intact vs neutered

Growing up we always had neutered males. Always. I'm planning on keeping new puppy intact, unless for health reason. I'm already getting grief from my mom who has worked at a vet clinic since the dawn of time.
"All he'll think about is finding a female"
"He'll never be a good dog. His mind will always be somewhere else"
"He'll mark on everything"
"He'll be more aggressive"
I'm sure you've heard them all.

How are intact males different than a neutered male? I really have no idea what to expect.

They have balls. That's how they're different xD

Really, I think any of the "problems" are really behaviour issues rather than having-balls-issues.

They have hangy-downs. LOL

They're usually more interested in peein' on stuff and sniffin' stuff than neutered males but that varies enormously between individuals. They do tend to be more huffy, puffy "I'm a big man" than neutered males, but again, depends on the individual dog. I've known intact males that squatted to pee still and were total pushovers with other dogs.

IME the capable dog person rarely finds themselves with a humping, peeing, distracted monster. I doubt you'll notice much at all.

I know enough neutered males that **** on everything, start **** with other males, hump anything that moves, and don't listen worth a ****, to not buy that it's balls that are the problem.

Thanks Jess. But he'll be fuzzy so hopefully you won't be able to see them *crosses fingers*

I was asking a few friends about this a couple weeks ago...they have intact males and while I have an intact female I haven't done the male thing so was curious. They gave me a weird look and said if I can train a dog with lots of prey dog to call off a deer, or train a terrier to stay in my yard without a fence for a year, or train a birddog to stand down when a loose bird is fluttering in front of her nose, then having an intact male is no big deal. It's just a "matter of training and not taking stupid risks, just like anything else."

But I still don't have one so ya know take that with a grain of salt. I just thought their response was funny

Honestly, I don't notice much difference between Jake (snipped) and Blaze (intact). They are two completely different dogs, personality wise, but they both mark just as much.

Let's put it this way, I left Blaze alone to mature naturally. He's 4 now. I haven't found a reason to snip yet.

Traveler pees on stuff. Though, he doesn't pee on stuff that much more than Kaylee (spayed young) or my old altered young BC. I don't have any issue with training other than stupid boy stuff that's just an younger male regardless of ball status. I notice when his attention is waning he's more likely to go start sniffing and pee on something so if he starts doing that I tend to call training off or reengage him. But again, don't really think that's much to do with the intactness of him.

The biggest difference I've noticed is the need to taste urine at times.

The only difference I found between intact Bandit and not intact Bandit (he got the big snip at 3) was he no longer got the snot beaten out of him by tons of dogs. The EAT ME sign on his back went away.

He didn't mark. He didn't stray. He wasn't dominant. He could hold his composure around females in heat. He's the same dog now minus two balls.

After the initial teenager phase.. which is just the hormones and general brattiness that comes with dogs in general around 8+ months. Things even out and the only difference really..will be balls lol everything else is a training issue.

Physically you are likely to notice a difference. Neutered males (IE those neutered young) are lankier then intact males.
Many show folk have intact males (obviously lol) and you don't see a dog show full of marking humping aggressive dogs.. it's all a matter of training.

When there already is a behavioral problem, so many recommend neutering because yea, training CAN be easier with a dog that doesn't have hormones to deal with. BUT that's if the problem crops up in the first place and frankly, it doesn't always help. Hormones/balls or no.. some dogs just are the way they are (like to mark, like to bark etc..) and neutering alone doesn't change them.

I think its pretty obvious Bandit was left intact for quite awhile. His fur is thick and lush as well as his bone structure is thick.

Webster does that. It's gross lol.

Differences I see in Ripley now vs. when he was intact are behaviours directly related to hormones (or lack thereof).

The only changes I've seen are: He no longer obsesses over sniffing and licking the girls or where they have sat. He no longer feels like he has to urine taste. He no longer is obsessive about marking. He no longer humps out of over excitement, although that one could have been age related rather than just because of being intact. But he used to air hump if he got over excited when playing (with males or females) and that disappeared completely after being neutered.

I expect a lot of my dogs and train them so it's not like he was an out of control marker or humper or anything. He was really pretty easy all in all. The only things that made him even a little difficult had nothing to do with his intact status and everything to do with being a brainless teenage wonder. The only difference between him intact and now is that I no longer have to keep any of those most annoying behaviours (urine tasting, air humping and marking) in check, because two behaviours have drastically declined and one is non-existent.

He is still a boy and he still marks, but it's not a compulsion like it used to seem to be. He still urine tastes every once in a while, but again, it's not a compulsion. And to be honest, both of my girls have done it on occasion as well. I could have lived with Ripley intact for his entire life had I wanted to, but the humping and the urine tasting/obsessive licking of wherever the girls sat (in the house or outside) was annoying and it was nice to be rid of those. The only reason I actually neutered him was because he was starving himself and was impossible to get him to maintain weight for any length of time.

No differences here. All my previous males were neutered, all of our males now are intact - we have 4 intact males and a rescue dog that is neutered in the house. Kastle is 1.5 years and still squats, the neutered male squats, the rest all lift. They all sniff/lick pee and froth at the mouth after doing so. Otherwise, no differences besides differences in personalities.

ETA: My Corgi (Eden) marks *and* lifts her leg. It drives me NUTS.

Boys are all annoying and stupid, regardless of their testosterone LOL. I just find intact dogs are a little more "humpy".

FACT.
ok.. mostly true with boys as in people lol

My dog isn't annoying. He is very mild mannered. My cat on the other hand. OH GOD. Kill me now.

Keegan's intact and I don't think it's a problem at all.

I have a few friends who are around him a lot, see him behaving himself in public around people and other dogs, playing nicely with other dogs, etc., and yet ask me when I'm going to get him neutered. I ask them what benefit there would be to neutering him, and they kind of give me a blank look, stare out into space for a few minutes, and then start talking about something else.

My roommate, however, was quite upset with me because I refused to neuter him when the rescue she wanted to get a puppy [male] from refused to place a dog in a home with an intact dog. The rescue even said they would pay for MY dog to get neutered. She was seriously mad that I didn't take them up on the offer.

Shamoo does too. lol

Yep, Keeva does that AND humps. How adorable. *sigh*

Traveler doesn't hump, but I swear to god he will flag to small dogs.