These are my experiences but I would be VERY grateful for anyone elses input :flower:
Wylye had the Suprelorin implant at the beginning of July, so three months ago now. It should last 6 months, maybe a little more. It takes about 6 weeks for the dog to reach sterility. Because of the way it works it is supposed to be a good mimic of the effects of surgical castration.
Before Suprelorin Wylye was a slim, happy boy. He had some minor issues with some dogs, ie other entire males but the biggest problem we faced was his ability to escape and roam after the many unspayed bitches on heat round here. This was a HUGE concern. I had been told that neutering him *may* reduce his drive to retrieve. To be honest I thought that unlikely. To play it safe I chose the Chemical Castration route over surgical castration to see if a) this would stop his interest in roaming (concern over roaming becoming habitual) and b) check the effect on his drive/desire to work etc. If all was good I fully intended to get him neutered.
So we are exactly at the halfway point (three months in) and I now have a totally different dog. This is how he is currently:
1. he has significantly broadened out. This is very interesting to me as he is fed no more, infact slightly less now than prior to the implant BUT he is receiving significantly more exercise (that time of year for gamekeepers etc) and covering miles and miles at a pace every day. It is not an increase in muscle, just sort of bulk and more cover.
2. his desire to roam has ceased - which is very good.
3. It did not effect his desire/drive to retrieve.
4. he has now become aggressive to every strange dog he meets regardless of sex, neutering status, age and breed
5. he is nervous and showing signs of aggression/fear (growling) towards strange people both men and women. This is something of a HUGE surprise to me given how happy he was to meet and greet everyone prior to the implant and it is obviously a HUGE, HUGE worry.
6. whilst he has always been a little territorial, this has now increased to being extremely territorial and includes the house, garden and even the car. He now goes completely mental if anyone comes near any of these places. With the car that can include driving by a person walking down the road or another dog, or a bike or horse, well just anything now. He is even worse if anyone or anything should approach the car when it is parked.
7. he is displaying signs of anxiety and stress in strange places and is unable to relax.
I cannot now leave him in the garden unsupervised, just in case we have a visitor; I cannot walk him in public places (well not until I get a muzzle, which is on my list of things to buy today) but I am now sticking to private land for obvious reasons, not least because rather than that exposure building confidence it is having the reverse effect; and I have to be very, very careful when people come to the house. At the moment, children are banned!
It would appear that any issues we *may* have had prior to the implant have now increased ten fold and at a very rapid rate and new issues have now appeared, such as the nervousness around people. It is sort of like watching at a car crash in slow motion and it is bl**dy terrifying.
So he went to the vets yesterday. They were truly horrified by him and how he was, possibly not least because he growled at everyone in the Surgery. He was fine once he had been given time to approach them and check them out but it is obviously not great. They noted his stress at being there in the surgery room - he put himself in the corner and sat on my feet (basically he was trying to sit on me!) and was clearly an anxious dog. In fact a very different dog indeed to the waggy, happy one they saw three months ago.
The end result of the visit was the implant had to be removed - their decision, and removed as a matter of urgency. So he is booked in for this tomorrow. Other than this he was declared in great health.
They have signed the necessary forms for referral to a behaviourist, who is coming for our first meeting to our house next Thursday. My absolute biggest worry is that the damage done, has a long term effect and this in turn will have knock on effect on his life in terms of the activities we can enjoy together e.g. Shooting, competitions etc etc but only time will tell.
These are sad, worrying times for Wylye and I. I wanted to share this in case anyone else here was thinking of going down the Suprelorin route, although I understand in the majority of cases dogs do very well on it with little behavioural changes, in fact it has often been cited as having a beneficial affect with dog on dog aggression! I will keep you updated on his hopefully positive progress.
EDITED: to change title
Wylye had the Suprelorin implant at the beginning of July, so three months ago now. It should last 6 months, maybe a little more. It takes about 6 weeks for the dog to reach sterility. Because of the way it works it is supposed to be a good mimic of the effects of surgical castration.
Before Suprelorin Wylye was a slim, happy boy. He had some minor issues with some dogs, ie other entire males but the biggest problem we faced was his ability to escape and roam after the many unspayed bitches on heat round here. This was a HUGE concern. I had been told that neutering him *may* reduce his drive to retrieve. To be honest I thought that unlikely. To play it safe I chose the Chemical Castration route over surgical castration to see if a) this would stop his interest in roaming (concern over roaming becoming habitual) and b) check the effect on his drive/desire to work etc. If all was good I fully intended to get him neutered.
So we are exactly at the halfway point (three months in) and I now have a totally different dog. This is how he is currently:
1. he has significantly broadened out. This is very interesting to me as he is fed no more, infact slightly less now than prior to the implant BUT he is receiving significantly more exercise (that time of year for gamekeepers etc) and covering miles and miles at a pace every day. It is not an increase in muscle, just sort of bulk and more cover.
2. his desire to roam has ceased - which is very good.
3. It did not effect his desire/drive to retrieve.
4. he has now become aggressive to every strange dog he meets regardless of sex, neutering status, age and breed
5. he is nervous and showing signs of aggression/fear (growling) towards strange people both men and women. This is something of a HUGE surprise to me given how happy he was to meet and greet everyone prior to the implant and it is obviously a HUGE, HUGE worry.
6. whilst he has always been a little territorial, this has now increased to being extremely territorial and includes the house, garden and even the car. He now goes completely mental if anyone comes near any of these places. With the car that can include driving by a person walking down the road or another dog, or a bike or horse, well just anything now. He is even worse if anyone or anything should approach the car when it is parked.
7. he is displaying signs of anxiety and stress in strange places and is unable to relax.
I cannot now leave him in the garden unsupervised, just in case we have a visitor; I cannot walk him in public places (well not until I get a muzzle, which is on my list of things to buy today) but I am now sticking to private land for obvious reasons, not least because rather than that exposure building confidence it is having the reverse effect; and I have to be very, very careful when people come to the house. At the moment, children are banned!
It would appear that any issues we *may* have had prior to the implant have now increased ten fold and at a very rapid rate and new issues have now appeared, such as the nervousness around people. It is sort of like watching at a car crash in slow motion and it is bl**dy terrifying.
So he went to the vets yesterday. They were truly horrified by him and how he was, possibly not least because he growled at everyone in the Surgery. He was fine once he had been given time to approach them and check them out but it is obviously not great. They noted his stress at being there in the surgery room - he put himself in the corner and sat on my feet (basically he was trying to sit on me!) and was clearly an anxious dog. In fact a very different dog indeed to the waggy, happy one they saw three months ago.
The end result of the visit was the implant had to be removed - their decision, and removed as a matter of urgency. So he is booked in for this tomorrow. Other than this he was declared in great health.
They have signed the necessary forms for referral to a behaviourist, who is coming for our first meeting to our house next Thursday. My absolute biggest worry is that the damage done, has a long term effect and this in turn will have knock on effect on his life in terms of the activities we can enjoy together e.g. Shooting, competitions etc etc but only time will tell.
These are sad, worrying times for Wylye and I. I wanted to share this in case anyone else here was thinking of going down the Suprelorin route, although I understand in the majority of cases dogs do very well on it with little behavioural changes, in fact it has often been cited as having a beneficial affect with dog on dog aggression! I will keep you updated on his hopefully positive progress.
EDITED: to change title
