Castration will help IF and only IF this is a sexual problem. That said there is not a single negative side to castrating a dog so doing so would absolutely do no harm and *could* only do good.
Di
Edited to add long piece written about castration just a few weeks ago. Just for your info....
Castration. A complex subject and certainly there are many views on it. I will give my own as a breeder and exhibitor but also a pet owner (technically!)
I advise all my puppy buyers to have their bitches spayed and their dogs castrated. Currently most vets only castrate, a vasectomy is possible but is far more specialist and expensive. Also one of the main reasons for castrating is to help prevent testicular cancer and of course, if the balls are left and sacks, this does nothing to help this.
I feel one major reason for castration is that there are so FEW BITCH OWNERS who really understand about seasons. Not knowcking anyone on here but just look at the zillion posts on seasons, unwanted matings, when bitches can and can't be walked and so on.... there is a lot of misinformation and misunderstandings about the topic. Many don't give a fig, and many just don't understand and walk their bitches in season in public places.
This is like a red rag to a bull to an entire male and RIGHTLY SO. He is doing what natures intends. Few dogs will have the savvy to actually mismate an inseason bitch in the time it takes to charge up and get 'jiggy' before the owners come flapping and panting along, BUT one dose of in season bitch can pull down many walls of training. Boys then start to look at bitches differently, sex is suddenly brought to their attention in a blinding rush and they can become a damn pain around bitches, castrated dogs (who basically don't smell like entire males and don't smell like out of season bitches so therefore many entire dogs consider them inseason bitches) and sometimes even start to throw their weight around amongst entire dogs if a bitch is about.
All from some daft bitch owner who didn't care or didn't understand her bitch was in season.
Its good that you realise that ONLY sexual behaviours will be curbed by castration. sadly vets and some trainers give it out as a quick fix to every bad behaviour. Whilst I can completely understand that doing so will do that dog no harm and will prevent cancers, absolutely prevent just one unwanted pregnancy and could help IF the bad behaviour does happen to have a sexual route, its important people realise that it will not cure bad behaviour or headstrongness or mounting for any reason that isn't directly sex related, or pulling on the lead, or growling at other males, or humping cushions or any such things!
My view being that castration can do no harm to a dog whatsoever. Its a minor op with only a very small handful not shrugging it off in a couple of days, costs a lot less than a full bitch spay and can have health benefits.
It won't be a magic quickfix to established behavioural problems. It will, if done at a sensitive age, around 9 - 12 months, help the dog never develop some of the more extreme sex related behaviours.
Lets look at the negatives. Some entire males find castrated dogs very 'humpable'. I explain above basically they do not understand the odour given off and presume it something bitchy but something they can't put their finger on. A castrated dog is also fair game down the pecking order in SOME cases to be humped by entire males. However a dog that humps a castrated dog is NOT a dominant dog, it is a wannabe dominant dog, flailing around trying to put his stamp on anyone lower than him or potentially so. A humping entire dog is, technically speaking, the playground bully who only picks on guys 'smaller' than him - grin.
A negative, is that the dog will require a general anethetic to have the op. This is such a small risk these days its hardly a negative but its been quoted to me by some as the reason their dog remains uncastrated. I believe the NCDL a few years ago quoted that an uncastrated dog is more likely to die statistically running across a road after a bitch than under the surgeons knife being castrated.
Now, as to the weight link. I myself don't go for this but some will disagree. I have castrated males and entire males. I believe they tend to have a lot less on their minds once castrated - obviously, women are SUCH a headache - grin - and so tend to be less 'busy'. This can clock up a bit less exercise and activity and therefore my suggestion is always that a castrated dog is on about 3/4 of the ration of an entire male. But it all boils down to individual dogs. If your entire male is a panting fool charging about looking for sex action then he WILL burn off lots of weight just being a stress head. Take that away and he WILL put on weight on the same amount of food.
If a dog puts on weight, look at your exercise. Many think a walk is all about throwing a ball and the dog charging off calories. Not so. A long steady walk with lots of hills (up AND down) or steady onlead pavement walking burns just as much in the long run than 15 minutes mad ball chasing and is FAR better for the dog.
I digress.
So there is NO need for a castrated dog to get fat. It certainly doesn't change its personality. People tend to use the words 'fat and lazy and boring' together for castrated dogs.... Duh! The dog gets fat, therefore gets lazy, therefore is boring and prefers lazing about doing very little! Its not rocket science but people miss this so often and then blame it on CASTRATION changing the dog Actually usually its (often) men who don't fancy it being done and they have heard this bandied about and so pick up on it and give it as a reason for not wanting to castrate. They cross their legs and think 'ouch!' But a dog is not a human and actually the worst sort of homes, more likely to cause trouble by having an uncastrated dog are the daft ones who look at their dogs as fluffy humans.
So thats a load of blurb i've written so I can copy and paste this into my puppy pack (entirely selfish!) as have been meaning to do it for ages I hope it wasn't preaching to you and I hope its helpful. It is only my own view that there are loads of reasons TO castrate and really none not to.
Di
but would this be much of a solution?
