Re: spaying and agression

In Reply to: spaying and agression
Category:   Medical
Posted by:  Adrienne L.
Posted on:  April 29, 2003 at 16:04:56

: Will spaying my three year old female JRT cause her to be less aggressive towards other dogs? I am aware of the health benefits for spayed females, and the advice on this site states neutered males may become more tolerant of other males. Does this hold true for females? Thank you!

Response:

Hi Adrienne,

I can't say for sure if spaying her at this point will lessen her aggression towards other dogs, it might.

The best thing to do to increase her tolerance of other dogs is to get her enrolled into a group obedience class where she will have exposure to other dogs in a controlled environment.

This is what I did with my dog aggressive terrier. The first session was a disaster, we made an adjustment in his training aids, and after that made real progress. We re-enrolled in the following class and then another one after that. I am lucky to have a trainer that once a dog successfully completes a class that dog can go back for free refreshers for the life of the dog. So we just kept going back for at least several weeks per sesssion to expose him to more and more dogs.

It paid off, he's much more tolerant of other dogs now and even worked off lead in his agility class with 7 other dogs in the same ring. He never even looked at them when he was working!

So I would say this might be your best way of solving this problem. Granted it's no easy fix, but you will end up with a better behaved dog AND a deeper bond between the two of you.