10 month old jack russell, great temperament, a real softie with a good personality. we keep being told its about time to get him done, and itll calm him down, and has health benefits.

but…… like i say, his temperament and personality are great, we dont feel like he needs to calm down. course, if theres a health reason for it we’d probably go ahead, but i thought id ask on here about your thoughts on this. dont want to put him through any pain if its not necessary.

one person also told us that if we got him done now, it may change his personality for the worse, but if we wait til hes bigger, it wont change him.

should we get him done or not, and if so when would you suggest?

advice appreciated 🙂

I’d get it done ASAP. he won’t be in any pain (ours wanted to play hours after coming home). if he’s not shown any ‘unwanted affections’ towards inanimate objects yet, it doesn’t mean he won’t later and the longer he’s left to hump things the harder it is to get them to stop, even after the snip as it becomes a habit.

Edit: I highly doubt you’ll make what sounds like a fantastic dog into anything else!

If his temperament is as you describe, that’ll be down to you mostly. And as highclimber says, I doubt that would change either. I’d get him done…at some stage the hormones will start to kick in and he’ll be trying to mount everything, pissing everywhere, etc.

We had our German Shepherd done 3 or 4 months ago purely because he was humping everything in sight.
His personality and temperament haven’t changed one bit.
The thought of the big fella losing his nuts meant that I vetoed the idea for ages but the vet persuaded me in the end that it was the best way forward as you can’t really have a 50kg dog mounting everything all the time.

Our vet was doing neutering for £50 as part of some scheme with the Dog’s Trust so cheap enough too

Had our Springer done a while back (when he was about 8 months old). Didn’t seem to make any difference to his personality or nature. He was really well behaved (for a Springer!) and recovered quickly, plus you have the added amusement of them wearing a cone for a week or two 😀

Had our Westie done last month, in the hope it may have calmed him down slightly. He’s a bit ‘wild’ I think it’s fair to say.

So far no change really, but he does leave the cat alone now.

Mounting people and other dogs is a dominance thing rather than trying to get it on. Chopping his nuts off will remove the testosterone from his his system and hopefully most aggressive tendancies (even if they are not present now). He’ll be a better dog for it and wont leak stuff from his willy either.

We never had our Border Collie (ex farm dog) down and he didn’t seem to mount everything in sight. If he isn’t causing an issue, why would you do it?

Rachel

We haven’t had our Border Terrier done – he’s nearly five now and has a great temperament and doesn’t hump anything. He also looks very lean – the two other male borders we know got rather portly after having their nads off.

Indeed, one should also take the last two posts (atg’s and tmf’s) into consideration. If he’s not causing a problem, then it might not be needed.

I guess it’ll come down to where you walk him. Is it in a park with loads of other dogs he encounters all the time? In which case, it might be best (as a small dog, if a bigger one realises he’s entire there may be trouble; I’ve even seen a few cut dogs go for entire ones; dunno what this is all about tbh, but anyway…). If he’s only ever with you and walks are mostly by yourselves, then perhaps he’ll get a reprieve.

can you afford the puppy maintenance if he go’s astray?

Worth doing unless you plan for him to use them. Very routine.

Had Eric the Westie done, and yes, we where worried about changing his personality..

The only change we noticed is hewas a lot more a tentative towards everyone..

Doesn’t seem to have done him any ( apart from the obvious) harm.

I would wait until he has finished growing/maturing about a year to 18 months. Don’t make it a big deal and it won’t be for the dog.
Our Dalmatian has been done and he’s still a touch aggressive so it’s not a panacea but it will take the edge off the violence.

Keep your fingers out of the way of the bricks and you’ll be fine too!

Had our Jack Russell done at 18 months, his personality prior to the snip was great but it had got to the point where he was spending every evening sat by the front door howling for clunge….it was driving us mad and unfair for him.

After the snip he has the same great personality but doesnt want to hump everything….worth doing in my opinion but do it later when he’s fully matured and it shouldnt change him too much.

oh and speak to a vet about the facts….tell them what your worried about. I guess he will be due a trip there for boosters or something soon

excellent thanks chaps, some good advice from both sides there. probably leaning towards getting him done then, and if so, looks like youre advising getting it done around the 18 month stage then yes? is that when hed be classed as an adult dog?

thanks a lot

I had a similar dilemma with my last dog and reluctantly decided to go for it. Proved to be a gret decision as it turned out that one of his nads hadn’t dropped properly and the vet said if it hadn’t been flagged up it would have turned cancerous!

I’ve got a boxer who had to have his removed at a year old due to an undescended testicle, he’d never tried to hump anything and he was the bounciest liveliest dog about, was worried he’d start being calmer and a bit less “boxer-like” afterwards, still exactly the same though, just as crazy!
I’ve also got a German shepherd/boxer cross who’s three years old that was a rescue at only 12 weeks old, was black with dirt (he’s tan) and covered in cigarette burns, he was so nervous as a puppy that I was advised not to have it done as without the testosterone there was a concern he’d be unable to deal with things, the sound of shotguns and air brakes used to make him freeze solid and I’d have to carry him home! So he was never done, he’s now the most chilled, friendly least nervous dog you could meet, and he doesn’t try and hump things.
Although it reduces the risk of certain cancers and obviously unwanted litters I think you just do what you feel would be best for your dog.

The only change we noticed is hewas a lot more a tentative towards everyone..

I’m not surprised! If you went to sleep and woke up with no knackers and no idea who’d taken them, I imagine you’d be wary of everyone too!!!!