I am thankful that most of our customers neuter their male dogs while they are young.

If they don’t  do so , we have to put up with quite a bit of unrest on our little pack . The intact  dog feels the need  to mark his territory  with urine- and suddenly all the other males seem to feel the same need( lots of clean-up for us- but I would not mind  so much if it stayed at that )

What is most troubling is the power-play that comes up between the males . It is often , but not always , initiated by the intact male and shows it self like this: suddenly it is a big deal who goes through the open door first. It is a big deal who gets to lie down first, talk to me ( the female ) first , etc.

Last not least there is a lot of humping going on ( yes, even the neutered males seem to suddenly need to hump each other and all pillows around)

The whole issue of who has balls or not makes the whole pack suddenly insecure of their place in the order of thing.

There is one intact male who is an exception to this rule: Zeke, a Irish Setter , who belongs to Tom Sims and has been superbly trained by his dad. Zeke seems to feel sure of his place int he order of things and doe snot need to dominate others. When he comes first, the other guys seem to want o play the power- game , but as he does njot engage in this, they settle down quickly.

So : if  you  don’t mind spending lots of time connecting with and training your dog , you might not want to neuter him- if you can’t do that , pleas eleave your intact dog at home or send him to a kennel.

Thanks ! XX Martina