spaying and neutering bird dogs does it change how they hunt

okieplott · 09-27-2003, 04:04 PM

i have a male and female english setter they are both about a 1 1/2 to 2 years old ans have no papers but are good dogs i would like to have them fixed but do not know if it will change the way they hunt

evcvet · 09-27-2003, 09:18 PM

I have intact ,spayed and neutered dogs and have never noticed any change in their performance after surgery. If you are not going to breed your dogs I would recommend having them neutered or spayed.

Tree climber · 09-29-2003, 05:28 AM

the only problem I have ever had is gaining weight if you don' t watch there feed.other than that you will not notice any difference,(at least I have not).

Nic Barca · 09-30-2003, 12:05 AM

Bird dogs, I don' t think it should make a difference.

We use Bull/hounds to hunt pigs down here and your not supposed to spay or neuter them because they can loose their grit. Especially male pups who do not know how to hunt yet. But if they allready know how to hunt and grab, then you can fix them and probably not notice any difference. But I have a dog that was spayed and she is such a p^$$% I sometimes want to shoot her. In her case, I believe it definately was a bad Idea for her to get spayed and she lost all grit. A pitbull/sharpei that I got from the pound which was allready fixed loved to hunt. Every day she got better and better but she didn' t have as much instant grab quallity as I would like. Don' t know if it was because she was spayed or not. But she definately loved to hutn and was very good at it. She died tho. Damb toads!

CJW · 10-06-2003, 09:29 PM

I don' t have an upland dog but I have a black male lab that I will use this year for hunting, and he is neutered. I don' t think it matters at all. I think it actually helps them, especially for the male dogs. All of the other male dogs I train with lift their legs at least 2-3 times each retrieve. Mine never does that.

And not all neutered dogs gain weight. Our dog is free fed and never over eats. He is carrying alot less weight at only 65 lbs. and it is alot healthier for him. He still loves to pick up ducks and goes just as hard.

BTW, he was neutered before he was trained.

FWIW

CJW