Thoughts on living with an intact male

For obvious reasons a Intact male is more intense at times.  Once altered a male takes a bit to settle down and you escape the hassle of wanting to breed or doing the humpty hump dance all the time.

Altered males have a high reduction in prostate issues.  Altered males may mark with up lifted leg but as time passes they tend to limit doing so.  My altered boys have always been open to pack discussions on who is the big dog, ( alpha)  what ever. They generally make great companion dogs for traveling. And you will find more andmore often there are discounts on tsome things from tags and lic to actual proceadures in some clinics.

Intact males lose weight everytime a girl comes into season. They croon and sing trying to make a decent romantic impression. The old term "Blue Ba**s is a reality when you have an experienced male and girls in season he can not get to.  And believe me if they can find a way they will, through a chain link fence ,,,,, Crate wires,,,,, arrrgh it is a rough month since the girl is in for 21 days minimum  You have to be Extreamly careful and proactive training you boy to walk and maintain focus on you should a girl in season come waltzing past.  With show dogs I can not even get some to Think in the Show ring... so I switch up bait and go from a high drive tasty treat to  a folded slip of tissue  "scented" by an obliging girl ... The stacks I get are killer, rock hard feeet and neck with a greaceful curve,    Intact males do have more difficulty  with prostate issues, UTIS and washing Lickgromas on themsleves.  They can also be more aggressive and hard to adjust.   a puppy altered too early tends to have a bitchy appearance  bone, head and chest all underdone. Allwing just enough tim for these things to fully develope is challenging but once you get him there a fast trip to the vet takes care of about everything. 

I opt for a Clean Nueter, No sac left.  I have never liked the look of a deflated balloon and it only takes 2 or 3 more stictches. Some verts will argue about doing them but a really good vet does not care.

I will not keep intact males in my home past 18 months unless they are showing or in my breeding program.  Hope that helps a little ??  If not give me more specific questions and I will try to help.

Hugs Bonita of Bwana

Well, when I first got Apollo he was intact and he was a major marker. Got him neutered and it slowly has minimized. Now he only marks a few (1-3) times on our walks. He never has marked in the house though even when he was intact (he's never pottied in the house ever).

When I lived with my parents we always only had male dogs for some odd reason. Odd I say because my parents always had them neutered at 6 months so I dont know why we never had females. So since growing up with neutered males I can not stand intact males. If I was to ever get a male I would get them neutered as soon as possible. But knowing that hurts some breeds in a way I will never have a male.

Now Walter(was supposed to be Dugan) will be getting neutered at 6 months old. So unfortunately for me I will probably never own a purebred male dog.

its been opposite for me!! lol i have lived with both and its been my experience that intact males are mellower - i know statistics say otherwise, but mine were always big blobs of fur that would be glued to your lap or the side of your leg if you held still long enough.... they just seemed lazy.... the neutered dogs i had seemed to have loads of energy and were always doing stuff.

maybe thats just because they were different in personality and breed...

my grandmother, when i was a kid, had ALL intact males... two house dogs and two yard dogs (one a bulldog, the other a rotti mix) one of the house dogs always had to pick a fight and the other always wanted to finish it. there were dog fights every night in the living room and i never, to this day, understood why she didnt get them cut. the yard dogs were always chained up (i know, bad granny... but that was her way.... she was a bit of a control freak.. she could afford a fence AND surgery, but never did it. she didnt trust fences for some reason) but the yard dogs always seemed rather jolly and spirited but never mean or dominant....

Bonita, this pup would be a confirmation prospect. 

Currently, I share my house with two neutered males, & three spayed females.  None of our dogs have issues.  I can reliably leave them together unsupervised without worry. 

 I am considering adding a 5 month old pup to my pack.  He was returned to his breeder.  He is, what the breeder, & another well known dobie person describe as, "one of the most intense dobies that they have ever seen."  He has already been started in both obedience, & conformation classes. 

My biggest concern is that I may not be prepared to handle a very intense, intact male. 

The longer you can keep them innocent of the whiff of the bitch in season...the better it is. LOL. BTW dogs like that always ALWAYS seem to make spectacular show dogs.

It can get intense when adding an unaltered dog to the pack. You are talking Dobes Yes??   With hounds the younger the addition the better the luck in having it work out  .  Can you get the dogs together to play ? That will gove you a great heads up, if you can go to a neutral spot, like a baseball field all fenced and big. Take several people withy you and introduce them all on lead then gradually work up to off lead.

I have the 8 dogs here now. 4 males 2 intact 2 altered.  The Puppy has a free ride as far as the pack is concerned he was 4 months when we picked him up.  Everyone likes Nemo and Nemo likes everyone.  We went ffrom Kota and Zion being the BEST of friends to Kota and the pit fighting and now K-dog hates all intact adults. We worked with a beahaviorist to make sure we could change this He has much improved but the boys will never be able to play off lead again.  Granted my breed are not as intense as Dobes but the also are not as prone to taking instruction as quickly as a Dobe.  

It would be a roll of the dice,  as long as you have the ability to crate should they get one each others nerves you would be in great  shape !! I am not into intense dogs , I have to admit that.  There is tooo much for me to care for to deal with :"intense" I would most likely pass and look for another but more laid back and young pup.

Hugs

Bonita of Bwana

No advice, but who is this dog, or where from? This is very very exciting!

My personal experience is that an intact dog is not that much of a problem if you do the work on obedience etc.  I have decided that I will not neuter my males early, even if they are not show dogs due to the impact on coat (for long  or double coated dogs).  I much prefer seasonal shedding to all day every day.  The coat quality is considerably different as well. 

Some dogs ride every thing or mark everything.  In that case I would probably go ahead and neuter.

 I know MANY people with OTCH belgians who are intact regardless of sex.  I know that most of the performance folk are more likely to neuter after a dog has been used for natural breeding.  Those who wish to have a long term performance and confirmation career rarely allow a natural breeding and do a collection instead.

Males generally not much difference between neutered and intact if you insist on good manners at all times. Make sure to work really hard on getting the dog to be able to ignore and work around in-season bitches cause they'll pop up at the most inconvienient times.

DumDog

its been opposite for me!! lol i have lived with both and its been my experience that intact males are mellower - i know statistics say otherwise, but mine were always big blobs of fur that would be glued to your lap or the side of your leg if you held still long enough.... they just seemed lazy.... the neutered dogs i had seemed to have loads of energy and were always doing stuff.

maybe thats just because they were different in personality and breed...

my grandmother, when i was a kid, had ALL intact males... two house dogs and two yard dogs (one a bulldog, the other a rotti mix) one of the house dogs always had to pick a fight and the other always wanted to finish it. there were dog fights every night in the living room and i never, to this day, understood why she didnt get them cut. the yard dogs were always chained up (i know, bad granny... but that was her way.... she was a bit of a control freak.. she could afford a fence AND surgery, but never did it. she didnt trust fences for some reason) but the yard dogs always seemed rather jolly and spirited but never mean or dominant....

 

That is my expierence too.  My previous dog, Duke lived to be 15 years old and he was an unneutered male - wonderful friendly, outgoing, not issues dog!  I never neutered him becasue back then I thought of it as mean or something.  But since he caused me no problems I saw reason.  He was even the friendlest arount other dogs, male and female.

 River "nutered" is much different.  This may have nothing to do with neutering, it could be the difference between having a sweat mixed breed and now a pig headed pure breed!

Salem is not fixed and is 4. We may or may not have him fixed. We have no behavior problems at all with him. I just don't allow poor behavior. He has been around 2 females in season, and he was still no problem to control at all. He doesn't mark exsessively, doesn't hump... No problems.

I think even if you have the most well trained intact male ever he will still be prone to being attacked from other intact males who are not so well trained or socialized. Plus there is the already stated frustration of not being bred. I think a well trained intact male can make a wonderful pet same as any other gender.

Bonita, I am talking about a dobie. 

We are going to meet the wild man on Saturday, as plans today fell through. I feel much better after hearing everyone else's thoughts.  The pup is intended to be a conformation dog, but obedience around our house is mandatory.  If we do decide to get the pup, we will begin obedience work immediately.  After hearing from all of you, I feel like *if* the pup, DH, & I hit it off, I will be able to manage the situation.

 Thanks for the help!