Although there are scattered reports in the literature of apparently adverse effects of spaying and neutering on canine behavior, there are very few quantitative studies and most of these have employed behavioral measures of unknown reliability and validity.
The present study used the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ)© to investigate the impact of spaying/neutering in various dog populations, including (1) a random sample of 1,552 dogs belonging to 11 common breeds and (2) a convenience sample of over 6,000 dogs of various breeds recruited via an online survey.
The results of the study suggest that spayed female dogs tend to be more aggressive toward their owners and to strangers than intact females, but that these effects of spaying on behavior appear to be highly breed-specific. Contrary to popular belief, the study found little evidence that castration was an effective treatment for aggressive behavior in male dogs, and may exacerbate other behavioral problems.
Further research will be needed to clarify the relationship between age of spaying/neutering and these apparent effects on behavior.
[via nienke @pos-4-reactivedogs]
*** [2/7/13]
more on the subject from the angryvet [via dwf]
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