what behavioral changes should i expect after my 3 y/o dog’s neutering?

[darich12154]

my 3 year old beagle has always been friendly and easygoing, though with occasional destructive tendencies when he gets excited (running off with shoes, chasing feet, tearing up his doggie bed) and excessive barking every now and then. we recently got one more dog, this time a female one. when she first went into heat, my boy dog was drooling and tried to hump her, so we had to keep them separated and it was quite difficult to have him agitated during her cycles.

i very recently had him neutered, and while i did because i’ve read about several behavioral and health benefits to it, i’ve suddenly been seeing accounts of their dogs becoming aggressive after getting neutered.

what should i expect to change in his behavior/personality/demeanor after being neutered? will his friendly and cheerful self change?

 

[godsgal41]

@darich12154 Neutering is not going to stop destructive tendencies or barking. That is training and lack of exercise. It may tone down the stuff with the bitch in heat, but I’ve seen neutered dogs still get worked up.

The small amount of research suggests that there may be an increase in fear related reactivity, which is not the same as aggression. I have seen some anecdotal evidence of that being true, but the studies it’s are still small and not conclusive.

 

[anaaaaa]

@darich12154 Probably not. I’ve seen many adult dogs before and after getting neutered at the shelter I worked at, and overall they either didn’t change at all or had improvements. I’ve never seen a dog get aggressive.

My dog was 1 when he got neutered, and he was just as sweet and wonderful after. It totally stopped any destructive tendencies. My female dog was 8 and nothing changed either.

 

[donk101st]

@darich12154 You might see a relaxation in some behaviour but it depends where the destructive behaviour is originating from. Doesn't necessarily mean it's hormonal behaviour so it may not disappear. You may need to train it out of him. I personally have never known of a dog to become aggressive as a result of neutering so I suspect there were underlying problems with those dogs and people blamed the neutering.

 

[donk101st]

@darich12154 Also, beagles are one of the most vocal dog breeds there are so don't expect that to change anytime soon

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@darich12154 I read so much about behaviour changes after sterilisation, but after spaying our 1 year old Beagle we couldn’t see any noticeable changes in her at all. She didn’t stop humping that we hoped she would.

 

[gravy0558]

@darich12154 hello, been a while have you noticed any changes? my three year old has been booked in for the same reason

 

[darich12154]

@gravy0558 hi! he’s still the same sweet old boy, but i did notice that ever since he got neutered, he’s become slightly possessive of his food. nothing too bad— just barking at my other pets when they try to steal his food, but he never did that before he got neutered. i can’t say for sure that it was caused by neutering, though; might be something else.

what’s nice is that he doesn’t try to hump my female dog anymore!

 

[gravy0558]

@darich12154 appreciate the reply