Tell me I am making the right choice.

[grunt]

late last year we picked up two boxer pups both male. They have grown up to be beautiful dogs. They are pure blood but we lost the paper work to get them registered in a fire. I don't have time to breed them and we really did not think about doing that when we bought them in the first place. The two boys play with each other and keep each other pretty busy they don't fight unless there is some thing to fight over or if one gets jealous of the other one. They are out door dogs with a dog door into the barn and have a nice home in there to keep them self's warm.
The issue is that last time I fed them I went back in to the barn to get more food for the other bowl (one eats in the barn and the other one eats in the run) and they got in to a pretty big fight over the bowl with food in it. Both of them drew some good blood but nothing of any real concern took them to the vet that day just out of conwinsadence for there front line and check up and he and my wife recommend that I age them fixed.
My wife who never grew up around dogs and is not used to dog personalities has been saying we should get them fixed for a while.
With this last fight I caved in and agreed. The vet said that getting them fixed will take the edge off of some of there bad behaviors and aggression towards each other.. What do you think??

[Chris Todd]

My vote...Absolutely! If you want a couple of good sibling male farm dogs and no plans to breed, I'd get to snippin. If not I expect those fights will get to a point where one might run the other off, or worse. The bill you pay now will will pale in comparison to what you might pay in the future. They'll also start runnin the ladies pretty soon. You remember don't you Grunt? Better chance of getting hit, lost, or shot at (you or them) by the neighbors.
Also if you have any kids around and those 2 get stirred up and "boxing", it just wouldn't be worth it to me. Dogs can get set off by crazy things sometimes and those 2 could do a bit of damage if they got each other going. Of course I've pretty much always erred on the side of caution, and most times glad I did.
Male hormones can make the boys do crazy things!!

[grunt]

Thanks this is comforting. Hey have we met... Your comments just seem like we have Thanks again.

[Chris Todd]

LOL....Is that a dog joke? SNIFF,SNIFF And by the way....

My wife who never grew up around dogs and is not used to dog personalities has been saying we should get them fixed for a while.

....better tell her if you gettem fixed that it won't be for a while. Snip Snip!

[rickguns]

It's the right thing to do if your'e not going to use them for breeding. (obviously) It will improve their temperment and help prevent some health issues as they age.

[grunt]

I did not know if the age thing was hersay.. Thanks for your support. I feel better about this.

[Scott]

my shepherd just turned 8 months and we had him snipped on monday. the vet said they do they as early as 4 months.

[grumpy]

Calmed me down for sure

[daddydip]

grump, i agree on the part about getting them snipped to protect them from the courses of nature,because they would be hunting her soon. i'm not quite sure about changing their disposition unless you get at them very soon. they forgot to explain that to my little bi polar friend jack cause he is very fixed and still very aggressive. i think if your doing it for their temperment then don't put it off. just my .02

[Corky's Cub]

Grunt,

Growing up, I always heard that neutering male dogs will only affect their disposition if it is done within the first year, or well before they have reached full adulthood (around 18 months for most big breeds). And my experience raising and showing dogs as a kid, followed by years and years with good ole mutts, tends to bear that out. Once I got tired of seeing the smarts bred out of most pure-breeds, I've only had mutts taken in as strays, or mutts adopted from others as puppies. Once a male reaches 18 months old, if he's aggressive, he'll still be aggressive...but just not quite as much so.

But in the situation you described, I don't think neutering is the issue. When a dog thinks it has to share (or compete for) a meal, it is second nature for them to be prone to fight for their food. It's a survival instinct. Feeding them together will always cause them to fight, and you'll be able to tell who is the real alpha between them by which one starts fattening up. Neutered or not, the stronger, more aggressive dog will get the most food.

My suggestions? Go ahead and neuter them, because it will make some difference in any setting other than feeding. And start feeding them at the same time, and seperately from each other.

Hope this helps,

Corky

[John(videodoc)]

i had a similiar problem with my samoyeds while living in alaska. One male was fixed and the other was not, as he was for breeding purposes. As i owned half with the breeder. When the show dog reached a year old, it wanted to be the alpha male. Well the older male (by one year) wouldnt allow it. So the younger male had to go, as they were indoor dogs at the time. We got a female then. traded even up. One of the hardest thing i had to do trading Omalley away. With the kids present.

[Joe Malinowski]

As a dog breeder for over twenty yrs, the best thing you can do is gt the big surgery done. It will do everything you have read about or been told. They may still have some trouble around the food issue somebody has to be the boss. Good luck.

[Brent]

I had a male lab that would jump the fence and do his job all over town. Found him one time about 3 miles from the house in somebody's front yard hooked up to a female. That was it! Next day he lost his man hood. Funny thing was, he jumped the fence for about a week after that but I guess he couldn't remember why. We would find him sitting on the front porch with that typical lab look on his face.