Verhalten sich kastrierte Hunde anders als nicht kastrierte

In order to detect differences between gonadectomized and sexually intact pet dogs an online survey for dog owners was created. Health issues were analysed from 6854 dogs and behavioural aspects from 1063 adult dogs between the ages of four and eight years. The observations made by the owners were correlated with sex, age, reproductive status and age at gonadectomy of the dogs. Only a few behavioural differences were found between gonadectomized and intact dogs. Dogs which were spayed/neutered before social maturity were considered to be more anxious than intact conspecifics. No association between prepubertal castration and aggression towards conspecifics of the same sex was found. Neutered males showed polyphagia much more often than intact males. For dogs being kept without the possibility of uncontrolled reproduction, neutering should be considered on a case by case basis. Among others, the behaviour of the dog, its “use” and the housing conditions should be taken into account. The requirement for prepubertal castration should be evaluated carefully. Like the socialisation phase, puberty seems to be a sensitive period for the brain development. How exactly the gonadal hormones act on maturation development and anxiety and if there are inter-individual differences in dogs has not yet been explored. The role of extra-gonadal produced sex hormones is unclear. Due to a highly variable impact of neutering on behaviour of a male dog, a reversible downregulation of gonadal function with a GnRH-agonist is recommended.