I'm after some opinions on whether castrating a dog does calm them down or if that's a myth? I've heard so many different stories.

I have an 18 month old Boxer. I don't intent to breed from him so the question is do we have him "done" or not. My husband is dead against it! surprise suprise!" Boys!

However our Boxer is very highly strung, very exciteable and has just started to hump anything we see on walks. He doesn't do this all the time but on a day when he's in humping mode he'll try it with any dog he sees. Don't get me wrong, I love that he's full of beans and he's a fabulous dog but on occasions a bit of calm would be welcome!

We've just been out walking with a 3 year old Boxer and he is Mr Laid Back dog. My friend said that the snip did calm him but he has always been really chilled out so I'm not sure how much credence I can put in the fact the castration made any difference really!

Numerous people have told me that giving him the snip will calm him down but then I've read lots of info that says it makes no difference.

Can people please give me their experiences? Preferably in relation to Boxers but am open to all opinions!

I don't want to put my boy thorugh an operation if it's pointless to do so!

Thanks
Rosie

hopefully someone else will come on with more advice but you could always try tardac or superlorin, you would get the general effect without removing bits that can't be put back.
Chris

i've had two boxers and both were very different. i only have one now and he's always been the calmest of the two.
i had both castrated and for my dogs it did make a difference but i know this isn't always the case. they did stop trying to hump things though but this took a few months so whether it was having the op or them growing up a bit it's hard to say.
trying to hump things can become a habit to, so stopping your dog by distraction is a good idea. you don't want him to try and hump the wrong dog and end up being given a good telling off by them.
i'm all for castration but thats my personal feeling and i know a lot of people have different thoughts on it. i do know quite a few people that have had it done to their dogs though and it has seemed to of  helped  calm their dogs.

Boxers as far as i can advise you are a hyper dog i remember one highly thought after boxer breeder that was being interviewed for Crufts on tv.and she said that boxers are hypo until almost the day they die and that is exactly what they are like so you have many years ahead of you.We are now on our 6th boxer(4mth old), both our boys were left unneutered and both were hump free thank goodness, and living together, so i cant say if you ought to get him done or not,maybe to get him out of the habit take some high value treats in a rattle box (small tupware tub) so when he does get above himself shake it to distract him.Sorry i cant help on the neutering side but i have had no experience of it only bitch spaying,we have a Boston Terrier bitch that humps when she is in season so can i know how you feel.I am sure some one on here can give you some experienced advice good luck with debby

Castration doesn't do anything but stop the dog from siring puppies. It doesn't even stop them from mating bitches in season. I have 4 neutered dogs and 2 entire and there simply is no difference between them in any way. Nor did any of the neutered ones change afterward.

I've never owned a boxer so can't comment on that particular breed but I can say that, over the years, I have owned 8 male dogs (different breeds) and all have been castrated.  None have shown any interest in bitches and, although one did still hump his bed regularly, he showed no interest in humping anything else.  When I exchanged his old bed for a new one he ceased the humping.  When, some years later, I found his original bed up in the loft I got it out and immediately the dog started humping it.  Obviously this was a humping bed and not a sleeping bed.

> Numerous people have told me that giving him the snip will calm him down but then I've read lots of info that says it makes no difference.
>

I remember a spayed bitch we had years ago, she would hump for England!!!
Our last dog we got as a 4yr old entire male, he was terrible for humping, we got him castrated when he was 6yrs old (if he smelt a bitch on heat he would try his hardest to escape from the house, got himself runover). The castrating did keep him calmer when he smelt a bitch (he wasn't trying to escape and wasn't pacing around the house crying) but it did nothing for his humping, we had to train that out of him.

As for 'full of beans' Boxer behaviour, that sounds just like my sisters 3yr old, spayed bitch, she has so much energy it makes my Mastiff look like a stuffed toy!

> very exciteable and has just started to hump anything we see on walks.

It sounds as if his humping is more about excitement rather than 'sex drive' so castration wouldn't help anyway, just a training & maturity issue.

> We've just been out walking with a 3 year old Boxer and he is Mr Laid Back dog. My friend said that the snip did calm him

You need to ask at what age did he have the snip, as he's only 3yrs old now, was he done during the 'kevin' stage? in which case he would have been at the height of hard work and about to calm down naturally anyway

I remember a spayed bitch we had years ago, she would hump for England!!!

I have two dogs that will hump -a spayed bitch and a neutered dog. The entire ones don't do it. Oh except for a bitch that currently is pregnant and keeps humping one of the cats....but normally she doesn't.

thanks for all the responses.

I know Boxers are nuts anyway and that was part of the appeal and now that I have one I want more (hubby won't allow it!!!!) however I guess after seeing Reggie (the 3 year old) so calm yesterday I started thinking maybe my nutter was more mad than most!

Reggie was snipped when he was about 18 months so Mastifflover, maybe you're right and he was at that stage when he may have started to calm down naturally anyway.

Fortunately I can usually distract Nero when he starts to hump another dog. He isn't at all food driven so treats are no good for us although he will walk fabulously to heel when I have cheese in my hand but no other treats interest him (I've tried sooo many). I have a ball that is only used on walks and he does respond to that luckily.

Mixed bag of responses from you all and gives me some food for thought, thanks

Castration is such a debatable issue. I am one who is confused by it all...

on one hand why should we take their bits away if they have no behavioural issues? Most times it doesn't do anything anyways.

Removing the testosterone producing testes does just that. No testosterone, no urge to breed (in most cases). I think castration has to be done early in age, removing the testes before puberty. Which isn't recommended in some breeds. So if they begin to produce sex hormones, they naturally develop the behaviour. Once they start the behaviour, isn't it harder to stop?

Its such a confusing issue. Of course people castrate/spay to reduce the risk of unwanted pets.

Another issue, Could it be "Mean" to allow them to keep their testes without ever breeding? This is why they have them, and of course will be driven to seek out mates and breed. Is it frustrating to him if he cant breed?

As you can see I am also torn between these issues. Anyone have some thoughts?

>Could it be "Mean" to allow them to keep their testes without ever breeding? This is why they have them, and of course will be driven to seek out mates and breed. Is it frustrating to him if he cant breed?

My two males are both entire, both are ten years old; one has been used at stud three times, the other never. Neither hump nor go bitching, or show behaviour any different to my spayed bitches.

> As you can see I am also torn between these issues. Anyone have some thoughts?

Mt dog is entire and unless there is medical cause to, I will not have him castrated. He has not and will not, ever, be permitted to mate/breed. He shows no sign of being frustrated by this atall, he has met an entire, in-season bitch while out walking (gosh, some people!! the bitch was loose and ran up to him), allthough he did get a tad excited, he was easy enough to calm down and sit & wait patiently while I chatted to the owner (he is a very big, stong dog, but trainig over-came his bit of excitement).

My last dog did get very, very frustrated at the smell of bitchs to the point all he could focus on was trying to escape, in the end, as a last resort we had him castrated which did take that frustration away. However, we never got him untill he was 4yrs old and that behaviour was deeply ingrained in him, I'm sure if we had him from a pup we could have taught him to not get stressed/frantic when he smelt a bitch.

Many years ago we had litter mates, male & female. The bitch we had spayed at about 3yrs old, the male was never done, he never showed any signs of frustation/need for a bitch even while his sister was in heat before being spayed.

Allthough my experience is only limited to 3 male dogs, I still am a believer in leaving a male entire unless there is a really strong reason to castrate him, I think behaviour is very rarely a reason to castrate, I think (if I remember rightly) the only thing it has a very good chance of stopping is the urge to roam (lucky for us that worked with our last dog), all other 'associated' behaviours can actually get worse (humping, agression, other behaviour problems).

Thanks for your replies.
Its good to know that you share the same thoughts on castration in dogs.
I get asked aren't you going to castrate him?? But there is no reason to with mine.
He is much like the dogs you guys have described,
thanks for your thoughts

> I think castration has to be done early in age,

Which the majority of breeders would totally disagree with.  I would never, ever have a male castrated until after he had gone through his testosterone period.  Although, to be fair, I would prefer not to castrate anyway.  I agree with mastifflover.