# Should I Breed My Standard Male Once Before Neutering?



## Fromeo59 (Oct 7, 2018)

Could anyone tell me if a male Standard might have personality or behavioral changes after mating just one time? I have heard many sides to this. I am not planning on breeding Mickey and want to have him neutered. My husband has other ideas. Our dear friend has a Standard and she would like to breed with our Mickey. I am against this but my husband thinks one time would not change him. Could someone give me some information to pass on to him as to why this would not be good idea? Besides the obvious fact that we are not qualified breeders!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Both of our male dogs are intact, however that does not mean they are being bred. I don't see convincing evidence to neuter unless there are behavior problems. Aside from not being qualified breeders (especially the friends with the bitch where whelping scares me) I do think there can be behavior changes in males after one breeding (including marking, wandering in search of in season bitches and others). I have a friend who has had her male Irish Setter out to stud and although he was always a bit of a difficult dog he has been a really challenging dog since he was bred. Thankfully she is an excellent handler.


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## Fromeo59 (Oct 7, 2018)

Thank you. I appreciate you adding the information about neutering. My Vet is pushing it but perhaps I will hold off. He is such a wonderful guy as is! That is except for this submissive/excited peeing. Over a year now and still does this.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Most vets push for early desexing. If your vet is a good one (s)he will work with your questions and thoughts. If your boy has a nice personality and no unwanted behaviors other than the submissive peeing (which you can get a handle on) then I would probably leave him intact if he were mine.


For the excited/submissive peeing just keep all arrivals of people super low key. Have him sit and give him a treat for not peeing.


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

There is also a lot of expense with breeding, even for the male.
All the health testing required to be sure your dog has the best chance of not passing on genetic issues to the puppies can be quite expensive.
Poodles need 
OFA (or Pennhip) Hip dysplasia testing (done by xray at a vet, sometimes requiring sedation then sent in to OFA)
OFA elbow dysplasia (done same as hips)
Eye tests that have to be done by specific people 
SA testing which is done by a skin puncture at your vet then I believe sent in for testing elsewhere 
And then a multitude of saliva testing for various genetic disorders.

It is also ideal to have VGL testing done for genetic diversity reasons.

All these tests can easily add up to quite a bit. And of course the dog must be over 2 years of age to complete it's health testing properly.
The dog should be evaluated by someone with a lot of conformation knowledge to be sure that it doesn't have large conformation faults that could risk future soundness that could be passed down to the puppies.
I also feel that a good breeder (even just a one time breeder) puts more into their dogs than just them being 'good pets' they should be trained and titled in something above the lowest level (things such as agility or obedience or hunting). 

For strictly pet people I think neutering after 2 years old is a fine situation. Gives the dog hormones while it grows, but prevents things like oops litters and can help them be a bit more focused. I do think that most intact dogs can be just a hair more dog to live with than a neutered one once they mature.


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## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

Mysticrealm said:


> There is also a lot of expense with breeding, even for the male.
> All the health testing required to be sure your dog has the best chance of not passing on genetic issues to the puppies can be quite expensive.
> Poodles need
> OFA (or Pennhip) Hip dysplasia testing (done by xray at a vet, sometimes requiring sedation then sent in to OFA)
> ...


I don’t have much more to add here as she covered the health testing that your boy would need (and you would also want to insure that any dam he bred to had all of this health testing done as well.) Also having someone who knows what they are doing evaluate conformation is important, looking for any major faults.

As far as behavior changing, I have heard from breeder friends that living with a stud dog is much more difficult than a male that has not been bred or one who is neutered. I don’t have personal experience with this as I own a bitch. I personally wouldn’t breed a male unless everything mysticrealm said was done, and I was okay with the dog being a “stud dog” and having that mentality, rather than just being a loved pet.


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

I can only tell you that at one time I had a intact male. He was very well trained and I could take this dog anywhere and he never would have thought to mark in the house. One time a neighbor brought her bitch by and she was in heat. That is all it took, he didn't even need to breed. He started marking in the house. I hadn't even noticed at first till one day I came in and kept smelling something odd. My house was beginning to smell. Then I saw where he had just a little pee and when I check around I later found all little stains in certain corners . I had to rip out all the carpet and have it replaced. Once he is bred he will be on the lookout for female dogs and this cold cause him to want to wander off and he will pee on every mailbox. Frankly some dogs do that anyway, its the marking and once they start its very difficult to stop. I'm no expert but that was my experience.


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## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

My boy Sam has been bred 3 times. (He has been shown, and all health testing done, and the breeder I work with loves him.) He is 5 years old and I have no plans to neuter him. I have absolutely no problems with him -- certainly no marking inside. He does like to leave his calling card all over the place when we go for a walk, but my neutered male used to do that too. He has no problems interacting with other dogs. Occasionally he decides he wants to hump someone (male or female), but my neutered boy used to do that. I can get him under control pretty easily, and his humping is only a occasional issue.

By the way, Sam's 3rd litter is 5 weeks old now. Gorgeous puppies -- all spoken for.

In addition to the concerns mentioned by Mysticrealm, I think the owner of the bitch must be 100% sure that she can find good homes for the puppies. That can be difficult for someone who does not have an established reputation.


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