Anyone have experiece cutting a male?

[Briarhoppers]

I have a male that I am not interested in breeding to....not now, not down the road. This male has a quirky personality, can be aggresive at times towards other males in the dog box, kennel, etc. and is cautious around new people and dogs. He is a one man dog. He is not a part of my "A" pack but I plan to keep him....more for for sentimental reasons than anything else.

In the field he is fine and has a heck of a mouth. Most issues are in the kennel. Right now I got two females in heat and he is raising cain....don't blame him, but am curious what "cutting him" might do to help his personality....and to eliminate some of the aggresive issues and female in heat issues. Any feedback is appreciated.

I have had one female fixed and she got way fat and stayed fat....couldn't ever get her in good shape again. Hope this doesn't happen w/ this male.

[Bev]

Neutering the dog will not change aggression. A dog's aggression tendencies are set pretty much at birth and can be from several causes. Neutering might stop wandering and unnecessary humping, and will certainly insure that the dog won't die from testicular cancer, but aggression is an entirely different issue. If you're sure you'll never breed him and you want to make sure he never accidently breeds one of your females, then by all means, neuter him. It won't affect his hunt one bit, but you'll still have the kenneling problems with other males until you identify which of the 7 different types of aggression he exhibits. Also know that if you choose to neuter him, he will not be alowed to field trial, but then that may not be your thing anyway.

[DavisFarms]

I have a male that I am not interested in breeding to....not now, not down the road. This male has a quirky personality, can be aggresive at times towards other males in the dog box, kennel, etc. and is cautious around new people and dogs. He is a one man dog. He is not a part of my "A" pack but I plan to keep him....more for for sentimental reasons than anything else.

In the field he is fine and has a heck of a mouth. Most issues are in the kennel. Right now I got two females in heat and he is raising cain....don't blame him, but am curious what "cutting him" might do to help his personality....and to eliminate some of the aggresive issues and female in heat issues. Any feedback is appreciated.

I have had one female fixed and she got way fat and stayed fat....couldn't ever get her in good shape again. Hope this doesn't happen w/ this male.

I would use a "band". You can go to a near farm supply store and get a bag of them cheap that they use on goats. It's painless and easy and just takes a couple weeks.

But mark my words, as sure as the world turns, as soon as you do it that male will turn into a rabbit machine and blow the "A" pack dogs away. Carma of nature is cruel that way.

[doubleb]

i would and have used bands very sucsessfully on big game dogs for years and also i will have to disagree with bev about the agressive part because i have ban many hounds in my 20 yrs and 95% have been ban for fighting and in all the cases the dog stop fighting after banning now this is plott and walker hound i have never ban any of my beagles so my experience is in big hounds bev may have different results in beagles just my opinion

[Bev]

How old were they when you neutered them, doubleb? Some aggression problems right themselves between the ages of 2 and 3, some start about that age. I've never neutered a beagle, so I can't tell you. I've neutered/spayed every house dog I ever had, but that was strictly because I didn't want them breeding. It changed some behaviors, but not all forms of aggression, and certainly not their dominance.

I would never neuter a hound this way, and no offense, but I can't see how any of you guys could do it, either, lol. Can you imagine being in the dog's place? I personally would have a vet do it. It's not that expensive IMO, and they just wake up without them. Heck, there are free or almost free spay/neuter clinics all over.

[DavisFarms]

lol. Can you imagine being in the dog's place?

Nope! But I came close once with my 3rd wife. But you do have a good point.

[Bev]

LMAO!!!

[doubleb]

bev most were between 1 and 3 yrs old and i agree that some aggression is still there i have seen food aggesstion after neuter also have seen other dogs hump neutered dogs a little more which trigger dom. aggression but for the most part it calms an aggressive dog down. i banned mine because my vet said it is prop less stressful on the dogs because they dont have to be put to sleep he said the pain is only a few seconds.ps my vet showed me how to do the first couple so i didnt hurt my dogs

[Briarhoppers]

Thanks for the helpful feedback. A little more info. in regards to this males aggression. He is a little over 2 yrs. old. Most of his aggression is around new dogs (not in the field while hunting, but if I brought a new male to the kennel, etc.) Also, he will get aggressive w/ males in the dog box or small places. Seems perfectly fine w/ females in the dog box. He has been successfully kenneled w/ a younger male until two females came into heat and he has been fighting ever since. I had to seperate him and put him in solitary confinment. He has not expressed much aggression regarding food....even w/ other males.

I'd say his aggression is new males, small places w/ males and when there is a female in heat. Bev what type of aggression is that? Is there a solution other than cutting / banning? Any chance he will out grow some of this? He has actually outgrown some of his quirky and cautious behavior issues in the last year.

Thanks,

Pete

[Bev]

Pete, through centuries of selective breeding, we have rushed the dog's physical sexual maturity to occur around 6 months of age. However, they're "psychological maturity" remains exactly as that of a wild dog...somewhere between the ages of 2 and 3. This is when they decide they are the biggest baddest mo-fo and begin to flex their muscles at other males. This would be dominance aggression. OR, they could feel threatened by other males they perceive to be more dominant then they are, and are putting up the big bad front. That would be fear aggression. This is the same kind of aggression that would describe "fear biters." Personally, I think most of that will level off in time. He may never be able to kennel with other males, but when he figures out where his pecking order is he will settle down a lot, and if he ends up being a true alpha male, the others will learn to leave him alone. I'd just keep him separated from other males when unsupervised for a while. If it doesn't settle down then you can go from there.

Of course, common sense has to prevail here. In the case of doubleb's dogs, they were treeing walkers and such, who are already foaming at the mouth with aggression when they tree a coon and so on. It would take very little for the blood-letting to happen with a couple of aggressive dogs at one tree. Different breed, different circumstances, added risks.

[tenntreedog]

treeing walker aint nothing but a tri colored beagle on steroids

[Beagleman67]

Neutering the dog will not change aggression. A dog's aggression tendencies are set pretty much at birth and can be from several causes. Neutering might stop wandering and unnecessary humping, and will certainly insure that the dog won't die from testicular cancer, but aggression is an entirely different issue. If you're sure you'll never breed him and you want to make sure he never accidently breeds one of your females, then by all means, neuter him. It won't affect his hunt one bit, but you'll still have the kenneling problems with other males until you identify which of the 7 different types of aggression he exhibits. Also know that if you choose to neuter him, he will not be alowed to field trial, but then that may not be your thing anyway.

NKC rules states that a neutered dog cannot compete in a trial if it was neutered because of brucellosis.The way this reads if it was neutered for some other reason it can compete.

[Tim H]

Neutering a dog is for the purpose of keeping them from breeding.

If you neuter a dog in hopes that it will stop aggression you may be sadly disappointed. If the dog is already aggressive, it may reduce it some to neuter the dog but if the dog has developed the behavior then it is better to address it as a behavior rather than treating it as a physical ailment. As Bev is trying to explain, there are several types of aggression. Identifying the type of aggression and it's cause will be more beneficial then using a medical procedure in the hope of getting the specific desired side effect which may not occur at all.

Identify the type of aggression and apply the right behavioral techniques and you have a better chance of solving the problem. It has been my experience (limited as it may be) that aggression is rarely caused by a physical problem.

Some of what you have shared in your posts, indicate to me that there is a behavioral problem that if properly addressed may achieve the results you want.

[Bev]

Beagleman67, yes, you are right, but to save time I didn't list the only registry that would allow a spayed/neutered dog in its trials under that single condition. None of the others will allow it for any reason, and even NKC won't allow them to compete on the bench. Most people find it a bit cumbersome to carry around a vet's certification stating the dog was not neutered/spayed due to brucellosis, on the chance that a club would ask for it. His trialing options would be extremely limited. looks like I didn't save any time after all, lol.

[Gang]

I have one who did the same thing at about 2 when I put a male in with him, but not near as bad if I put him in with another male. I eventually ran a true bad boy in on him and let him get ragged around for about a week. He calmed down right fine and dandy. I learned to always load him in the box last which let the other ones check him out and show dominance instead of vice versa.