Questions on Neutering

[marley05]

ok I know one thing i am getting my dog neutered. no questions there the main question is when? I want him to ya know "fill out" but this weekend i went to visit a friend who has an 8 week old male puppy. The whole time they were playing but sometimes Marley seemed to get a little more rough than just play. His hair would go up and growl real fierce. hes not much of a growler. And when it was time to eat the puppy (Timber) would go see what marley was doing and Marley would start growling at him and protecting his food. He has no problem with people touching his food or toys. He would also protect his toys but only the ones like rawhide, kong etc. not his ropes or balls. Is this something he will always do or if i fix him will he not care or what??? Also i notice he is starting to mark things. i think, he doesnt lift his leg he just pees alot everywhere. Will he quit that if he gets neutered? He also was humping Timber. Will he quit that too? Marleys only 5 months old. How old dooes he have to be? Is there something i can do so i can wait to let him fill out? or will the behavior get worse. Any advise will help. Thank you

[Fran27]

I don't think many dogs reach maturity before 6 months. I know my vet does it at 6 months, and it's when we did my first. For the second, I'm doing it at 5 months because he's a rescue and the contract said 5 months. I don't think it makes a big difference.

[mrsgrubby]

Ok, I will try to answer your questions. I am glad you asked, so you won't be surprised when your dog gets fixed.
No your dog will not stop humping if he is neutered.
No your dog will not stop guarding his toys and food if he is fixed. IMO dogs should always be fed seperatly, especially if they don't both belong together all the time. I would also put away his favorite toys when you have another dog over.
yes, fixing him should help with the marking, but now that he has done it, I can't say for sure... I am sure someone else knows more.
I would for sure get him neutered, and 6 months is fine. I had my foster puppies done at 14-16 weeks.
As far as the "filling out" question, What kind of dog is it? With Rotties or others, time is needed to help them fill out, but with other leaner dogs it doesn't seem to matter.

[marley05]

He is supposebly a Pitbull and aussie. His dad is the pit i saw him he is very tall and skinny. as For marley he looks like a german shepherd dobie. Weird.Marley 4 months
Marley @ 4 months

[marley05]

if all his other issues besides filling out arent gonna make a difference if hes neutered i should just fix him now then , right? but i would prefer to let him fill out.

[myne]

as said above despite what many think neutering does not correct bad behaviour nor does it curb any traits they have previously learnt, I know of dogs that still spray believe it or not, what neutering does do is change the dogs shape, (which in part is why I dont neuter, cant anyway because they are show dogs but then when they retire from shows they get done), they gain a rounder apopearance, in saying that if you can neuter your animals, it is the most responsable thing to do.

[mrsgrubby]

I would go ahead and neuter him now. Also, if you can, I would take him to some training classes. It would help you learn how to better change his behaviors.

[marley05]

i have had the worst of luck with getting him a training class!! i contacted the ilac city and spokane dog training and i had missed registration day by less than a week. then i looked in some activity thing and there was a class starting at some park that day. so i went to it and nobody showed. it was CRAZY . At the training clubs they dont start classes till january and by then hell be too old for puppy classes so he'll have to go into basic which kinda sucks. So now i have to look into petco or petsmart which isnt something that sounds effective IMO. But thank you for the advise on neutering. i have already called his vet and asked questions about it.