Hello everybody,
Well I am considering a really really tough decision for me to make. My dog is 14 months old, I have posted about him before particularly about the fight we had over a toy. Well since we have had a couple more fights, nothing worse but more fights none the less. He has never shown any agression to my wife but has shown it to me about ten times now and I have won ever fight. All this aggression has been new, two months ago this was not an issue.
So here is the deal. I am considering (and can't believe it has come to this) neutering him. This was never my plan, I never thought I would neuter him.
I feel time is not on my side because he is 14 months old and he is very mature for his age, I need to make a decision this week. Will neutering him at this age prevent him from becoming even more agressive or have I already seen the worst of it? The main reason we got him is to be a family pet and to do schutzhund but family pet is number one.
So my main question is where to go fom here? I obvously can't allow things to continue the way they have been. Would neutering help?
The sad part is that I really don't want to neuter him, he has a ton of potential in the sport and has very solid nerves in all situaions except for this batlle between me and him. But as bad as I don't neuter him I don't want to get bit or my wife get bit even more and we are hoping to have a kid in the near future.
Any advice during this hard time would be greatly appreciated?

Well, I'm new to this board but I'm pretty sure that most people will agree with me on this: Neutering at this age won't help any aggression/dominance issues. I believe that 9 months is really the cut off point...which is too bad because at 9 months, those things usually haven't become problems yet, so how would you know?

Have you read anything that Ed wrote about dealing with a dominant dog? Or even Cesar Millan? It sounds like the only way to insure that your dog stops the aggression, neutered or not, is for you to be a solid pack leader. Ed has some really excellent advice about this sort of thing.

Also, I don't think it's uncommon for a dog at that age to "test" you. There is a huge wealth of info on this site...use the search feature. Best of luck to you.

i've heard the cutoff is more like 18 mos. but even so, there is no guarantee that neutering will make any difference once the dog had reached puberty.

it's good your dog is intact until this age because he will be a sounder dog with better physical structure if he matures intact.

your best bet is to become a better pack leader. also, realize that he is still an adolescent, and he will mellow out as he gets older, if he is handled correctly.

I know a beagle that was neutered at 6 or 8 months that's dominant as heck, very conscious of rank, and aggressive when he doesn't want to be bothered. I would say this "neutering calms down a dog" thing goes only so far, probably taking the edge off of aggression but it's mostly to curb mating and mating behaviors. This is all mostly behavior and training.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/ubbthread...p;page=0#640483
The first post in that link has a good collection of articles as well as links to two great books on leadership, including Leerburg's ever-important groundwork link.

http://www.leerburg.com/domdogdirectory.htm
http://www.leerburg.com/301.htm

At this point, this seems mostly rank behavior and I don't think neutering will stop it. This dog needs firm, clear, consistent, respectable leadership and I'd suggest getting that in order before you play more leadership-type games like tug or dealing with toys and fighting battles over them, I know you want him as a schutzhund prospect but if family pet comes first, that needs to be addressed.

Hi Mike, the only reason to neuter a pet is if it has health issues or you don't want to breed.
It will not change temperment or additude. This is a fact.
Neutering a pet can cause other problems. Obesity if not exercised, Cancer in some etc....

 Quote:

..... the only reason to neuter a pet is if it has health issues or you don't want to breed. ..... It will not change temperment or additude. This is a fact.....

You mean later neutering, right? This looks as if you're also saying that there is no effect on temperament from early neutering either. I do not agree that early neutering has no effect on temperament.

And the phrasing about "a pet" --- wouldn't preventing oops litters in pets be added to "not wanting to breed"?

It just sounds like a very broad anti-neuter guideline, when I think most people would add that shelter rescues should be neutered, as should dogs born with only one testicle or with a retained testicle....... and other conditions and reasons, too, which I imagine would fall under "health issues," which you do mention.

Since you specifically say "a pet," I don't agree at all that no pet should be neutered except for health reasons or "if you don't want to breed."

I don't want to pick an argument; I feel strongly enough about this not to want that statement to stand unchallenged. No criticism intended.

Thank you everybody for the responses. It is my belief that neutering a dog will prevent or at least strongly limit mental muturity.
I seems to me that his agression has come with maturity. So if he is 14 months now, how much longer does he mentally muture for? I am aware that muturing is a life long thing but I am asking about the rapid rate of muturity from adolesence to adult and I am sure every dog is different but on average. I guess the reason I am asking is so I can get other peoples opinion about what effects neutering might have at this age.

Mike,

Neutering is NOT the answer to your problem in my opinion! You need to be MUCH stronger with your dog and show him who's boss! Start changing the way you live with this dog day to day.

Do's and Dont's:

Don't let your dog sniff & pee on everything when out walking (can increase dominance/territorial agression).
Don't let your dog in the door before you (who's the leader?).
Don't let your dog eat before you (who's the leader?).
Don't just give food, treats, praise, love etc. without WORK! (who's the leader?)

DO keep your dog's shoulder in line with or behind your leg while out on walks, this shows him you're in control of where the pack goes!
DO be positive at home with the dog, AND, when out walking and always know where you are going, what you are going to do, and keep the do guessing!
DO GET A PRONG!
DO keep the prong and a short leash on the dog at ALL times when you are home! (remember to move/adjust the prong regularly as it can be a source of irritation otherwise).

There ARE other things that should be added to the list but I'm real tired from moving house and my brain is not fully engaged again.

Others please feel free to add to this list!

Mike I know that this stuff works as I had similar problems with my dog and he's MUCH improved from where we were.

Also as has already been said, with age comes maturity and calmness. I think you may be mistaking his "maturity" for something else! He's still a baby and testing all the boundries he can before he hits a wall (YOU).

Sometimes you have to be stronger and correct harder than you would like but the message is the same!

In my opinion it is a mistake to Neuter before three years old! Give the dog a chance.

HTH

John

Mike,
Going to have to agree with most of the folks on this board, nutering your dog will not help where you are today. You are going to have to be a much stronger pack leader and begin to show your dog who is the pack leader. This will mean that your dog has no freedom what so ever in your house and home, teather him to you every where you go. Keep him at your side and do not allow him to play with toys, unless you go and get them out to play. Then you chose when the game is over. I have a dog who is 8 months old and very Alpha, he must always be kept in line and even the smallest of things allows him to begin to believe he is the pack leader so he must always walk either at my side or behind me, he get toys when we decide he can play and they get put away as soon as we are done. YOU can not play tug with this dog unless it is a working type of play, never just play tug. Never allow him on your bed or furniture, no bed, no couch or any where else. Bottom line you are going to have to be a bit tougher on this dog and never allow even the smallest of slips. As a side note he is still pretty young and may be just trying you to see if he can take over the pack leader position, it is up to you to make sure he knows that he can not.
Nurturing your dog at this age will not remove aggression if everything I have read thus far is on par. You might consider getting Ed's Dom and Aggreesive Dog DVD, I have it and it has a lot of information on dealing with a dog of this nature. If memory servers me correctly your dog is at that age where he will challenge you, just like a teenager will. So you are going to have to get tough and stay tough for a while.
Nuturing a dog is not a bad thing to do once they get to be 3 or so and you are not planning on breeding. It will not help with dom issues. You would have had to nuter him younger than he is now if I understand everything I have read and studied to date.
Time to get tough, walk him a lot with you always taking the lead. Wear him down often and always still look fresh, I know that when I walk my dog for a mile and come home and he crashes and I am still up and moving he knows who is in control. This is not easy but keep at it, head up when walking not looking down at your dog, walk in a straight line and if he drifts in front of your leg, keep walking on him, sorry but that is what it takes. If he is overly aggressive get a muzzle and keep it on him. Would hate to see you or a family member bit by him. Kind of funny he would only be aggressive towards you but then again he may only see you as a challenge for the pack lead and he already see the rest of your family as lower members of the pack, that is not a good thing at all for your family.
Your Dog Needs To Live By NILF!!! Make him work for EVERYTHING, a pet on the head, food and everything else, also your family need to make him live by NILF as well.
Jay