Hi everyone, Neels is an Australian Shepherd who is now 10 months old. Everything was going really well from the moment we got him (at 8 weeks old from a breeder); Neels saw quite a few dogs, but unfortunately mostly young ones (who weren't necessarily well-socialised), so I think he picked up some slightly rough habits. He’s never been mean, though—just a real bundle of energy.
This carried on until he was about 7 or 8 months old, when an unneutered male Boxer who wasn't part of his usual playgroup tried to mount him and a scrap broke out. The fight wasn't anything major; we stepped in pretty quickly and I thought that was the end of it. However, it seems that since that day, Neels picks fights with entire males (except for one, his childhood friend). I've sought advice here and there and we decided to bring forward the date for him to be neutered (we’d already decided to have him "done" eventually). So, Neels was neutered 10 days ago.
I'm not pinning all my hopes on the operation; I'm also seeing a behaviourist at the same time to work on the aggression issues towards other males.
I'm posting today partly to hear from people who have been through something similar (targeted male aggression and the effects of neutering). I've looked everywhere and the subject comes up often, but without any real conclusion on how things turned out. I also wanted to share my own story and try to keep a bit of a diary to help any future owners facing the same problem by showing how mine progresses, if that’s of interest.
In any case, if you have any feedback or experiences to share, I'd love to hear them as this situation is making me quite sad. Off-lead walks are more complicated now, so for the time being, we're 100% on a long line.
Thanks for reading and I hope to get some replies.
