[Dailydrool] Neutering

[Beverly Szaton]

Mitchell is intact and has been bred a number of times. He does not
hump, he does not start fights and he does not mark in the house.

Nigel is intact. Nigel humps. Nigel marks in the house. Nigel starts
fights. Nigel thinks he is hot stuff.
Nigel is intact only because at one time he was going to be shown and
I wanted to wait until he was completely mature before I gave up on
him as a show dog. I also would like to get some  tracking titles with
him and there is the possibility of breeding if he proves to be as
terrific a tracker as he has started out to be.

But Nigel is really pushing my buttons with this marking in the house,
picking on Mitchell and thinking he is the hottest thing to come down
the pike in recent years. Not to mention the humping Mitchell. In our
case this is literally a "top dog" move, not a sexual move but it is
driven by hormones. And it is going to hurt Mitchell's back.

Cowboy is not starting out well. Now that he knows what he can do, he
is going to want to do it, and his focus is going to be on that goal.
Dog Parks and Waddles, Boardwalks and so on are going to be events
where he will have to be monitored VERY carefully. Some of these old
boys, neutered tho they may be, take assaults on their masculinity
with great annoyance. I know Mitchell will never do a thing. Nigel I
watch like a hawk-- he is rarely out of my sight. He is just the kind
of personality to decide suddenly that he is (pun intended) cock of
the walk.

Yes, Bassets are --excuse me please-- hung like ponies. Unfortunately,
hormones rule. You cannot talk a male dog out of being male. You
cannot punish them for marking territory and humping the pillows if
you leave the dog intact. Health issues aside, if you aren't breeding,
neuter. You will never be sorry, but you may be sorry if you don't.

Nigel is treading an exceedingly, increasingly thin line.....

(My show dogs have been neutered as soon as finished unless they had a
breeding life ahead of them.)

MomPerson to Mitchell the Gentleman, Cooper the neutered, Zelda the
spayed, Llewis the neutered and Nigel, whose gonads hang in the
balance, as it were.