I have a 15 month old, intact ESS that I am training for tracking. He does perfect on every practice track I have set up for him and does very well at tracking class when he is focused (generally the last two tracks). When he is not focused he will get distracted by the occasional deer or bird sent…but duh he is a hunting dog and once in a while wanting to socialize with the other dogs instead of tracking (general during the first two tracks)-IMO it just takes him a while to warm up and focus because he still has not mentally matured. He has absolutely zero aggression, nor is he dominate in any way shape or form. He does not mark, does not hump, gets along well with other intact male dogs, as well as all animals and people. He has given no reason, not even a hint of one to even consider neutering.
At my last class it was suggested to me by several people that I neuter him in order to “focus” his tracking all the time, so he is not so easily distracted and to settle him down. My concern lies in the fact that the exact opposite might happen, and he will become a lazy un-energetic dog that loses all drive and does not want to work.

I was wondering what everyone else’s opinions were on neutering for reasons like this and those who have neutered if and how it has affected their dogs work performance. I am not quite buying the fact that this neuter will be like a magic wand that they are trying to sell me on.

Thanks!

Hi Dee Dee. I think this subject has been covered a few times here, in one form or another, and the consensus is A. *IF* you decide to neuter, let your dog get to be at LEAST 2 years old, preferably even a bit older, before you do it (that makes your dog still on the young side for even considering it) and B. If the dog has the drives to work, it will work, regardless of whether or not it is intact. Neutering won't automatically ruin his drives or activity level, but it might not change the way he is right now either.

That said, I would wager most people on this forum with true working dogs *prefer* to leave their dogs intact, though some of these people have or have worked with neutered dogs as well that were just as ready and willing to do the job as any other.

Here is one of many threads that may contain some helpful info about tracking dogs and neutering (read through to page 2 or 3):
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/139476/page/0/fpart/1

We neutered our male at 21 months and his prey drive has not been effected one bit (don't know if he has any drive to track - he's a companion). He IS more focused on ME when we're around other dogs - he used to be VERY distracted around other dogs when he was intact, and he could be combative with other intact males. But you don't appear to have this problem...

Your dog is still young and I'd at least give him a chance to mature more thoroughly and prove himself (or not) as a "worker" before I considered neutering. JMO He sounds like a real nice young guy though and I hope he continues to have such good manners into adulthood.

Good luck with him,
~Natalya

Natalya,
Thank you so much for your reply and the article link. My gut reaction was to leave him intact also and see how he does once he is fully matured-why change a good thing. I just wanted to double check that I was headed in the right direction and get some feedback. Thanks!

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I was wondering what everyone else’s opinions were on neutering for reasons like this and those who have neutered if and how it has affected their dogs work performance. I am not quite buying the fact that this neuter will be like a magic wand that they are trying to sell me on.

IMO the "big snip" will not be a magic wand. That said I also do not think that neutering would make him lazy either.

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He has absolutely zero aggression, nor is he dominate in any way shape or form. He does not mark, does not hump, gets along well with other intact male dogs, as well as all animals and people. He has given no reason, not even a hint of one to even consider neutering.
At my last class it was suggested to me by several people that I neuter him in order to “focus” his tracking all the time, so he is not so easily distracted and to settle him down.

Just as an example, I have a male air scent dog, neutered at 6 months Despite bing altered he WILL mark, hump, try to dominate a dog that will let him (or if I would let him ).... Altering him did not change this behavior. HOWEVER, has never been interested in any of that when he is working. He works well around other dogs searching on the same site, ignoring them.

Leave your dog intact if you want to, it does not sound like the issue to me. Are you tracking with this dog for fun, for SAR, for sport? ESS-English Springer Spaniel?

Yes-ESS English Springer Spaniel. I am tracking him for fun now, which is going to change over to competitions, and SARS...maybe in the future someday. He caught on to tracking very quickly and now when he knows it is time to track he goes absolutely NUTS!!! He is still so young yet so I am not concerned about his concentration too much, but with the ideas of going to Tracking competitions I thought I would get some more opinions.

Keep in mind -- the dog is 15 months old. He's still a baby. I remember the complete DOOFUS my ESS was when she was 15 months old -- probably couldn't have focused on anything for more than ten seconds!

I would remind the others in your tracking group that he is only 15 months old and that the focus will come with a bit more age.

Good luck -- Springers are a blast, aren't they?