding reason, I should wait until my dog was fully developed before getting him castrated. As I recall, he said to wait at least a year.

My dog is now a year old and I have seen no behavior from him that would warrant castration, so for now, I have no plans on doing having it done. If there's ever a specific reason that I see for doing it, I will but for now, he gets to keeps 'em.

[Ralph Wiggum]

My vet suggested to me that unless there was some overriding reason, I should wait until my dog was fully developed before getting him castrated. As I recall, he said to wait at least a year.

This is what I have been told by several vets and breeders, especially with larger, faster-growing dogs. Our boy turned a year last Saturday and he's scheduled to lose the coin purse on April 16th.

[dc240nt]

A little something from another forum..he wrote it better then I could.

"Most of the recent studies that I've read from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, and others show that castrated dogs are at substantially greater risk for prostate cancer than intact dogs. While castration obviously eliminates the potential for testicular cancer -such cancers are typically relatively slow moving cancers that are easily treated in intact dogs by the removal of the testicle affected. Testicular cancer is rarely life threatening. On the other hand, prostate cancer in canines is typically fast moving and generally fatal. From the long term health perspective of a dog - castration seems like a poor recommendation. As for an enlarged prostate - there are pharamaceutical treatments that are quite effective"

I don't think there is any health reason to neuter a dog early or ever for that matter that would outway the negatives of doing it. It also can affect the way the pup grows giving the dog longer legs and less muscular which can affect their gate.

It will help give your dog more focus on you though and keep it from chasing females in heat around. If you train it well and don't let it run free without you around that should not be a problem anyways. It should not affect drive and hunting ability by neutering early though. Overall there I do not see enough reasons for me to do it early on, but I don't think it is that bad to get it done after 9 months either.

Further reading within this same study would reveal a 4% increase of developing anything damaging to your dog. The risk is only 2% for ALL dogs whether nutered or not, so its still only 6% tops. Thats pretty good odds that nothing will occur. Most experts agree that you should wait until your dog is mature before nutur or spay. This ensures that the body is fully developed and all horemones are present also. Nutured dogs usually get big. If growth is to fast the skeletal system cannot keepup. Maybe this has something to do with bad hips? I dont know, just my own thinking. I do know that spayed/nutered to young and your dog will be prone to ligiment and tendon damage/stress because of growth problems. Ask around, google yourself some information, theres a ton of it out there. Just dont believe everything you read.