Intact male dogs.

[GatorDog]

Aiden is almost 4 and still intact. He is a marker outside, but not really inappropriately or all the time. Only if he's out loose in a field or yard or park somewhere. He can walk like a normal dog without pissing on everything most of the time lol.

He has never been a marker inside or a humper. I've just never seen him do it. He's never even tried.

He does chatter and froth at some girl pee, but I just tell him to leave it and he'll do it. We train around females in heat all the time without any issue. He can work through it and around it.

Some other dogs will try to start **** with him, but he's generally pretty non-reactive. My good friends from IPO all have intact males, and Aiden can walk shoulder to shoulder with them in a pet store without them wanting to rip each others throats out. It's nice.

I've been considering neutering him after his IPO3 this fall, because my female will be kept intact and I don't exactly trust the people living with us and having two intact dogs of the opposite sex. If my living situation changes by the time Carma is in heat, then I may reconsider, but who knows.

Aiden could eat 6 cups of food a day and still be skinny. He burns through food like crazy. And he's not hyperactive or anything by any means. If he's not being worked with, he's usually asleep. His metabolism is just through the roof.

I also love the way he has matured and I know it's because he's intact. He is so masculine.

3/12/13 by Gator_Dog, on Flickr

 

[Dogdragoness]

As someone who has always had (spayed) females & only three male dogs ever, I am not saying I am an expert ... But I have NP with intact male dogs as long as long as they aren't making a nuisance of themselves or are horn dogs .

If I rescue my next dog from rescue group or a shelter, then I'm sure he (or she if it works out that way) will already be altered.

If futurepuppy is from a breeder, if she is female I will prolly spay her, if it is a male, I don't know yet.

 

[HayleyMarie]

Thanks guys for the awesome insight and sharing. It firms my decision to keep pup, pup intact, although I am not looking forward to those hideous, massive, dangly balls. And I think when behavioral/training issues arise I can counteract them with training and I have great breeder support. Plus I have you guys So I think we will be OK!

And after thinking about it, My male Bouvier, Badger growing up was left intact until he turned 5 and he showed no difference other than I always saw his lip stick when he sat down. Gross.

 

[MandyPug]

Mastiff balls are like newtons freakin' cradle back there. So kudos to you if you can handle that lol. We make fun of how much swing they get going at dog shows.

 

[Shakou]

We got Ma'ii when he was 6 years old, and he is 7 now. We chose not to get him neutered, because we didn't see the point at his age. Very little difference from neutered dogs I've known. Ma'ii will mark outside a lot, but I really don't care, because it's outside. He can be a little bit of a bully, and will mount other dogs, and HATES other intact males (but is fine with most altered males and is a wuss around females), but I have a funny feeling that might be the case even if he were neutered. He'll cram his nose up Charlotte, and does that weird chatter/froth thing, but it's not very often.

Other than that, I see no major difference. He doesn't wander, he doesn't mark inside, he isn't "sex crazed". Infact, we took him to a community picnic last summer while biking California. Someone at the park brought their female who was in heat. All the male dogs in the park were FREAKING out. Barking, whining, misbehaving, etc. Ma'ii was the ONLY dog there that didn't care. At all. He was too interested in the hotdogs we were eating.... >.>

 

[Paige]

Bandit was a really hard dog to housebreak due to his marking but that was a lot ot do with a lack of knowing how to on my part. I first got him at 14 and was not the most responsible

Anyways, he was no different intact till 3 and as a neutered dog other than he has aged and mellowed out due to age (neuter didnt mellow him out)

 

[Whitewave]

Jack my Boston is intact. I was going to neuter him at 2 yrs, but never got it done and he is 4 now and I honestly see no reason too. His behavior is fine for the most part. He can be a butthead with new dogs, but he is that way with females or males. Worst behavior is the urine tasting and teeth chattering. I do find that totally gross, but I have had neutered males do it too.

He lives with 5 other male dogs (all neutered) and new dog is a intact female who won't be spayed for a while. He is interested when females are in heat, but not obnoxiously so, if he can't get to her, he goes about his business as normal, eating, playing, sleeping. I had a foster go through 3 heat cycles while being treated for heartworms and Jack was all excited at first, but by the 3rd heat, he didn't even pay her any attention but of course was still kept separated. Dogo x Boston not too sure what that would look like!

 

[Ratboy]

My experience is with mostly intact dogs. I didn't have a neutered one until I had King done around the age of 3.5. I waited until then for a couple of reasons. 1, I didn't want him to change, like I've seen other dogs do over the years. Time after time, I saw friend's dogs go from playful, in shape pups/young dogs to pudgy, kind of old acting dogs six months after it was done. 2, it's supposedly the best age to do it, with respect to prostate cancer, which killed my previous dog.

King had some powerfully smelly and acid urine, and it didn't change a bit after he was neutered. King's behavior didn't change much at all, he still had a "Zero tolerance for idiots" policy when another dog would try to push him around, but would tolerate puppies doing the same stuff just fine. The only physical change I could see was he softened up a little compared to his original rock hard body, and of course, those huge white (Snowballs was almost his name) balls were gone.

I had 3 intact males from when I was 8 until I was in my later 40's. They all seemed to be "younger" than their ages were compared to the neutered dogs they grew up with, and they were all thinner than the neutered dogs. None of my dogs had any issues related to not being neutered, like perianal tumors, etc. The last one, my Pit mix Gus, outlived all but one of the dogs he grew up with, except for one of his best buddies, another intact dog, Omar, who lived to be over 15. Gus never fathered pups, unlike Omar, who must have dozens of great-great grandpups by now, about 13 years after he died. I would guess most of the Lab mixes born in the area I live in have some of Omar's DNA in them. A very busy guy who was a true escape artist who only stopped taking off when he was 14+ and just couldn't climb the fence anymore.

 

[Dogdragoness]

Thanks guys for the awesome insight and sharing. It firms my decision to keep pup, pup intact, although I am not looking forward to those hideous, massive, dangly balls. And I think when behavioral/training issues arise I can counteract them with training and I have great breeder support. Plus I have you guys So I think we will be OK!

And after thinking about it, My male Bouvier, Badger growing up was left intact until he turned 5 and he showed no difference other than I always saw his lip stick when he sat down. Gross.

Lol xD :lol-sign:

FYI though, that's not just an intact male thing, buddy's "lip stick" shows sometimes when he sits & he is neutered. So I don't think it makes a difference on that weather they are neutered or not. He also gets "chattery" around intact girl pee, but will also stop when told.

 

[Dogdragoness]

We got Ma'ii when he was 6 years old, and he is 7 now. We chose not to get him neutered, because we didn't see the point at his age. Very little difference from neutered dogs I've known. Ma'ii will mark outside a lot, but I really don't care, because it's outside. He can be a little bit of a bully, and will mount other dogs, and HATES other intact males (but is fine with most altered males and is a wuss around females), but I have a funny feeling that might be the case even if he were neutered. He'll cram his nose up Charlotte, and does that weird chatter/froth thing, but it's not very often.

Other than that, I see no major difference. He doesn't wander, he doesn't mark inside, he isn't "sex crazed". Infact, we took him to a community picnic last summer while biking California. Someone at the park brought their female who was in heat. All the male dogs in the park were FREAKING out. Barking, whining, misbehaving, etc. Ma'ii was the ONLY dog there that didn't care. At all. He was too interested in the hotdogs we were eating.... >.>

I also agree with this, I think it depends more on the owner then the dog, if the owner lets their dog get away with behaviors like chattering, mounting & marking just because they "have their balls" then that is the owners fault not the dogs. But unfortunately there are a LOT of irresponsible dog owners out there :wall:

But IMHO nothing teaches a young male manners better then a mature spayed female that's what bear grew up with & honestly I think that's why he's so well behaved xD

 

[kady05]

I also agree with this, I think it depends more on the owner then the dog, if the owner lets their dog get away with behaviors like chattering, mounting & marking just because they "have their balls" then that is the owners fault not the dogs. But unfortunately there are a LOT of irresponsible dog owners out there :wall:

But IMHO nothing teaches a young male manners better then a mature spayed female that's what bear grew up with & honestly I think that's why he's so well behaved xD

Agree with all of this! I swear, when I told certain people that I planned on keeping Sako intact because I was showing, some acted like I was going to have a fire breathing dragon in my house. He has been extremely easy to live with. He's almost 3 and has never even tried to hump anything, or anyone.

He does mark outside, but has NEVER tried to do anything in the house. And if I tell him to stop, he will. The only thing that drives me nuts is his chattering and being obsessed with Piper's pee.

Piper (who is spayed and a year older) is an awesome teacher though, and I do think that's one reason why he behaves himself. She keeps him in line!