the other guy I saw was dan rossignol at http://www.dantrainsdogs.com but he seemed to have made my dog worse with a prong and hard corrections

I still say contact the closest SchH club or DVG club in you area for training help, as I stated on the other thread you posted.

Neutering can help with some behavioral issues & not others. It is very unlikely that fear aggression is going to be changed by neutering, as it is a temperment flaw. It would be best to neuter a dog with fear aggression issues, as he is not a dog that should be breed, due to his temnperment. Nor is he a working candidate.

Other then (sometimes) reducing dog aggression I don't believe neutering does much of anything FOR a dog.
It can create any number of problems as the dog ages.
Aggression in females. Incontinence in females. Cancer in males.
The unaltered dog with issues is 99% on the owner. JMHO!

Hello Melissa,

I could not help but comment on this discussion seeing it involves me. As I looked at your profile, I see nothing that states you are a dog trainer or behaviorist. It is extremely unprofessional of you to make a judgement call on a case study on aggression you know nothing about. Since you didn't ask ANY questions regarding this case let me bring you up to speed.. This very nice couple choose to purchase a Cane Corso puppy without knowing much about the breed. The Cane Corso is bred for protection and if the owner does not show 100% LEADERSHIP and does not properly socialize these dogs they WILL become aggressive and wary of strangers. What I saw was an extremely territorial fear based aggression case. With muzzle on, this dog clearly wants to kill someone. Owners admitting the dog is not properly socialized and owners admitting that "She" babyed this dog since they've had it, has created a monster. There is not one dog I work with that is unaltered that I do not recommend spay or neutering unless they are breeding. This is due to the over population of domestic dogs and cats on the planet and the fact that it may help curb the aggression. This aggression is 100% learned and owners were told that without changing they way they interact with him, nothing will change. There are many trainers who are not certified that extremely great trainers and many who are certified that are not. A track record speaks for itself. If at any time you'd like a bullet lists of more than 100 clients and testimonials, please email or call me directly. I'd be happy to talk to you. As with all people working with dogs, thank you for contributing to helping owners help their dogs. I in no way ever "knock" another trainers's techniques. I do see, that you spend plenty of time responding to posts, I'd encourage you to further your own education as well. Michael, if you'd like to continue, please give me a call. I'd be happy to continue with working with you. You are not the problem, your spouse is. Clear and to the point.

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longtermhealtheffectsofspayneuterindogs.pdf

pretty good study..

Thank you for the great article. I found it interesting about spaying females and the elevated risk of spay incontinence. One of my female huskies has this and is on medicine to correct it. In a perfect world where owners took responsibility for preventing unwanted pregnancies, altering may not be such a big deal. But since there are millions and millions of unwanted pets due to lack of homes, spaying and neutering your pets I will always be in favor of. Thank you for the great information. Very informative.

Hi Jeannie,

Welcome to the forum.

Complex issue with legitimate, passionate thoughts on both sides.I too have a spayed female who at 8 years of age has become incontinent (assumingly due to her being spayed) and is now on medication for control. I also have a two year old male GSD, also neutered - which is my greatest regret with him. Knowing what I know NOW about the health/development issues associated with neutering at a young age, I would definitely have either NOT neutered or at least waited until he was two years of age. I control my animals. Period. I live on 8 unfenced acres and they are never out of my sight - either leashed or with an ecollar. They are trained to the best of my ability which is an on-going process.

I honestly appreciate your view point and can understand where it is based. I do want to point out that the millions and millions of unwanted pets are due to and caused by irresponsible pet owners - not by an insufficient number of available homes. In spite of all the information available and all the vets pushing for premature sterilization, there is a segement of society which simply elects to not control their animals. If the PEOPLE controlled their pets, we would not be dealing with millions and millions of unwanted animals.

I support spaying/neutering after 2 years of age - to allow for the health and proper development of the animal.

I'm not trying to split hairs here - just explaining the problem as I see it... not a lack of houses - a lack of responsibility.

Again, welcome to the forum. I look forward to your input on a variety of topics.

Edited by Barbara Schuler (09/09/2010 08:10 PM)
Edit reason: clarification

Thank you Barbara. I agree with you. What I mean by lack of homes IS lack of responsible owners as to why dogs end up in shelters. If the dog is in a shelter, it doesn't have a home. Mostly due to irresponsible owners. If there are too many dogs in shelters, dogs get euthanized due to lack of space. For every dog that is born, too many end up in shelters. One solution is build more shelters to house more unwanted pets. Another solution is to spay and neuter. Thanks for the great input.

I also believe in no spay or neuter until full maturity....I have tried to do my homeowork and read medical journals and speak to whomever I can on this issue, and basically I have decided to not neuter my male, but we spayed our small female after three heats (she is 20 months)....Our dogs are never out of our sight and never go to the dog park etc....there is basically, from what I have read, no medical benefit to neuter a male, other than to control population and there is a small (I mean very small) risk of cancer, which is equal to the complications that can arise from the actual surgery....females there is a tad more medical benefits....anyways, JMO and in no way am I an expert on this, just wanted to share what I learned when doing my own research. I can see why someone may want to neuter to slow down the aggression, but from what I learned 9 months is still too young for a Cane Corso, he is not done growing....

You are so sadly mistaken. Please visit http://www.apdt.com for the thousands of trainers who are members. Again, it amazes me the lack of professionalism on forum boards. The only thing I agree with you on is that you must prove yourself through working with many many dogs. Tens of thousands of trainers are members of the ADPT and they give a wealth of information for continuing education. Many of their speakers at their annual conference are top trainers including Ian Dunbar. What gives you the right to judge anyone. As far as tacky, I feel putting "testimonials" on a website is just that. Anyone can type a "testimonial". If at anytime you'd like to see one of hundreds that I have for helping aggression cases, let me know, they are actual emails. No one seems to mention that this "dog" has been trained with a shock collar whenever it saw a human.. this "monster" was created by a human. As I've said in the past, I do not knock other trainers, so thank you for contributing to helping owners help their dogs. There is never a shortage of good trainers.