Castration...

[Lennard 10]

Does castration of dogs make them less fit to work or doesn't it matter...does anyone have any experience?

 

regards,

Lennard

[Guest Doug]

Best avoided if possible, but whether it affects them much/at all depends on the type of dog and the work.

[Lennard 10]

Someone offered a whippet dog, 1 year old and castrated...don't know...the castrated dogs I know are kind of fatty and puppy like in behaviour (castrated before 1 year old). I need a speedy whippet kind of dog. Advantage would be that I can keep a castrated dog with my unspayed bitch no problems.

 

L

[Dawn B 212]

In my experience it makes no difference at all. I had a male Dobemann castrated and he still worked exactly the same in trials etc.. There are also thousands of spayed bitches working, no difference again.

Dawn.

[Guest Doug]

Should be all right with a whippet but you'll have to watch his weight.

 

Dawn - sometimes a dog needs a bit more - you know - balls - depending on the quarry.

[kiwi 4]

it can make a difference, i wouldn't have a dog or bitch that has been fixed have seen plenty of dogs that have had it done and with no effects{but did they ever reach their full hunting abilitly after the chop??} but have also seen plenty that just turned to crap as well, for pet dogs i have no problem but for hunting i like my dogs including my bitches to have balls, ever notice how ya bitches hunt better when coming into or on heat? hunting drive and hormones should be at a balance.

[Guest Duzabit]

Yes it does''

 

Duz

[Guest Lurcherbitch]

Off course it makes a differance...nowt like seeing a good lurcher catch a prey with his balls .

 

Whoops sorry could'nt help being sarcy .

 

In all my work with dog's. rescue and working, the only differance i see is they are less sexually behaved.when it comes to hunting spot on. so i supposse it depends on what experiance that people have with both neuterd/not. overe the years. i neuter all my dogs n they still do the job n aint fat

[kiwi 4]

depends on [bANNED TEXT] you class as hunting l/b, but for us our working dogs are just that working dogs! any sexual tension is kept in check by the pack as a whole so having leg pumping dogs is not an issue. the same goes for our stock dogs, we have 8 on the farm all intact and no unwanted litters or fights. as you help with the unwanted or cast off dogs getting them fixed is great to stop the cycle but from a working point of veiw chopping a dogs nuts off is not gonna lighten the load to make him run faster but it does curb that bit extra that makes a dog a dog and a bitch a bitch and that bit of guts and agro that you lose with fixing a dog/bitch can vary between no difference at all to a totally different dog after the op. why bugger with nature, we castrate bulls to mellow them down and make them grow fat by changing the hormone balance so why would ya want to do that to ya hunting mates who do all the hard work. i always laugh at the vets who go on about the pro's of getting it done myself.

[Guest Lurcherbitch]

Ok Kiwi great reply but i'll have to disagree on the dog's getting fat, It's the ownwers that get the dog's fat not the neutering .

Just to add the dog's that i have neuterd n put in working homes are still doing the job. But see your point Kiwi. sounds great where you are, add a couple off pics mate would love to see ya dogs .

[kiwi 4]

yeah i'll get some pic together l/b, but i would like to add one more thing, the type of dogs you look after ie lurchers are not know to become "fat" anyway having large amounts of greyhound/sighthound in their make up are not going to turn them into overfeed labradors provided they get good tucker and some regular exercise, but for terriers and other breeds the weight does come into account.

[Dawn B 212]

Dawn - sometimes a dog needs a bit more - you know - balls - depending on the quarry. 

 

It stops them reproducing, NOT biting!

Dawn.

[Guest Lurcherbitch]

I still have to disagree with ya there,My mate does mutt rescue, as in anything that needs help, N the mutts dont get fat if the owners walk em n feed em right. I myself have rescued Axel a alsation n homed with a mate, he aint fat, he lives with a cross lab, he aint fat either. My other mate has a greyhound which is f*****g huge, i blame her for being a lazy cow n not walking her dog & over induging him.Oh i've been known to rescue the odd terrier too .

Suppose we'll have to agree to disagree on the fat issue .

 

Cant wait for pics. I love the sound of the life style of ya dog's, And it is good to hear about dog's being so well looked after living together, un neuterd, and well behaved, . This is yet another point i can put accross to people when being asked the pro's n cons of neutering .

[Stabs 3]

Look!......no bollocks! :11:

 

 

Cracking little worker this old lad. He's been a Trojan over the years.

 

Wish he had his balls though as it's horrible knowing you'll never get anything off him. He's still a randy b*****d too and he's the barometer for when we know the bitch is ripe! Once he gets a tie with her, we know it's all systems go!

[Guest Doug]

I didn't say they would inevitably become fat - I said that the owner would have to watch the dog's weight (either sex) I stand by that. Neutered dogs do put on weight easier - same as neutered farm livestock (that's why we neuter them in addition to [bANNED TEXT] Kiwi said), the court eunuchs etc - and so owners have to be more careful not to let them get overweight. This is not always so easy when the dog is hungrier but needs less food. The owner has to be committed to keeping the dog lean.

 

And as for more balls - do I have to spell it out? There is so much more in the un-neutered dog of either sex. But if all you're doing is rabbits it shouldn't make any difference.

 

Neutered dogs sometimes also change their coats which can become heavier, but I don't suppose that would worry many of us.

 

I can see why the rescue side is convinced of the benefits of neutering, but responsible owners can keep their dogs fully equipped if they want to without causing problems.