Owners of male terriers ONLY

[{97702}]

Are they castrated? Just curious!

Colin is a very precocious 6 months now, he is bigger than George in height but is still lanky like a string bean where George is absolutely chunky and solid. He has been cocking his leg for a couple of months now, although it isn’t consistent.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed new behaviours which don’t concern me, I can easily manage and control them, but I do wonder if I’ll end up getting him done.

The other day he flew out at Millie because he was sitting next to me as I was eating, and she came near. He swiftly learned the error of his ways there, fortunately for Colin it was from me & not Millie!

Then a couple of times recently I’ve had to intervene when Colin has been annoying George, wanting to play, and just won’t take no for an answer from George.

Of course some of this will be his age and youthful enthusiasm ? but I was curious whether castration helped with terriers ?

 

[CMcC]

I had a Kerry Blue Terrier who would lift his leg and pee in the house but only in the company of my husband, otherwise he was perfectly house trained and I refused to believe husband that Paddy was doing this, because he was my dog and in my eyes perfect.
One day I walked in the room as he was doing it.
Consulted vet friend who said castrate. Had it done and it never happened again!

 

[MyBoyChe]

My jrt was done bang on 6 months! He was a very precocious young man with ideas way above his station. I have 2 older springers, a boy and a girl and both spayed/castrated, he was annoying the hell out of both of them with his antics. Took a few weeks but he calmed down and had never been a moments bother since. I could have coped with him but didnt feel it was fair to the other 2 dogs who are very calm and easy going to have to put up with it!

 

[Cortez]

Castrate! Terriers are terrible, cocky little buggers and benefit from the least amount of testosterone possible.

 

[CrazyMare]

Our boys aren't done. One has a contraceptive implant in though!

 

[Books'n'dogs]

Shadow, my Miniature Schnauzer, is still intact and he is ten years old. We have had a few food/toy aggression incidents, I don't know if castrating him would have prevented them since I know dogs who are missing their bits and are even more untrustworthy than Shadow, we just learned from them and took steps to prevent another incident with the same trigger.

He has only raised his leg in the house once (when he was very young) and a horrified shriek from me seems to have been sufficient to prevent a repetition.

 

[irishdraft]

Our previous wire haired jrt was done at 3 years he wasn't great with other dogs but it was mainly because we had a unspayed collie bitch at the time it did improve his behaviour to other dogs . Atm we have an entire sealyham /jrt cross who can be fairly dominant in certain situations but is very good with other dogs so we have no plans to castrate .

 

[{97702}]

Thanks so much everyone your comments are really valued and helpful! I don’t want to rush into castration ‘for the sake of it’ (although interestingly if he was a bitch I’d be getting him spayed without question!), he isn’t being sexy (for the sake of a better word!) or marking in the house at all, it’s just possible dominance I’m thoughtful about.

 

[{97702}]

I had to giggle at this look this evening incidentally.... “hmmmm, I don’t bloody trust you any more!” ?

 

[EventingMum]

Our first JRT was left entire and wasn't really a problem except when a neighbours bitch was on heat and he fretted and went off his food. All the 6 dogs we've had since then have been castrated and they have been no trouble at all with the exception of our son's dog and Hector (both castrated) no longer getting on. I think the main problem with them is that our son's dog was visiting on a regular basis and had lived in our house as a puppy so he'd waltz in as if he owned the place and Hector didn't like that so they were vying to be top dog.

 

[rara007]

Yup, castrated at about 6m...

 

[Lintel]

Our family cairn was done.
He would have been an even bigger nightmare if we hadn't!

 

[{97702}]

Yup, castrated at about 6m...

oooo vet! Sorry to pick on you rara, but why did you have your boy done? Was it dominance or sexual?

 

[Tinkerbee]

Yes, Ted was done at around 6/7 months. I was going to wait a bit longer but he had a tormented Christmas with my grandmothers dog in season, and then when we came home the OH's pointer was in season and he was just humping everyone and everything in sight and doing our (and his!) heads in.

Haven't noticed anything different behaviour wise, other than less randy urges

We had Dougal (another male terrier) castrated at a year or so in the hopes of mellowing him out but he remained an utter b....

 

[Blanche]

I had my terrier done around nine months, maybe a year. It was about thirty years ago so unsure of exact time scale and reasons. I don’t remember any great dramas, either with being randy or full of himself.

 

[meleeka]

I’d have him done. In my limited experience unneutered terriers are Just too arrogant to live with other castrated male dogs, especially when the castrated one already has a bit of an attitude.

 

[rara007]

To fit in with at the time a subtly dominant entire show cocker (and castrated lab). The terriers never humped anything Didn’t give him the chance to become dominant and have it out with the spaniel. He’s a confident terrier cross, had the odd ruck with the cocker over their overlapping years but never more than a stamp and a stop it wouldn’t stop. And never with the lab. His current friend is an entire springer bitch he only gets a bit angry towards about food as she’s clueless to his grumbles but very food driven! His stifles have remained fine and he’s rarely been over bcs 3/5, usually trends a little slim.

 

[Smitty]

Had mine done at 6 months. I never considered leaving him entire.

 

[Tiddlypom]

The other day he flew out at Millie because he was sitting next to me as I was eating, and she came near.

That is classic jealous JRT possessive behaviour, I’m afraid. It’s something we always had to watch out for with the late JRT, so we had a ‘no dogs on laps’ rule as that would be the main trigger point. Though even if lying on the floor next to the human he would rumble if the neutered bitch walked past us.

Not sure whether neutering will help with it or not. The contraceptive implant worked very well on controlling his randy urges when entire bitches moved in over the road, though.

His daughter sadly died after getting into a scrap with a lurcher - they have no idea how small they are.

 

[palo1]

Red Irish Terrier is entire. He had a good older bitch to show him exactly how to behave and we don't really come into contact with many other dogs. A very good and close friend has a lab bitch and Red is fine with her and the pack of whippets that he spent time with as a pup also taught him how to behave (entire dogs and bitches and a spayed bitch in that lot ) . I think they are all very individual to be honest - I was open minded (and still am) about castration for male dogs; all my previous rescues were spayed/castrated but of course it can cause problems. Personally, I would wait to see how Colin matures before deciding as this teenage oik phase may pass and he will become a respectable citizen. If not, he could be castrated at any time. He is young yet though and it might be better to wait until his growing hormones etc have settled a bit...

 

[COldNag]

I don't know if the jealousy thing is just males. I have 2 female JRTs. One is very possessive of me and grows and gives evils when the other dares get attention .

 

[Widgeon]

Ours is snipped too, he was done around 6 months. He has always been very friendly and confident (in a nice way) but he is a very opinionated little chap and I suspect that leaving him entire would have increased that. Obviously I can't know that for sure though!

 

[Smitty]

Sorry, I was cut off midstream!

I had mine done at 6 months as I thought that was what you did and didn't realise the possible implications stupidly.

Temprement wise he is absolutely wonderful and I don't have any aggression issues, unless on the rare occasion someone wants their dog to say hello (?) when he is on a lead, he is not entirely to be relied on not to have a quick growl. There are never any jealousy or food guarding issues. He is very confident, loves going to the vet as he loves everybody and that is a Jones meet and greet opportunity in his view, and apart from possibly being a bit excitable, I'm not sure it has impacted on his mental development.

Physically, I'm not sure. He is quite leggy (Patterdale/Lakeland/Jr) and I have never seen any of his siblings to compare him. He has a problem somewhere and frequently hops. He has been x rayed and I don't remember anything significant showing up and the vet and I decided to try medication (Gabapentin) and physio as there was a degree of pain in his back and he was not responding quickly on the knuckle test. This helped hugely but with no physio since Feb he is chewing his stifles a fair bit so they are clearly concerning him.

Now I don't know if that was due to castration before he had matured properly or not. I think if I ever have another puppy, I will get them castrated, but leave it a few more months.

 

[tda]

Yes we have 3, 2 entire, one castrated.
I think it it sounds more like possessive behaviour on your dogs part, which may not improve with castration.
Plus terriers can be total little sh*t's and many not read the book on group behaviour ?

 

[COldNag]

......
Plus terriers can be total little sh*t's and many not read the book on group behaviour ?

I think that is the nub of it
I often think I should have stuck to labradors

 

[{97702}]

Thanks everyone it has been really interesting reading your replies ? As I mentioned originally, I wasn’t sure whether castration would actually ‘help’ any of the issues I have noticed so far and it isn’t something I’d want to rush into - Colin is still very baby like in many ways, I don’t think he is physically or mentally ready to be done yet.

It’s something I’ll keep in mind, at the moment he responds very well to a firm direction from me that his behaviour is not of the required standards so all is good ?

 

[buddylove]

I have an entire JRT who is now 15 years old. Never been a moment's bother. He has sired a couple of litters as well. Never marked in the house, not aggressive. Yes he is a PITA if the lab is in season and regularly gets carted off to live with Nanny on these occasions for a few weeks. But other than that I have never had any need to castrate him!

 

[ponyparty]

I had Frank done. His behaviour around other dogs deteriorated to the point of "if it won't let me fk it, it'll fight it", he wouldn't come back to me at the end of a walk, would literally run rings around me... I was only keeping him entire to show him, but his ears wouldn't come right and we weren't placing so I thought, sod this, I'll get him done! Manchesters can be nervy, so I had him done with the implant first to "test the waters". His behaviour around other dogs rapidly improved; one negative side effect was that he got scared of the sound of unloading the dishwasher (!) and was a bit more nervy around loud noises.
I knew when it started wearing off because in 2 days he went from compliant, sweet boy back to "fk it or fight it" again! So immediately booked him in for the chop.
His ears came right soon afterwards, he would have won every class going - typical..!
He does still lick bitch-wee out on walks and chatter his teeth (behaviours he displayed a lot when entire) - I believe with the implant it inhibits testosterone production in the testes AND the brain, so effectively there is no testosterone produced at all, whilst with castration a small amount of testosterone is still produced in the brain. Certainly now he isn't afraid of the dishwasher or loud noises. So I think he has just enough testosterone to get him through life, without being an absolute pest!

ETA I had his implanted at 12 months old and castrated at around 18 months old, I think.... or maybe a little older?

 

[Ranyhyn]

Yes, he's 13 now but I had him done as soon as he was ready. Not for any behavioural issues but he certainly wasnt going to father any pups on my watch and no balls = no ball cancer so I felt it was a good move.

 

[islander]

I have always had my terriers neutered, male or female.
Two JRTs (dog and bitch) were done at 10 and 11 years old, l had taken them in at those ages. Had no problems afterwards, they were as fit as fleas and lived for years.
Having said that, some dogs, especially terriers it seems, are stroppy little sods and it won’t necessarily stop aggressive behaviour.