When and why should I have my
dog neutered?

If you do not intend to breed your dog, it is advocated that neutering be performed at a young age before the dog has the opportunity to breed. Between four and six months is a good time to neuter your dog. Make sure your dog is current on its vaccinations to prevent disease.

Only those behaviors that are driven by male hormones can be reduced or eliminated by castration. Although, the hormones are gone from the system almost immediately following castration, male behaviors may diminish quickly over a few days or gradually over a few months. After neutering, roaming and mounting tendencies should decrease for most dogs. Aggressive tendencies are not always driven by hormones. Some aggressive dogs will improve after neutering but not the majority.

Castration eliminates the possibility of testicular cancer and greatly reduces the chance of prostate disease, two common and serious problems of older male dogs.

Perhaps the most important issue is that millions of dogs are destroyed annually at animal shelters in North America. Neutering males is as important as spaying females when it comes to population control.