I contacted Lynda Richardson to ask how Mr Tibby was doing. I noticed on her website that Tibby was no longer available for stud and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t sick or worse. Turns out Tibby and his brother were starting to have ‘issues’ and Lynda decided to neuter Tibby before things went to far.
Many breeder sites will insist that neutering an older dog like Tibby would not change his temperament. They use that excuse to state why their breeding dogs should be kept intact for life. In my personal experience with Poodles and Shiba Inu, I have found this information untrue. Every single male I have neutered as an adult has mellowed noticeably. I’ll give you some examples.
Merlot with River his fellow SAR Dog
1. Merlot was my special boy. A Standard Poodle of extreme intelligence and empathy. At 5 years of age he developed Valley Fever. This infection caused his testicle to swell the size of a grapefruit. Emergency neuter surgery was done to save his life. Merlot had sired 3 litters and was a very dominant male. I was unsure how the neutering would change him. I loved this dog like no other and I didn’t want anything about him to change, but I didn’t want him to die either. In the end, I found the only thing that changed was his patience level. Before he was always on edge and would occasionally challenge Keith’s authority. Once he was neutered he mellowed, he was able to let things go and just give a big sigh if things didn’t go his way. He was still every bit my Merlot, just a little less prone to crack when the chips fell. My only regret was not getting semen collected and saved from him, as I have very few of his puppies intact. Otherwise, neutering him was the best move for his mental well-being .
Flash playing tug with Keith.
2. Flash is my spunky little Standard Poodle boy. He has a love of life and a “Everyone loves me” attitude. While visiting my sister a couple years back, Flash and Gatsby (both intact males) got into a serious fight. Flash had been getting more and more male dog aggressive. It was not his nature to be like that, so I figured it was his hormones overriding his better judgement. I took Flash in and had his semen collected (decided I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made with Merlot) and had him neutered. Flash sired two litters before he was neutered at 4 years of age. Flash has turned back into my fun loving boy. If a male dog comes up to him all ready to fight, Flash would fight. But he doesn’t pick fights anymore and has much better focus. It was the best decision I made for the entire family.
3. Gatsby is my sisters Standard Poodle. He was neutered due to fighting with Flash. Gatsby does not have the confidence Flash or my other dogs do. Because of his, I believe the hormones were harder for him to handle. Lisa did Agility with Gatsby, but the dog did not enjoy class. He LOVED Agility, but he hated being around the other dogs. It made him stress out. I think for dogs like Gatsby, dogs who are really more Omega in temperament, being intact is extremely hard. It puts them on edge at all times. They think they need to be the boss, but they have no real will or personality for the job. It creates a great deal of stress in their life. Every single time we visit, Gatsby is a little better. He has mellowed, he now plays with his family and other dogs (which he never did before) and he has become a SERIOUS cuddle bug! I was in town for Thanksgiving and that dog laid on me for hours, just enjoying my company. He had never done that before. Gatsby was never bred due to a poor front and weak temperament. He was intact for almost 4 years.
I’ve seen less temperament fluctuations with the girls in Standard Poodles than I have with the boys. It doesn’t seem to matter much to these girls if they are intact or not, but many of my girl poodles have been non-dominant dogs. In Shiba’s it did help to spay the girls quickly once they were finished having pups, but Shibas are a much more dominant and aggressive breed.
Merlot (about 1 year of age) and Indigo (about 3 years old in this photo)
Indigo was my sweet Black and Tan Shiba girl. She produced two litters for me. Indigo’s only ‘issue’ was that each time she came into season she would turn into a dog with an extremely short fuse. For a Shiba, Indigo was amazing. I called her my Border Collie Shiba. She loved water, carried a toy around almost all the time, would fetch for hours, loved to play frizbee. I could even take her off leash in structured situations, amazing for any Shiba. When she would near her cycle, everyone in the house knew it. She wouldn’t share her toys and she had no patience for puppies, which were her favorite play mates all other times. After her second litter, I had her spayed. Oh what a change. She was always an amazing girl, but once spayed she was spectacular. She was 5 years old when I spayed her.
I believe it has a lot to do with the breed. I have a good friends with Sighthounds. They can keep 10 intact males together for life and they don’t gets fussy with each other or with their humans. They have had all the pack and people aggression bred completely out of them. I had a breeder of Borzoi and Silken Windhound’s say to me once “I just don’t understand people who neuter their boys, I just don’t see the reason”. Well no, she wouldn’t.
It would be easy for me to grab hold of the “It doesn’t help older dogs to be neutered” concept as a way to fight Animal Rights Activist. However, I will not say something that I know is false for some breeds. It DOES help some dogs to be altered. It does create a more mellow animal, at least with Shiba Inu and Standard Poodles.
Have you altered an older dog? Did you see any changes for the better or worse? Did it help with any aggression or focus issues you were having?? Tell us all about it!
~Becky