1 Year Old Male Dominance ~ Castration?

Hi, i've just joined up as i'm having some problems with my young male staffy and would appreciate anyone's experience/opinions/advice.

Eddie will be 1 in a few weeks, he's always been friendly with other dogs and people (overly friendly in that he can be pretty full on like most young staffs!), isn't too bad with humping (only does this occasionally and only with my 13 yr old son) but is terrible with marking (lifts his leg constantly when on walks) and has always struggled with dominance.

For example, from the day we got him home at 9 weeks he hated us putting a collar or lead on, he still puts on a real performance when we put his harness on etc, he always wants to sit on top of people and get high up wherever he is, he's generally pretty rigid, has an arched tail, doesn't wag much and is rarely plays in a puppyish playful way it seems more a battle for dominance over whatever the game is, everything seems to have an 'edge' to it. On walks he's very panty, drools a lot and seems very on edge, he won't play ball and has zero interest in treats when he's outside. He will sit, give paw, wait etc etc but after sessions of training where he's been 'submissive' he seems to go into a hyper-dominant stage to counter it. We've never fed him without making him sit and wait until we tell him he can take it, and have always been gently firm with him from day one, making sure we leave/enter the house first etc.

He's particularly bad in our garden, he seems to think it's his territory and jumps up and nips/barks at my wife, son or anyone else who's in the garden (workmen etc), he's generally OK with me but things like me taking a bin bag out seem to get him excited/wound up and he'll act out with me as well in that scenario.

We are experienced dog owners, this is our third staffy, our others have had absolutely beautiful characters more or less from day one, I've always felt that it's never the dog that's the problem but i'm struggling with this one as he's just not responding to the normal firm but fair loving way in which we've raised our previous dogs to be calm and friendly family members.    

I'm wondering whether castration might help due to the reduction in testosterone as all of his problems seem to be down to his struggle with feeling the need to be dominant (or reluctance to be dominated by us). I'd really love to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience with a young male and whether they were able to curb the behaviour and how, and whether castration made a difference (either positively or negatively?)

Have you made a decision yet?

If I were you I would consult an experienced behaviourist - not cheap but a good one can be worth their weight in gold.

The problem with castrating before mental maturity is that behavioural problems can be 'set' and can be very difficult to fix afterwards.