changes in behavior after neutering your male corgi?

Hello! Our male 8month old corgi began to spray inside! His daddy has finally parted with the boys and is ready to neuter, or at least consider it. We are worried that his personality and energy will be affected. I'd love to hear some experience! Thanks

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just remember there is also a cancer risk if you don't nueter him and they are more likely to have prostate problems. I think the cancer risk is pretty minimal if you compare ALL the neutered male dogs out there who have cancer vs those who don't have cancer. I personally in 5 years of working as a vet tech have NEVER seen prostate cancer or any reproductive cancers in neutered male dogs (I worked at a specialty practice that had an internist who treated/diagnosed mostly cancer patients and patients with endocrine diseases), while I have seen several cases of testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and prostate inflammation in intact males. I have heard there is an increased risk of hypothyroid if you neuter too young but I think this is more referring to dogs that are neutered at rescues/shelters at 8 weeks old. I have owned almost exclusively male dogs and have never had any issues, except one male who had hypothyroid which was also common in the breed. Research also shows that even with the intact vs neutered cancer and health risks that genetics plays a big role as well, this goes for the bone cancers that are reported to be elevated in neutered animals as well. I've never seen an osteosarcoma in a dog where it wasn't common for the breed, intact or not.

As for him getting fat and lazy, that's just a myth. OWNERS make their dogs fat, not neutering. Just keep hiim exercised and fed measured portions and he won't get obese. It will prevent spraying and mounting behavior if done early enough. I've NEVER had a male dog with marking issues nor have I ever had a male who mounts. I've had a female that mounted as a dominance display though even though she was spayed.

My corgi hasnt once sprayed or started humping yet, and really dont want him picking up ANY of those habits.

My friends corgi/wiener mix is like a month or 2 younger and it started humping a month ago! crazy

The research done on prostate cancer shows that un-neutered dogs actually do not have an increased risk for prostate cancer.  Obviously they do not get testicular cancer because they do not have testicles, but they do have an increased risk for heart and bone cancer.  

I thought this article from the ASPCA to be well written. It does mention at the bottom of the article that there is a slight increase of risk for 2 types of cancer, but keep in mind that neutering is also completely eliminating the risk of testicular cancer and reduce the risk for prostate cancer.  I have know a number of dogs who got cancer because they were NOT neutered, and the solution was to have them neutered.  When in doubt, google - google - google!!

http://www.aspcabehavior.org/articles/45/How-Will-Neutering-Change-...

Oh geeze I JUST posted this and didnt see your until mine already posted lol, you beat me too it lol!

LOL!!!

A link to a paper with a lot of the spay/neuter research results:

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInD...

From the document:

On balance, it appears that no compelling case can be made for neutering most male dogs, especially
immature male dogs, in order to prevent future health problems. The number of health problems associated
with neutering may exceed the associated health benefits in most cases.
On the positive side, neutering male dogs
• eliminates the small risk (probably <1%) of dying from testicular cancer
• reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate disorders
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• may possibly reduce the risk of diabetes (data inconclusive)
On the negative side, neutering male dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a
common cancer in medium/large and larger breeds with a poor prognosis.
• increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 1.6
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of progressive geriatric cognitive impairment
• triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems
• quadruples the small risk (<0.6%) of prostate cancer
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract cancers
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations

Here are a few excerpts from the actual text of the article:

 

Given an incidence of prostate cancer in dogs of less than 0.6% from necropsy studies, it is difficult to see that the risk of prostate cancer should factor heavily into most neutering decisions.

 

Testicular tumors are not uncommon in older intact dogs, with a reported incidence of 7%

 

The risk of osteosarcoma increases with increasing breed size and especially height

 

Urinary tract cancers: These tumors are nearly always

malignant, but are infrequent, accounting for less than 1% of canine tumors. So this risk is unlikely to weigh heavily on spay/neuter decisions. Airedales, Beagles, and Scottish Terriers are at elevated risk for urinary tract cancer while German Shepherds have a lower than average risk

 

In breeds where hermangiosarcoma is an important cause of death, the increased risk associated with

spay/neuter is likely one that should factor into decisions on whether or when to sterilize a dog.

 

"The incidence of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH, enlarged prostate) increases with age in intact male

dogs, and occurs in more than 80% of intact male dogs older than the age of 5 years"

 

In my opinion, while some risks of cancers are higher, the actual incidence of those cancers to begin with are so low that this shouldn't play a role in your decision to neuter unless you own a breed that is prone to that type of cancer (ie rotweillers and osteosarcoma or german shepherds and hemangiosarcomas). Since corgis are not prone to any of these types of cancers, the cancer risk shouldn't be a deciding factor by any means. However, the risk of testicular cancer is 7%, no the animals won't die but they will get cancer and have to be treated for cancer. The risk of non-cancerous prostate problems is 80%!

 

So if you take out the health benefit argument all together, since in the long run the risks of many of these problems is so low to begin with (except hypothyroid), then you can just look at the behavioral improvements, which will most certainly improve with neuter. In the end its an individual decision, but I think the health argument can't really be used as a pro or a con at this point since there seem to be positives and negatives on each side and we as owners need to decide if we want to deal with the added responsibility of owning an intact male.

"Spay/neuter before 5 ½ months of age is associated with a 70% increased aged-adjusted risk of hip
dysplasia compared to dogs spayed/neutered after 5 ½ months of age, though there were some indications
that the former may have had a lower severity manifestation of the disease42. The researchers suggest “it
is possible that the increase in bone length that results from early-age gonadectomy results in changes in
joint conformation, which could lead to a diagnosis of hip dysplasia.”

Owing to changes in metabolism, spay/neuter dogs are more likely to be overweight or obese than intact
dogs. One study found a two fold increased risk of obesity in spayed females compared to intact females30.
Another study found that spay/neuter dogs were 1.6 (females) or 3.0 (males) times more likely to be obese
than intact dogs, and 1.2 (females) or 1.5 (males) times more likely to be overweight than intact dogs31.

Obesity and hip dysplasia are two common problems in Corgi's.  And both have significantly higher incidences in pediatric neuters. Also (and I apologize for not having the citation for this at hand) Neutered dogs also show increased aggression and noise phobias.   I am really interested to see the long-term effect of chemical neutering.  Since it cuts down on testosterone by around 50% is that enough to provide the benefits that hormones provide while mitigating some of the negative behavioral aspects.

Yeah I am interested in seeing the chemical neutering thing too. Could fix some of these issues. I TOTALLY agree that pediatric neuters are bad news, most vet's recommend neuters after around 6 months old but rescues seem to snip the minute they get the pup into a rescue no matter the age. From what I've read of the chemical neutering the inject zinc into the testes? Seems like that may cause some long term problems in the future. Weird that they have so many types of chemical neutering in large animals but so few in small animals. If nothing else seems like a great way to cut down on the pet over-population because maybe people would be more willing to sterilize if their dogs can keep their "boys". Not to mention it'd be so much cheaper.

I went through this with Cooper.  He was approx 8 months when I adopted him.  His previous owner had not neutered him. He came throught it with flying colors, and it has not affected his personality or his energy level.  He has always been a  cuddly dog, always active, and has always been very personable with other dogs and people.  So no worries, and as listed in other posts, he doesn't need to be intact unless he is a proven champ or a true working dog that you plan on breeding. 

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