Spaying and Neutering
By Stan Rawlinson Dip MTCBPT. MPAACT
What Your Vet and the Rescue Centres May Not Tell You
Spaying and neutering can make for a better and more affectionate family pet. It is a medical fact that spaying and neutering can prolong the life of our pets and may reduce the number of health problems in later life. Females can benefit from spaying by reducing the incidence of uterine, mammary, and ovarian cancers. It can also reduce the incidence uterine infections such as Pyometria.
Neutering a male reduces the risk of prostate and testicular cancer. They are less likely to develop unwanted behaviour's such as marking, sexual aggression, and mounting, they are also less likely to escape, roam, or fight with other dogs.
Some vets recommend that our dogs are spayed or neutered anywhere between 5 to 16 months. In America some are being done as early as 8 weeks and they routinely spay or neuter at between four and six months. Many of the Vets, Trainers and Behaviourists in both America and the UK are recommending this course of action, without understanding the numerous problems this advice will create.
Many rescue centre's such as Battersea Dogs Home and the RSPCA/ASPCA often spay and neuter as a matter of course, whatever the age. I have some very serious reservations about this advice and practice.
There have been many scientific studies on the beneficial outcome of spaying and neutering especially on a physiological level, but none I can find on a psychological and behavioural level.
Whenever I book a behavioural appointment, I always ask a series of relevant questions. One of these questions is, "have you had your dog spayed or neutered" and make notes that if they have, then at what age?
I noted some six years ago, that the incidence of frustration, lack of attention, and puppy like behaviour, appeared to be far more prevalent in dogs that were neutered and spayed at a younger age, rather than those that were allowed to mature naturally before attempting this operation.
As behavioural consultants and obedience trainers, I find that we are treating many more cases where dogs are displaying (paedomorphic) tendencies. That is puppy like behaviour's in adult dogs, which I believe is related to the incidence of early spaying and neutering.
I have also observed that bitches spayed too early may be far more interesting to intact males; unwanted male attention may cause the female to become aggressive and protective of this attention in adulthood.
I asked the members of PAACT
“The Professional Association of Applied Canine Trainers”
to start to monitor the dogs they were treating and to record the time they were spayed and neutered. Their feedback appeared to bear out my initial findings.
When should we spay and neuter?
With regard to neutering, I believe that males should not be castrated until they have been cocking their leg for at least one month, and should be at least 10 to 17 months of age (depending on size and breed). The larger the breed then the later they mature,. therefore something like a German Shepherd would be much later than the 10 months stated. Unless of course there are medical or serious behavioural issues to take into consideration.
In females, I believe that they should have at least one season; but preferably two, then wait approximately 3 months after the season before considering spaying.
It has also been observed that young female dogs that show aggressive tendencies towards owners, especially before the age of six months;
may demonstrate increased aggression after spaying. Spaying removes the production of progesterone, which is a natural calming hormone and a Serotonin uplifter. I would therefore take seriously into consideration, that spaying may escalate the aggressive behaviour.
Despite popular belief Spaying does not calm a female dog down. It may help to calm certain behaviour's in males, but not in the female dogs. How can it, when you are removing calming hormones?
Many vets and rescue centres will neuter a male dog before they have cocked their leg. It is at this point dogs start to seriously mark territory. Not the half-hearted attempts we see in immature dogs. The immature castrated dog may squat for the remainder of its life, and may be more interesting to intact males.
There appears to be a testosterone surge at between 10 and 17 months, once again depending on breed and size, which clearly turns on a dormant hard-wired program that establishes this cocking behaviour.
Many of these hard-wired behaviour's are not isolated to just one action, therefore other functions that are not so obvious may be switched on at this time. These may have social implications and behavioural effects that aid in the development of dogs psychological and physical growth. If we switch these off by neutering or spaying too early, we may be denying the opportunity achieve both mentally and physically the dog’s full adult potential.
Progesterone receptors are found in brain cells, in nerve sheaths and in bone cells, indicating that progesterone is involved in their function. It also appears to be involved in a range of other biological activities. Therefore spaying before both physical and psychological maturity may have numerous other long-term detrimental effects.
Many dogs that have been neutered early, appear to retain far more juvenile characteristics than those neutered when mature. In other words, they retain perpetual puppy like characteristics, whilst this may appear to be initially endearing, who would really want a dog that shows low concentration levels and frustrated puppy like behaviour for the remainder of its adult life?
Can it also cause physiological problems?
Because early neutering removes sex hormones, this delays maturation of “osteoclasts” resulting in the delayed closing of the growth plates of the long leg bones creating leggy taller than average dogs, thereby increasing the risk of some orthopaedic disorders such as cruciate ligament disease, and possibly bone cancer.
It was long believed that eunuchs (castrated humans) were castrated to stop them being interested is the ladies of the Harem. However they were also used as palace guards and therefore because of the castration and the affect on the “osteoclasts” these eunuch's were appreciably taller making them more imposing as guards and soldiers.
It has been observed that Spaying can significantly increase the risk of urinary incontinence in bitches. Early neutering also increases risk of urethral sphincter incontinence in males (A. Aaron et al., Vet Rec. 139:542-6, 1996.)
In conclusion, I am all for spaying and neutering, but at the right time, thereby allowing your dogs to reach full maturity in both body and mind. I believe that a full psychological and physiological set of tests and experiments should be scientifically undertaken, to study the effect of early castration and spaying on all our animals, not just dogs and cats.
These findings though purely observational, have also been borne out by observation and experiences of behaviourists and trainers who are members of PAACT “The Professional Association of Applied Canine Trainers” An organisation dedicated to enhancing and bringing together the two main canine disciplines of obedience training and behavioural therapy. It is PAACT’s belief that to be able to work with dogs on a professional level, you need to be versed in both of these disciplines.
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© Stan Rawlinson, The Dog Listener. Dog Behaviourist & Obedience Trainer. Stan Rawlinson (Doglistener) is a Dog Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer who has owned and worked dogs for over 25 years, starting with Gundogs then moving on to the behavioural and obedience side of Pet Dogs in 1996. He now has a successful practice covering London, Surrey and Middlesex you can visit his Web Site at www.doglistener.co.uk or E-mail him
Spaying and Neutering was published by The Dog Scene on 03 Jan, 2008. © All rights reserved. You may download and print this article for personal or non-profit use only. Please feel free to link to this article.
Spaying and Neutering was published by The Dog Scene on 03 Jan, 2008. © All rights reserved. You may download and print this article for personal or non-profit use only. Please feel free to link to this article.
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03 Jan, 2008
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