Chemical Castration for Dogs

This is the difference between dogs & cats. Cats are out unsupervised (un-neutered toms not a pleasant indoor-only pet!!)
Dogs are always supervised when outside the owner's property (unless they escape but not all dogs can jump 6' & most don't have the urge to). So the risk with un-neutered dogs is an intra-household accident & most owners only have one & wouldn't dog-sit a bitch in season.

Not having your dog castrated does not mean that you don't care about them. There could be any number of reasons why an owner chooses not to do so. As Iam64 rightly says, it all comes down to personal choice at the end of the day. As I said, we have had male Labs our whole life, none were castrated and none ever 'impregnated any random female'. No responsible owner would let their dog do that.

David49

Sounds like you are all in favour of mutilating dogs for your own convenience.

.. And it sounds like you are all in favour of intact dogs impregnating any random female in the park. What's the big deal? If you're not going to breed from that dog then castrating it is a good deed for everyone. We do the same with cats, those of us who care about them anyway.

It’s very much personal choice as there are pros and cons whichever you decide
Mine are neutered. Never any problems. My first spaniel had a planned litter at 2 1/2 . Her seasons easy till she hit eight when her determination to find her Prince became difficult especially as it coincided with our children being teens who weren’t as vigilant about guarding doors.
One night I searched till 3am then woke at 5.30am and went out our back door to resume searching. There she was with the black Scottie dog from down the road, both very pleased with themselves
Our vet said bring her in, we don’t want a litter at her age - I’ll do the necessary
🙈🐶
I’d never risk that again. My dogs aren’t bred from

Barleyfields

I haven’t heard of chemical castration before but I would prefer not to introduce chemicals into an animal’s body unnecessarily, and in this case it is unnecessary because surgical castration is a quick and safe alternative. Surgical castration can also prevent some cancers.

I agree, surgical castration is proven to be safe whereas chemicals may have side effects. Also they wear off and (presumably) provide a longer income stream for vets.

Personally I don't believe in neutering unless for a very good reason which this is.
I have 2 female dogs and neither are spayed. The risk of incontinence in spaying is too great unless unavoidable. Only ever had one dog spayed a border collie who scaled a 12ft wall to get out. After 3 morning after treatments she was spayed.

Castration is actually a minor procedure. Much better to just get it over with instead of mucking about with alternatives. May I suggest that the vet may make more money out of chemical methods?

I have read that to tell the difference between behavioural/dominance humping and sexual humping you check the state of the male genital at the time. Dominance humping does not involve a full erection. Not that it makes any difference to whether neutering will help because reduction in testosterone should reduce both dominance and sex urges to a certain extent, and hopefully easier to distract when you have visitors.

BTW to whoever mentioned "the snip" it's not the same as neutering. Neutering removes the gonads altogether. "The snip" just cuts the tube the sperm travel down to get to the outside.

Why don’t you join the Flat Coat Retriever groups on Facebook. I’m sure they’ll give you lots of good advise.

I would be very disinclined to try chemical castration, as it sounds as if no one is sure of side effects. If you do not intend to breed from the dog, castration seems indicated unless you are prepared to re-home one of the dogs, which I feel sure you don't.

Neutering reduces/ eliminates the risk of testicular cancer, for obvious reasons. In male dogs don't think there's good evidence it reduces any others.
We've had one entire male (lived to 16 yo) now another 3 yo that hasn't been neutered.Our current one still will chew if they get bored, & our sadly deceased one used to bark rather a lot, but no "hormonal" behaviour problems with either, both very soft & won't leave the back garden even if a fence blows down. I do check him for lumps / bumps every month. I'm not against neutering males & strongly for neutering pet bitches (there are stronger health arguments here) but I lost a 4 yo Setter when he was castrated so I just prefer not to put us both through the mill unless a good reason.

I’ve had 3 labs , the first was never neutered but didn’t have any tendencies for humping or chasing female dogs. Plus this was 30 years ago and we were new dog owners . He died at 15 . Our second was a female and we spayed her after her first season.
Our current dog is male and we got him neutered at 18 months due to neutered males getting agressive with him. Plus all the dog boarders I met with , wouldn’t take an intact male. Because they’d had issues .
Personally, unless you intend to breed , I don’t understand why people don’t neuter.
It also makes dogs less attractive to dog theft . A friend with a female has neutered on her harness .
As for chemical neutering , a friend tried it. It didn’t work and she had him neutered.
Whoever said neutering is mutilating dogs , would they say having the snip is mutilating men.

David - what an odd comment!! Why would you want a dog ' Intact' utter madness.

Please do not go by Graeme Hall!!! Same as ceasar milan. They are far from experts. I always neuter any animal as ive been present in sad situations of holding dogs/cats being pts as no-one offers them a home. Many many thousands get pts every year in UK. I have an entire 8yr old male - not through my choice - he is too nervous in 3 different vet opinions to be neutered. My friend uses chemical castration for one of her dogs due to aggression issues which works really well. Again she has had advice from vets not to have him neutered why I am not sure. There is also no guarantee neutering will stop your dog “humping”. Veterinary professionals are the ones to ask - not tv personalities.

Graeme Hall isn’t an expert, he’s a tv personality

My female dog has been spayed. My grandchildren's male dog has been neutered. Before he was neutered, and after she was spayed, she tried to "hump" him (and still does sometimes). So I think that demonstrates what Watermeadow says, -that it is, at least partly, an issue of power and dominance.

I think spaying and neutering is advisable because, as others have said, it goes some way to preventing dogs being stolen for breeding purposes. It reduces male aggression and straying and unwanted pregnancies.

There are already too many dogs looking for homes and we don't need any more.

I don't know if there is research to link these procedures to the development of cancer. However, our previous male dog - a largish cross pointer/spaniel,who had been neutered - lived to the age of 12 and a half, which was the average for his breed.

My 4 year old female Labrador was spayed after her first season. This, however, has not stopped her from humping. Bend down to look for something and whoosh she’s on your back digging in her dew claws - ouch! Nearly ended up in the wood burner as I was trying to light it! So Watermeadow’s comments are worth taking notice of.

YouTube have at least two clips, it just takes time and patience

There was a program dealing with this on the Graeme Hall Dogs Behaving Badly TV series recently. He seemed to train the offending dog by offering titbits, making a fuss of the dog and playing with a toy, he may even sent the dog out of the room every time it tried to hump.

Thank you for all your thoughts on this. It is just that I have never had to consider it before. In the late seventies/early eighties I had a divine English Setter who, when he reached the age of about 11, had to have the snip due to illness. He reached the grand old age of 14. He lived with an intact standard poodle.. Since then I have two other flatcoats, a Labrador, six GRs and a Labradoodle. Oh, and the insane Gordon/Irish Setter X. Never any problems.

I am not the greatest trainer in the world, I admit, but I haven't done too badly! OH keeps berating me that I am useless but even he has to use a Halti to walk the hound, despite puppy classes and heel work in the garden.

That is interesting BarleyF - I had never heard of that before. I did wonder why so many dogs were dying of cancer far too early. I thought that it might have been the food, although mine have always had top quality nosh.

Yes, Flexi, I did wonder about the financial gains that the vet might make because so many of them have been taken over by the large conglomerates. However, I have managed to find an independent vet here so, hopefully, profit won't be at the top of the agenda.

HVDY - I did look at the Graham Hall website. Apart from being very expensive, be had closed his books for months and yes, there was an episode with a humping pug (I think) who went for people's legs! I hate to say it but when a flattie is on his hind legs, the front paws are on your shoulders!!

I spoke to the Goldie's breeder who said that her two bitches do it and that it is just a dominance thing. Also, that he could go for the snip and nothing changes, hence the idea of testing the waters with the implant.

I ignored David's remark - all men cross their legs when you mention castration!!

I had an entire male who reached the age of 5 without any problems. A friend of mine came over with her entire dog and her bitch who had supposedly just finished her season. It turned my lad's head and as well as being on the lookout for other females he started marking in the house.
We tried chemical castration and he immediately returned to our loving boy. Six months later it wore off and the hormones kicked in again and the marking etc returned.
He then had the snip and returned to his lovely self.
Worth trying for your lad but would also add getting training advice as it may have become/been a training issue.

I haven’t heard of chemical castration before but I would prefer not to introduce chemicals into an animal’s body unnecessarily, and in this case it is unnecessary because surgical castration is a quick and safe alternative. Surgical castration can also prevent some cancers.

I always have my pets neutered. Never had a problem. But out of interest I asked my vet about this chemical implant thing. They say it’s ok short term but don’t advocate it as a long term solution because of health implications. I can’t understand why people don’t neuter their pets. There are many benefits including reducing the risk of some cancers. Plus, being involved in rescue, breeding is a no no for me.

That’s a ridiculous and unnecessarily unpleasant comment David49.

Humping isn’t a habit I’d want my dog to develop. As you’ve shared your life with other dogs dalrymple, you’ll know the more they practice a behaviour, the more they repeat it.

My various dogs and bitches have all been neutered and lived to good ages, apart from a cocker cross who had cancer and died age 6.
I’d be inclined to castrate rather than use hormones. What’s your vets advice

Personally I think it's a training issue, which should have been dealt with as soon as the behaviour started. I have an un neutered female, a neutered male and an entire male and tbh if I don't tell them to stop the neutered male will hump all day long but as soon as he's told to stop he does.
I have my own views about neutering etc and those of mine that have been neutered were done before they came to live with me. I got him because his humping drove his previous owner nuts, it's never been a problem for us because he stops when told.
I will say I've never had an accidental mating with any of my dogs. Never had a problem with straying or aggressive behaviour although I've had two incidents of cancer both had been neutered. So experience tells me not to believe everything the vet tells you, mostly they are interested in their finances.