Castration - horses and dogs

Clodagh

Clodagh

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I have been reading threads on here about the pros and cons of neutering male dogs.
It is unusual to keep a male horse entire, unless he is exceptional, and that is 'the norm'. Why keep a stallion with his limited opportunities for such important social interation etc., etc. Why is it so different for dogs? Do they get a lot of different health problems from castration than horses do?
I appreciate that people on here (AAD), some are for and some against castration, but very few people are against castrating colts.
We only have bitches so its not somethnig I have really come across, but our bitches are all spayed, and working dogs, and they haven't lost any 'drive' that you could notice. I wondered if that was why people condone keeping males entire?
 
That's a really good point TBH the rare (I mean, anecdotally speaking, I don't know anyone who's dog has died young or had any complications as a result of neutering) problems that crop up are in my opinion, vastly outweighed by the huge problems of overbreeding. Being dead in a pound because you were unwanted or uncared for is worse than being dead because of a well-meaning owner IMO.
My older male is neutered because he is not breeding quality. In the circles I move in, neutering a male is rare and I do get a lot of stick :p but it has not diminished what little working drive he had, rather it has made him less likely to nail the dog he was paired with :o
The vast, vast majority of the people in my sport work males - it is a pain in the arse when the females are in season as they have to be worked last so as not to put off the males (scent on the ground). One on the circuit competing to a high level locally at the moment.
My pup is still a pup (his mother was a very strong little bitch, they basically had to retire her to breed her, she missed three times because we think she was in 'work' mode and wouldn't 'let' herself take.
If he turns out to be a fabby worker I would be reluctant to mess with anything but if he turns out to be less than fantastic breeding material (which would be the only reason he would be bred from) then he won't be getting the chance to procreate.
 
Hm, interesting. I admit that you see very few castrated male gun dogs either but they mainly seem to get on well enough when thrown in the backs of cars together!
Thank you for your reply.
 
The simple answer is horses are bigger and more able to kill if aggressive and in the UK we are wimps about stallions-in other countries it is rare to geld a horse, so it is a country thing.
There are arguements for and against castration, not least being that it can cause problems as much as fix them and every anaesthetic has a risk.
 
I think the main reason people geld horses is because of how we keep horses. Not many livery yards allow stallions due to them having to have seperate turnout and special fencing etc. they do also have a reputation for being tough to handle. You really have to know what you are doing.

Whereas entire dogs are a lot more straight forward. If they are not, then you have their bits off (if you haven't already because you believe the health reasons)
 
I did have care of a pony stallion once and he was an absolute gent but our male horses/ponies were all geldings.

Having Diesel neutered made all the difference in the world to Diesel, didnt do it until 18months because he was still very much a baby and still growing
 
Well I neutered Rory as he was a rescue of unknown parentage so I wouldn't have been letting him breed but when I got him he had a severe prepucal infection which neutering assisted in clearing up. My yearling colt is still entire as he is a super model, great breeding and if he shows the ability he is bred to have he will stay entire. He is also the only entire son of his sire who sadly died suddenly recently. I have worked with stallions and am quite comfortable dealing with them. I would personally take each case individually!
 
When i worked in a vets the main reason for people not wanting dogs castrated was their male owners saw their dogs balls as an extension of their own!!!!!:D - we even used to get the occasional owner who had the fake ones put back in at several hundred pounds a nut!!, as they didn't want to be seen with a dog that was "less manly" - whatever the hell that means!!!!!:D:D Also the old wives tail of them loosing their drive be it hunting or whatever is still alive and well - personally I still think it's the balls things again and the drive thing is an excuse!!!!:D
I think it is more common in this country to geld colts simply because of tradition and it is far easier as more people have horses living in close proximity to each other and have crap fencing!! There are the safety issues too as not many folk have the experience to handle an entire safely or know how to let it be a normal horse - how many stallions live a solitary life stuck in a stable 24/7 - an awful lot unfortunately! And I think there is still this huge awe thing "ooooh it's a STALLION, keep away" - they seem to have a mental image of some sex mad, fighting machine that is out to kill everything - education maybe the key!!:D
Personally I geld all colts unless it has stallion potential and I am keeping it - I never sell entires as there are too many idiots that want the image of a stally but not the know how and I don't want them shut away for the rest of their days, I even gelded a 10yr old stallion as I no-longer needed to use him on my mares and rather than him ending up somewhere bad, he had his noodles off, and is now someone much loved happy hacker and dressage horse and is out in a mixed herd. My male dogs all get their nuts off as I have no interest in breeding from them and after seeing loads of un-castrated dogs with testicular tumors and then having to try and remove them on some elderly stressed out dog I don't want any chance of that with mine when they get old - it's a quick and pretty tiny opp in a young dog so I don't see why people don't do it!!
 
Castrating male dogs is encouraged by vets, this is because it can reduce the risk of certain types of cancer (e.g prostate) and disorders assoiciated with the testes, penis and assiciated structures. If done early enough will also stop them contantly peeing up things humping everything and whilst not taking away from there character can tone down aggression etc, also an castrated male dog is ovbiously less valuable than an entire male as you cannot breed from them so less likley they will get stolen
 
Flint1990 said:
Castrating male dogs is encouraged by vets, this is because it can reduce the risk of certain types of cancer (e.g prostate) and disorders assoiciated with the testes, penis and assiciated structures. If done early enough will also stop them contantly peeing up things humping everything and whilst not taking away from there character can tone down aggression etc, also an castrated male dog is ovbiously less valuable than an entire male as you cannot breed from them so less likley they will get stolen
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surely that should read 'encouraged by vets as a good money spinner':rolleyes: did make me laugh when the vet very seriously told me that castrating would remove the risk of testicular cancer, no ***** sherlock:rolleyes::D
it doesn't stop them peeing up things, it doesn't stop them humping, in fact the only one of my dogs that humps anything is the one that was castrated at 6 months:rolleyes: he also gets humped a lot by strange dogs, have been told by various people that it could be because his lack of hormones make him confusing to other males :confused:
the JRT has been left entire because he is a nervy boy, even the vet agreed that taking away his nuts could make him worse not better, bull mastiff was done at 9 months because i wanted to let him develop physically as well as mentally (ok i was clutching at straws with the last bit lol) before removing his nuts.
 
Is a bull mastiff physically and mentally mature by nine months? That's still puppyhood to my mind. I would have said 12-18 at least.

ETA I do think 6-9 months is way too young to neuter although I am pro neutering non-breeding animals on the whole.
 
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CaveCanem said:
Is a bull mastiff physically and mentally mature by nine months? That's still puppyhood to my mind. I would have said 12-18 at least.

ETA I do think 6-9 months is way too young to neuter although I am pro neutering non-breeding animals on the whole.
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lol no where near mentally mature, that may never happen:eek: physically he was over 7 stone by then so i was happy with his size, altho having him done when he was so well developed did mean that his scrotum took about 3 weeks to shrink and heal rather than the one week it took on the shiba when he was done.
 
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