This is not a question about whether to neuter or not. I have done a pretty good amount of research on the benefits of each way. I am pretty much in the dark as to what it is like to live with a male, and an intact male at that. This being the first one. We originally were going to show him for the breeder,(there were no pet dogs in this litter, and showing loooked like fun at least) but he was dx's with elbow dysplasia at 5 months, which we treated with prolotherapy, but that meant he would never breed so we did not show him.

Knowing what i do about the role of testosterone in joint issues, we opted to let him intact, at least for awhile. We also wanted to allow him to fill out and look like a mature dog. I do not want to set him up for more joint issues.

The breeder breeds great dogs, working dogs and wonderful personalities. he loves everything and everyone.Now.

He is 22 months and we have gone through what I think is the first round of high hyper testosterone. He spent about a month not being able to be exercised enough, now he is sleeping most of the day for the last 3 or 4. Just by chance my husband saw a show today that said males tend to go through cycles two or three times a year like this related to their testosterone. ????

I decided to do a little checking into what other things to expect from him as he gets older. Doing a google search brought me back here to leerburg. :-) It linked me to Ed's article on dog aggression. he isn't dog aggressive but I read it anyway.
This is the link.

http://leerburg.com/dog-agg.htm

When I got to the end and started reading the emails this was the answer to one of them.

"You made a number of mistakes.

1- You should not have tried to keep an intact male Rot as a house dog. You found out why. The dog should have been neutered or kept in a dog kennel.

we don't have any definite plans for Tanka yet. I know he will not be a protection dog, or shutzhund. My main goal is for him to be a good companion and to be a good ambassador for the breed, like he has been up to this point. I love to change people's minds about the big bad rottweiler. Right now he sure has the personality for it.

I am looking at maybe doing fun tracking, maybe therapy. I don't care about competing in anything. The breeder has suggested rally as a fun sport to do together. I know quite a few of her people through the computer who have really great rotts who do all kinds of things, and many of them are shown and so they are intact. Maybe I need to do some talking to these people. But I also want to ask here where people work their dogs and many have intact dogs.

I don't want to mess up when it comes to keeping him intact. I want to know what to expect. we have one dog in the house, he is not crated as a general rule. He spends most of every day with us. i don't want that to change.

if I talk to the vet, it is neuter no matter what. The breeder would like to see him stay intact to mature. I want what is best for him and us to live a long healthy happy life.

Intact or not, you control over your dog is all about your skills at leadership.
If your expecting problems from him then you may very well get them if you don't have complete control as leader/top dog/boss/etc.
I've not seen a lot of difference in an uncontrolled dog after it was nutted. The simple reason for this is there was no control/leadership before or after.

I do Rotts, and do not alter. I have had multiple males living together in relative peace as well. My youngster comes from very strong working lines and is around 2 1/2 right now; prime butt head stage...

I never really think about the fact that I do not alter to be honest. I just treat them like dogs, and expect them to obey the rules. Nuts or not. If I started making excuses (he is doing such-and-such BECAUSE he has testicles) then I think it could potentially become a self fulfilling prophecy that excuses me from having to deal with it on a rational level.

For example. If my boy starts humping the neighbor kid (and he DOES like to try and hump this ONE kid) I could either A: say "well he is full of testosterone, that explains it" or B: say "he is breaking MY rules and needs to be corrected." Balls don't really come into it at all.

The dogs temperament is what he was born with. He will be confidant or nervy, high energy or lazy, aggressive or a clown based on his genetics and how you raise him. Don't think about what is between his legs other than to make sure it doesn't get between a females legs.

Deal with the dog in front of you

Thank you. And this is not a "we don't want to train or lead so let's neuter instead" issue. I just have no male experience, and want too go in, intact or neutered with both eyes wide open, and not be surprised by soemthing that "everyone else knew".

Haha sounds like me... I have a Bull mastiff male that for the time being I plan on leaving intact but I'm not sure what to expect because this is also my first experience.

We should start a club! I am also venturing into this territory with my 15 month old male. I have always had females, and they have always been spayed...this is a whole new ball game. I actually planned to have him neutered, but we are dealing with some fear based issues and I think the experience would traumatize him. I told him he gets to keep his "goods" awhile longer. Overall, I am unsure if I will ever neuter or not...

With a fear based problem I would never recommend neutering, removing that added testosterone could make the issues worse and remove the dogs ability to cope with stress.

I've had several intact males and neutered ones. The main difference is less humping and less scentmarking. Intact dogs can be more likely to challenge the owner as youngsters but won't once they know the rules.

Cut males can be more lazy but if the dog is used to running etc. it shouldn't impact life.

Basically it all depends on the individual dogs. I have never heard of hormone cycles in males but have experienced a huge drop in obedience around a bitch in season. i.e. slower to respond, trying to get away with things.

Unless you have a problem with him, I would keep him intact.

Your post was encouraging Tanith

Where I worked (long time ago) I put down 4 intact male rottweilers for owner aggression.
I don't know if the dogs were from a poor line, or the owner was a poor master, or both. Perhaps both.

And timing is everything.....we haven't had any real behavior issues up to this point.

Let me tell you how today went. I was at the meatmarket and for the first time got him a raw meat bone. He wasn't very impressed, I had picked it up and actually took it out of his mouth once to saute it a bit in a pan to see if that would make it more interesting. Mediocre. he had it in the basement with Mark for a couple hours. He chewed it a little. I had passed by a couple times and touched his head and talked to him. Nothing. We had always practiced taking anything from him all his life.

Well at one point I saw he had something hanging out of his mouth, turned out to be a little piece of meat stuff, but I leaned down and touched it to see what it was, and when I moved my hand away I guess he thought I was going to take the bone and grabbed it and growled at me. I reached around him and took it out of his mouth and stood up and said "NO!" he sat up and looked me square in the eye and growled back at me, a real growl, no teeth, but almost. I reached out and whacked him with the flat of my hand across the side of his jaw/head which I instantly regretted. I never ever think you should hit a dog in the head. I don't hit him at all. I just reacted without even thinking about it.

He walked around the other side of the motorcycle and waited there with is hair raised a little on his neck, and mark was going to get in, and I said no let me handle this. It was me he was having the issue with. I went aorund to him, talked to him, and took him by the collar and lead him over to his kennel and put him in, rubbed the side of his face, and let him alone for a couple minutes, then when i went upstairs I put him on the leash and made him stay with me until i put him up in his kennel, which he never goes. he is there now.

i don't know if I handled this right. I am telling it exactly how it happened so I can get straightened out on anything i did wrong, however embarrassing that may be. I do know that he is going to start going through a form of leerburg's pack structure program.