Aggression - time to neuter?

Hi,

I have a 15 month old staffy who has been highly socialised and has been fine with other dogs - only growling if another dog has done so first. Very recently he's shown aggression first to other dogs - very tense body language and then if the other dog isn't immediately submissive he growls and snarls, puts his feet on their back. From what I can gather it's other un-neutered males he's taking exception to and I'm wondering if he'll grow out of it or if it's time to neuter him. I don't want to feel anxious walking him and don't want him perpetuating peoples' negative staffy stereotypes

There's no such thing as a 'time to neuter'. It varies greatly.

Did you always intend to neuter?

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I'm no expert on males but he's coming into his maturity & is marking his place in the world. My girl wasn't dog reactive until around 18 months. She's not aggressive but fearful, very vocal to other dogs. Is he actually showing aggression or fear?

Hi, I am posting for similar reasons. Percy is 18 months now and gets on with all female dogs. I've been on here before and received excellent advice so thanks to all. His behaviour is unpredictable regards male dogs and was 60/40 but has now increased to pretty much all the time. This morning for example he met a male dog that he usually won't leave alone (i think it gives off a male scent) but today Percy was on the lead, we walked side by side and he ignored the dog so i was going to walk off lead with the owner (thought he'd made a new friend). 5 minutes into the walk Percy was overpowering the dog and i had to pull him off and put him back on the lead. One of his female buddys is in season again and he is very 'on his toes' so is it just a case of give it a few weeks and he'll calm down a bit? I'm exepcting a call from my vet also as they have been very helpful in the past and steered me away from neutering so i do have faith in their advice. Back in the summer he was meeting and playing happily with 2 male labs for about 6 months no problem. then one day he grabbed hold of one of the dogs collars and ran alongside. fine. the next day he pulled the dog to the ground. not fine so he was put back on the lead. the next day he ran the dog into the fence and pulled it to the ground aggessively. so ended the friendship!! My concern is that I still want to be able to walk him off lead at least once a day without worrying he will take off and go for other dogs. I do not want to muzzle him. I'm wary of neutering for the wrong reason (we will not be breeding from him). But I am concerned he'll get himself a bad reputation for becoming a bully at this young age. Any advice greatly appreciated, thank you.

Firstly, we'll done on finding a sensible, modern vet!

Castration is YOUR decision. We can't tell you one way or another.

The things I would input are...

1. Don't castrate too young. A Stafford matures (physically and mentally) at about 18 months/2 years & that's the time to choose if you decide to castrate.
2. Staffords play hard. They will overpower & pin down dogs purely because they can, but that doesn't mean they're being aggressive,especially if there are no tooth marks left.
3. All male (and some female) dogs will react to an in season bitch, even if that male has been neutered! It's up to you to make sure the bitch isn't pestered by your dog. But you may need to speak to the bitch's owner, because they shouldn't be bringing an in season bitch to the park!
4. Try teaching him "enough" so that you can stop him if you feel he's getting too boisterous.

Thanks Gilly, he hasn't left any teeth marks yet and it is alot of noise but the other dogs clearly aren't happy. I'm looking into training with him in the first instance. My Vet has also said try to get him to 2 years old before considering neutering.

Hi again, I am posting to ask if anyone has tried the Superlorin implant fro agression? I have spent a very busy week looking into this for Percy and have also secured a behaviourist to start training. having spoke at length to my Vet she has suggested trying this initially so I'm looking for some feedback, good or bad! we have an appointment this evening at 6.30 to have it done and i have a long list of questions before I go ahead. the behaviourist hasn't met anyone who is using the implant but has heard positive feedback. I have however read comments about weight gain and total change in character for one particular dog- not in a good way! Thanks as always,

I have no experience with the implant but I suppose if you’re seeing undesired effects, by definition it should be fairly easy to remove it.
It’s probably more reversible than castration too.

How soon after implant is put in that you should see a result ?

Hi, thanks for responding. results should show in the first 6 weeks. So far so good. no swelling where it went in and Percy seems calmer already. My vet has used this 6 times and so far has 100% success rate so I'm feeling positive.

Lauren Annies wrote:Hi again, I am posting to ask if anyone has tried the Superlorin implant fro agression? I have spent a very busy week looking into this for Percy and have also secured a behaviourist to start training. having spoke at length to my Vet she has suggested trying this initially so I'm looking for some feedback, good or bad! we have an appointment this evening at 6.30 to have it done and i have a long list of questions before I go ahead. the behaviourist hasn't met anyone who is using the implant but has heard positive feedback. I have however read comments about weight gain and total change in character for one particular dog- not in a good way! Thanks as always,

Supralorin does not put weight on. However, it may remove 'nervous energy' and slow your dog down, which could mean he'll put on a little weight.

It DOES change character a little, but only because his testosterone driven urges will be dulled. So he should become calmer & more relaxed. He should also reduce or even stop territorial marking.

Oh, and his furry pompoms will shrink!

Hi again Gilly, thank you for responding. Spoke at great length to my vet and she has said the same - including shrinkage! So far so good and although it's early days Percy does seem more relaxed. Behaviour training starts Saturday morning so hopefully the combination will get my boy back on track :-)

Sounding all good so far.
Hope it continues to work out for the both of you

I’ll be looking forwards to hearing how it goes long term.

Sounds good!

I have a beautiful male shepherd cross who truly wants to have a buddy to play with. He is not neutered and just turned 3. My friend was rehoming her gorgeous, sweet, neutered male staffy who just turned 4. I took him in, because otherwise he was going to the shelter. I really love him, and he is very obedient and good with me. As he was growling and running at my shepherd, Max, I would put a muzzle on the staffy, and they would run and play for an hour in my large back yard. Having lost a Rottie ( and a pointer (5) to cancer, and hearing that there is a possible connection to neutering, I am very reluctant to neuter my shepherd. I can tell that he is nervous of my new staffy, when the staffy does not have a muzzle on. They would be so good together, as they are both high energy. However, having seen dog fights with other dogs, I am nervous as well. I am not sure if I could control a staffy in a full blown fight, and I am scared to find out. I have had both dogs for 2 months now. My question is: Do any of you have a staffy and a an unaltered male getting along together, and how is this achieved?

Lauren Annies wrote:Hi, thanks for responding. results should show in the first 6 weeks. So far so good. no swelling where it went in and Percy seems calmer already. My vet has used this 6 times and so far has 100% success rate so I'm feeling positive.

Hi Lauren Annies,

I'm new on here but experiencing similar to you and have been considering an implant, i'd be really interested to hear how you got on with it and what (if any) affect it had?

Staff wrote:

Lauren Annies wrote:Hi, thanks for responding. results should show in the first 6 weeks. So far so good. no swelling where it went in and Percy seems calmer already. My vet has used this 6 times and so far has 100% success rate so I'm feeling positive.

Hi Lauren Annies,

I'm new on here but experiencing similar to you and have been considering an implant, i'd be really interested to hear how you got on with it and what (if any) affect it had?

I used the Supralorin implant on my last BT. He was about 10 years old when we got it done & quite dog aggressive. It was very difficult to say what happened with him because at about the same time he developed Lymphoma which slowed him down tremendously. However, it did stop him marking & humping.

I also used it on my new BT when he was about a year old because he was becoming very stressed with humping etc, and because he also has ADHD he was becoming very difficult. It certainly got rid of the marking and humping, but as ADHD dogs generally have increased levels of testosterone, it didn't totally work. However, he's always been super dog friendly, so I can't comment on whether it helps in that way.

Thanks Caryll2, I've started another thread as tbh my dog isn't aggressive towards anything (yet?!) but has dominance issues that i'm worried will progress to dog aggression so i'd love to hear from other's who've had similar and whether castration made a difference.