Spaying Make Aggressive Female Dogs MORE Aggressive?
I work at a vet clinic, and while we had a relief vet this week, she mentioned that at a behavior seminar she had attended, they said that with aggressive female dogs, spaying can make the problem worse because the estrogen isn’t there to mediate the testosterone put out by the adrenal glands. I have been looking this up on the internet and have found conflicting information. I was wondering if anyone here had seen this/heard about it? Before anyone gets on their soap box, I’m not suggesting people not spay and neuter their pets, and I’m not suggesting aggressive pets be allowed to breed and pass on this temperament. And dont’ insult my intelligence by telling me that that spaying/neutering FIXES aggression- I’m educated, and I work in a vet clinic, I have seen MANY aggressive dogs and cats that have been spayed/neutered, and aren’t the tiniest fraction better after. I’m simply asking if anyone has seen the problem get WORSE in female dogs who already have aggression.
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actually it makes sense that the hormones could make it worse. We’re WAY too likely to say that neutering any dog is the end all to the aggression problem, but i don’t think there really is ONE right answer…Dogs become aggressive for many different reasons, so there MUST be many different solutions to the problem.
Even in human mental health we tend to look for ONE definitive answer to problems. There just isn’t one.
I do think it would be a mistake for people to say they don’t want to have their dogs spayed because they don’t want them to become aggressive, although delaying it while they work with a behaviorist might be something to consider.
I surely do NOT think so!!!
However, if you leave an aggressive dog unchecked…/uncorrected/…the problem will remain despite the spay and will get only worse with the age.
I don’t think spaying or neutering, for that matter, has much effect on a dog’s aggressive tendencies one way or the other. What has been shown to calm aggression is allowing a female dog to have a litter of puppies before she is spayed. I know you are not looking for this answer, but there it is.
I had a rot growing up and she was pretty agressive… once we got her fixed, she was a little better for the first few days. Then went back to her old self.. the biggest difference was when she had puppies! She was MUCH better after that. Don’t know what the "technical" answer is, but that was how my dog reacted.
My female dog seems to have gotten more aggressive towards other dogs since she was spayed. However, there’s a few other things to consider– she was a stray, so I don’t know her exact age, but she was estimated to be anywhere from a year to two years old she I got her spayed. I have also heard that the full agressive nature of the dog can develop/show itself when the dog is around 2 years old. Therefore, it’s possible that she became more agressive after she was spayed because she was coming to the age where the aggression was becoming full-fledged. So the timing of the spaying made it seem like it made it worse. Or, perhaps the spaying did make it worse, I guess I will never know! I sure wish she would stop being mean to other dogs though!
testosterone is not made in large quantities in females – it’s a male hormone, so the amount of testosterone in a female is not enough to cause "roid" rage (testosterone falls in the classification of steroids). Neutering has been shown to decrease aggressive tendencies in males, because the testosterone amounts are indeed dramatically decreased. Not all aggression is steroid based, so of course neutering won’t magically make aggression go away.
Anyway – we have a female, who while I wouldn’t say was "aggressive" was quite pushy and a little domineering. After spaying, she was calmer. I am sure though, anytime you screw with hormones, you are going to get a mixed bag of results. I would highly doubt this seminar person. It would be interesting to know who gave the talk, what are their feelings on spaying/neutering? What are their qualifications? How many animals did they study? How did they diagnose aggression? Were testosterone amounts measured before and after spaying?
I am a scientist, and I always always read things like this with a careful eye – and with data like this, you have to consider study group size, length of the study, and specifically, how are they determining testosterone to be the cause of aggression. Seems doubtful and a little skewed if you ask me.
While I haven’t seen it get worse, more and more studies are coming out that prove that altering your pet could have worse results (not just behavior wise) then proponents of spay and neuter everything lead the general public to believe.
Whether it’s they just don’t know, or they refuse to "get" it, I don’t know, but they are relentless in their altering mantra.
I am also not really against altering your pets, but at least make an informed decision and know all the facts, not just those that the PC crowd want people to see.
I’ve been a trainer for 35 years and a vet tech for 34..I’ve worked with many breeds of dogs and dogs of many temperaments..I’ve also attended many clinics, seminars, conferences on canine behavior…so to answer your question the answer is no..spaying does not make an aggressive dog more aggressive. Spaying won’t make an aggressive dog suddenly not aggressive either…hormones do play a part in some cases and can help "minimize" or eliminate certain types of aggression but not all types… medical conditions,enviornment, breeding, socialization & training all play a big part in a dogs behavior.
Also females do not manufacture enough testosterone to make a difference….if there is a hormonal issue it was occuring before spaying ever occured.
Aggressive dogs SHOULD be spay/neutered..so that there is no danger of the aggression being passed on or even perpetuated.
A spayed dog could potentially get worse but it would not be a result of spaying but more the result of nothing changing in enviornment, socialization, training.
I will throw my “two cents” in here. I have a 7 1/2 year old English Bulldog who developed Pyometra and thus had to be spayed. She also had a mammary tumor discovered and removed at the same time. It has been a week and she is recovering nicely…..no pain, eating well, playing. However, she has become aggressive toward my female Jack Russell Terrier and my 17 month old son. If he walks into a room she is in she starts to lick her lips (a sign she has always displayed when she is unhappy) and wil actuall get up and “stalk” him. It isnt a constant reaction towards the two of them but it NEVER happened before. Anyone have experience with this? I am trying to figure out what is going on with her and am assuming that she is still recovering and is still a little ornery, but the stalking behavior is what concerns me. Even when she is being left alone she will get up and initiate contact. This is a behavior that was non-existent before the surgery…..can anyone offer advice?
By the way, not even 5 minutes after posting my previous comment, she bit him….not hard, but the fact that she was motherly towards him before and now this……
I am reading this because I have a 5 months female Cocker Spaniel. I had her spayed a week ago and it’s been a nightmare since. She became very aggressive, she is bitting me and my husband all the time, she just won’t stop! She also barks a lot more than before. We are trying everything, playing with her, we even locked her in a room for a few minutes so she calms down, but it doesn’t help, she will come out and start again. I am very frustrated, I was told that spaying the dog wouldn’t make any changes in her personality, but it seems to be wrong. I am starting to regret what we’ve done, she was a nice puppy before and now we can’t even have five minutes of peace. I hope this behaviour will go away