My 1-year-old intact dog growls at other male dogs. Is it a problem?

Neutering will decrease testosterone levels which can in turn decrease chances of aggression, so any dog that is intact and is having aggression issues, neutering is recommended. That being said, sometimes the behavior becomes more of a habit and because of this, neutering isn't a 100% guarantee to fix the issue, but it is at least the first step.

Canine aggression is a complex behavior as it can stem from dominance, possessiveness, fear, anxiety, resource guarding or a combination. Most people are not familiar with reading canine body language and training. Because of this, I recommend to work with a professional trainer. Researching on your own will also be helpful. Familiarizing yourself with canine body language and dog training can help you to recognize what your pet is trying to say. You can find many books written on the topic and there is a trainer named Victoria Stilwell who I think is particularly helpful. Certainly male dogs who are not neutered are more prone to fighting and aggression. Neutering him may help but it will not likely solve all the problems. Best of luck.

I'm sorry that you're having this problem with Cssh! Aggression issues between dogs can be very complex, so without being able to actually meet him in person and observe his interactions with the other dogs, it's very difficult to say what might be causing this. Some dogs simply don't get along well with "new" dogs once they have grown out of their puppy stage - this could well be the case with your dog, since he's about 6-7 months old now. This isn't necessarily abnormal, but it may mean that your dog is not a good candidate for casual socializing with strange dogs. If you want to try and get a better idea of what may be causing Cssh's aggressive behavior and see if anything can be done to improve it, I would recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist - he/she can evaluate your dog in person and help you understand exactly what is happening. If needed, they can also help you put together a detailed plan to work on the problem. Your veterinarian should be able to find out where your nearest veterinary behaviorist is located, and set up a referral for you if you wish. In the meantime, I would recommend not allowing Cssh to interact with any dogs that he doesn't already know and like since there is a significant risk that he will continue to behave aggressively, which could cause injury to him or other dog.

This is a good question. This may be unrelated to being intact, but in dogs that have early signs of aggression, I find that neutering ASAP can cause those signs to improve. Sometimes mounting behavior will continue (and even seen in females) but if there are other signs of aggression I would neuter immediately and also consider calling a positive reinforcement based trainer. I hope this helps!

Now is the best time to neuter them both. Neutered males are more docile and make better pets. When they reach sexual maturity at around 6 months and their hormones go into full swing so to speak, they may act aggressive toward other males and want to become dominant in the household. If you wait too long, neutering will not help. I suggest neutering all dog sin the house as soon as possible, then the hormones will die down in a few weeks. At this time, implement a training program with a trainer or by doing some research. The behavior will most likely get better, but that is not definite. Neutering with combined training is your best plan to change his behavior. .

Hello and thank you for your question. I suspect this is all related to Bodhi hitting puberty. At this point, it is fine to neuter him. He is at least 75% full grown if not more. This can help to eliminate some of the behavior. I do also recommend reading about dog body language so that you can start to understand what the are saying to each other. Ideally you will stop a situation that is going badly when it is at a level three instead of a level eight. This can help to keep Bodhi's experiences positive which can help him in the long term. Another thing that can help is to make sure Bodhi is well exercised before he goes to the dog park. Pets who have a higher energy level are more likely to have problems than pets who have a lower energy level. You can't control the other dogs but you may try this for 2 weeks and see if this changes the behavior towards Bodhi. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I'm sorry you are dealing with this problem! The first thing to do is neuter Loki. His aggressive behaviors to other male dogs could be due to the hormones produced from being intact. Intact male dogs will fight to protect their territory and for females. Neutering him can help reduce the aggressive tendencies. After that is done, I recommend getting him in with a professional behavioral expert. I never recommend owners work with aggressive behaviors on their own due to the serious risks to safety, and it is something that is best left to the professionals. A behavioral expert can work with Loki and you on his aggression, and can help train him to reduce it. Good luck, I hope this helps!