Kato is my first male GSD and have a question about neutering. It seems everyone is trying to convince me to neuter this guy. He's only 4 months old!! Since he will be trained for personal protection I have been dead set against it. One of my concerns is this.. Will he "mark" my house up because he's not neutered? Or is that just a dominance issue? The other concern is if in a situation where I need my dog to protect, and there happens to be a female in heat in the area, what is he going to do? I personally think he will do what he is trained to do, but I would appreciate some other opinions on this.

I think the general opinion for working dogs is two years old to get the muscle and drive developement you want.

I think you will find that most vets and trainers will tell you that neutering a dog won't change his underlying personality. I've always waited until 2 years to neuter, but with out newest pup we neutered at 4 mos. in an attempt to curb some of his rapidly developing protection instincts. We had never seen a dog so young with such drive. We wonderered at first if it was fear, but fortunately it was not.

It was an interesting experiment, as the dog grew much larger than expected, has extremely long legs, and loves other animals. He was easily trained not to chase small animals and doesn't even chase deer, elk, bear or moose (something our other dogs had a great propensity for). Whether this was due to the early neutering, we don't know. Unfortunately, his general personality for protection was not diminished. He is now 2 weeks short of 2 years and is one of the most protective, natural drive dogs I have ever seen.

Our vet recommended we turn him over to the police dept for training as he believes he is a lot of dog to handle. He is! But, we work with him constantly and he is more than manageable. Would he make a great working dog in the field? Yes, but he is a great family dog as well and loves to track for hours.

So, I don't believe that early neutering can change personality, but I do believe it can have an impact on muscle development, long bone development, and size. Take a look at why you want to neuter early with the realization that basic personality and dominance won't change.
Good luck!

Leave him the way god made him, unless there is a good medical reason to do otherwise. In anycase, do not neuter him before he reaches atleast 1.5 years of age. Neutering before adulthood can cause lots of health issues.

IMO, don't nueter him until atleast after 2yrs. Wait for him to develop the size and muscle and any benefits his "testosterone" would have on his drives/training. Vets and breeders don't want bad breeding and over-population so nuetering is a good idea- just wait awhile and don't let him breed. You should not have problems with him marking inside your house if you crate train him and take the pack leader role -They do it because they are putting their smell on your house for ownership(dominance). Alot of people think that nuetering their dog after they start spraying their house will make him stop... but it won't! Their hormones initiate the behavior but it soon becomes a learned behavior(habit) and they will still spray, but the urine will not be as potent as before when his hormones made it concetrated and smelly for idnetification to other dogs. To stop it would require good training, supervision, and good clean-up! If you neuter him before puberty, you can prevent it...but also the things you are trying to gain from keeping him intact.

To your question about him protecting you or behaving around females in heat... He will if you train him to. I've trained male horses who are esspecially rowdy around females, so with an animal this big & dangerous, you HAVE to teach them to behave around them. We would practice around the female "distraction" from a safe distance and teach thm some self-control. Of course they always act a little different but you can really make a differnce compared to a dog or horse who hasn't had any training around the females.

As I said in my first post, I am dead set against neutering him. I see no reason to take away what he was born with. My 18 yr old son has been the biggest supporter of keeping him intact. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> He says that "us guys gotta stick together." :rolleyes: But my question is will he perform his duties if there is a bitch in heat around? And marking? Is it a dominance issue or will neutering curb the tendency? I have not had a male GSD since I was a kid and that was too long ago to remember. But I dont recall any of our males ever marking up our house then. I have not had problems with it, but was told that if I don't neuter him he will be doing it all over the house. IMO, marking is a dominance issue not a neutering issue.

I would wait as long as possible before getting a dog neutered especially if you are going to protection train your dog.Wait at least two to three years for the dog to fully mature.

Thanks for all your help. I am not going to neuter him. It would sure be a waste of the extra money I paid for full breeding rights. I am not going to rush out and breed him, but I would hate to not have the option later on. He comes from great working lines and believe me it shows. He is a bundle of energy and learns quick. He gets his first official bite this weekend. Cant wait to see how he does.

When I brought my work dog home he and my wife’s Rott literally took turns marking the bottom of our bed when we weren’t looking…….. The marking battle ran rampant out in the yard. My work dog had never spent much time indoors other than for training so he had to learn “inside manners”. Now that he understands the rules we have yet to see any repeat behavior.

We neutered the Rott at 2.5 years…..the marking decreased significantly and he maintained every bit of drive he had before.

I nuetered my <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> JRT at two yrs old. He can still pi$$ higher, farther, and more often than my uncut GSD. The GSD doesn't give that crazy little turd any grief either. NO loss of drive or attitude. If anything, it pi$$ed him off, and he's REALLY got attitude now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />