Change in personality after being neutered?

[John]

Hey everyone, i'm about to take my little buddy Ziggy to get neutered tomorrow.  He's a great dog, but definitely has a ton of puppy energy.

I just wanted to see if y'all noticed any change in personality after neutering your dogs.  He's 6 months now and he's starting to have... how should I say... feelings for my girlfriend, ha.  Hope it mellows him out a bit!

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Quincy was having a love affair with his crate mattress pad before his surgery.  He would take it out of the crate, fold it over just so, and , well...

He slowly stopped doing that after his surgery until he stopped altogether.  I did see him go for a smaller cute dog at the park last weekend, but that has been the only "incident" in several months...good luck!  

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Ha, Monty still has an occasional affair with his crate mattress pad. He is over 3 and was neutered at 5 months.

I remember he tried to hump my leg just one time before the surgery and has not made an attempt since then. He must have been 2-3 months old at that time. He likes to hump his brother Auggie now, but I think it's all part of their wrestling. Never tried to hump any other person or a dog before or after the surgery.

Auggie came already neutered from the breeder and is usually the humpee at a dog park on occasions. But he does hump Monty in return.

I guess you just need to be consistent and tell Ziggy that it's not an appropriate behavior around your girlfriend. He should grow out of it, though.

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

If any lovin' is goin' on at our house, Stanlee is usually the humpee, not the humper.

[Ginny Nightingale]

One of my doodles was supposed to be a stud dog and was not neutered until the age of 2--it has really calmed him down, made him much more attached to me and he has stopped marking every bush in the yard--but the funny thing is that he was never really a humper--I have a spayed female doodle who does hump occasionally though--and it is always my unspayed female that she humps (but only if that female is not paying much attention so the other one can get away with it).

My point is that sometimes humping is not related to sexual activity or "feelings"--there are several other discussions on this that you can search for. If he just does it for fun, the neutering may not change that.

[Christine & Camus]

Camus had been neutered before I got him so I don't have any comparison for him, but about a month after I had Einstein neutered at 11 mos. he calmed down and was much more responsive to basic commands.  No more running the opposite direction when I said come! 

[DJ & Chance]

Chance gets neutered in a few weeks at 11 months--first window of opportunity for me have a few days after the surgery to be with him full time.  He has had affairs with his blanket and snuggle puppy, but nothing obnoxious.  I'm hoping the procedure doesn't change him because I love his spunk.

[Debi and Monty Moose]

Monty is currently 9 months old and it was suggested by my vet that we wait until he is closer to a year....but this is getting tough!  He seems incredibly attracted to my ugg style boots, which I wear each night due to cold feet.  Not sure what the draw is, but he REALLY likes my boots!  He ignores correction, so he gets put in time out.  But, this is a small problem compared to his "goosing".  (afterall...I can take my boots off)   Because of his height...he is soooo spot on with his goosing, that it drives me crazy.  This seems to be his "welcoming of choice" to everyone that is around 5'3".  :O  Anyway....in the past, I have been used to either spayed female Goldens, or males that have been neutered much earlier in life, so this is a pretty new experience for me.  I am sure hoping that neutering with take care of these behaviors...or at least lessen them over time.  I just need to make it through a few more months!! 

[Ginny Nightingale]

No, you really don't need to wait IMO--I am not sure why a vet would want any dog to develop these habits--which may or MAY NOT go away when he is neutered---He needs neutering and lots of training to stop this before it continues forever...I have a friend who is very "hands off" with her dog and lets him do whatever comes naturally--he humps every dog he comes to--and she takes him to the park in NYC all the time, so I am guessing that people do not like to see him coming! He has been neutered since 6 months of age and is now 11 y.o.--do you want to be "goosed" for the next 11 years?? Or more??

I think that some vets have gotten carried away with this waiting game--and I do not think there is enough evidence that it is beneficial and that the benefits outweigh the issues with some dogs--9 months is old enough!! I would not say that if it was not causing behavior issues, but in this case, get it done!

Another friend was told to wait to spay her female until 1 year and at 11 months, she had a litter of 8 pups on her hands! LOL!!

[Sarah Bennett]

My vet suggested I wait for Salvador to be 9-12 months old due to hormone release and appropriate bone development. I did some research and found some professional articles of research done on large breed dogs, specifically one with golden retrievers, showing that hip dysplasia was drastically reduced with dogs who were fixed at 12 months and older. I'm not an expert, but I thought it was interesting.

[Debi and Monty Moose]

This is what my Vet discussed with me as well and the reason she gave me for waiting...the longer the better.  My Vet is also one of the most respected here in Knoxville and teaches spaying and neutering at the University of Tennessee Vet School.  She said this is a fairly recent study that was done and showed that bone development is much improved if you wait.  A far cry from what they were thinking years ago.

I did Rescue for many years and of course with Rescue, you have to get them spayed and neutered before being adopted, so we did not have the luxury of waiting.  I had personal issues with early neutering with one of my own large male Goldens which I had adopted.  He had serious bone issues his entire life..both with hips and being severely bow legged.  So much so that later in life he blew out a knee and needed surgery.  Don't want to go through that again if I can help it.  I will work to undo his bad habits but, at least I will feel like I gave him a good healthy start to his life.  Hopefully he will be with us a very long time!  But, I am hoping that when he is neutered....he will calm down!

[Janet Byers]

I am not familiar with this research.  Is this mainly for males or females too?  I was planning on having Kensington spayed in September (approx. 7.5 months).  Reason being she was going to be there while I am on vacation anyway.  So wondering if I should wait. 

 

[Sarah Bennett]

I think the study was done on males only, but I don't fully remember. I would suggest talking with your vet and maybe a couple others? Like I said, I'm not an expert, but hip dysplasia is a big deal for all large breeds, so waiting a little bit to have him fully grown can't hurt...

Another thing I read is when you have large breed dogs fixed later, you could end up with a smaller dog because the hormones are telling the bones when to properly stop growing, whereas with out the hormones, the bones grow for a longer period of time.