Does spaying/neutering affect work drive?

From another thread.
I have NO experience but ALL Beagles involved in the Beagle Brigade MUST be s/n...they find contraband with their noses....they use food and praise drive for this training, which is all positive.

Are bomb detection dogs s/n?

Input anyone who hunts or works a s/n dog as to 'drive'?

The only animals that we kept intact were the ones we used for breeding all our other hunt does were s/n. Walker is also s/n and he hunts. Most of the hunters I know dont like to deal with intact animals unless they are exceptional and to be used to breed.

The only drive I can think might be affected by s/n would be fight drive. The only working dogs that are usually left intact are protection dogs. Dogs that only do detection work can work just as well s/n, if not better (less likely to be distracted by hormonal scent issues), but are often left intact simply as a matter of handler preference.

My uncle has a hunting brittany that is neutered. The dog's trainer recommended neutering males because they are less likely to either pick fights with other dogs or be distracted by females. It didn't seem to affect the dog's performance.

I think as in most things based on opinions, you aren't going to get people to agree, LOL

I have read it and heard it both ways.

"Neutering helps get the dog more focused on the jobs at hand"

AND

"Neutering will weaken a dog's drive"

I think this is a case where you may need to research as much as possible (probably what you are starting to do here) and form your own opinion based on your dog.