The American Beagler Forum

I got a nice little male beagle for Christmas.He is four months now and is showing a lot of desire to hunt.I was wondering if having the little guy neutered will affect his hunt.

I don't think it hurts a bit, some of the best dogs I have seen were cut dogs.

Ditto.

I have mentioned this before in other posts... The military did extensive research in both the male and female. They found that it made absolutely no difference in the performance of the K-9 if it was spayed/neutered or not. Of course, this was in the police dog line of work, but I would believe it to be true in any application.

Emery

If anything, I'd think being neutered would help him to concentrate on being a beagle! Neutering a male race horse has long been a last-gasp effort at getting a horse trainable and focused on racing, and I would think this is a similar situation.

Emory - Do you happen to have any web-links for those studies?

I think cutting a male may be best in many cases. Male dogs can be so weird!! I took a fast dog that is wide on checks and not afraid of the water down the GA to run swampers a week or so ago. I dropped him in my cousin's fenced in back yard for the night and he preceeded to lift his leg on everything in that back yard! He even walked up to by cousin and started to pee on his boot!!!! Then he climbed onto a go cart and took a dump!! Now this is all in about 3 min. The next day we meet up with a fellow with a couple beagles and soon as we drop the dogs my male goes over and pees on this guys little female. I'll say it again...male dogs are weird!! This same male occasionally pees and takes dumps in his water bucket - -now that's sick. He's about 1 1/2 - hoping he will grow out of this, but it may be best to go ahead and get him cut.

If a dog is neutered, is it still eligible to compete in field trials?? I think that the AKC LPH rule book states that a dog cannot be neutered or spayed and compete in field trials. I could be wrong, any clarification would be appreciated.

not sure, but I think they can in the hunt/field trial, but not the bench.

If the dog is Spayed or Neutered it can not compete in any AKC lic. event
hope this answered you Question...

CWC is correct. They can compete in some limited AKC events (agility, etc.) but not the sanctioned or license beagle field trials. ARHA will permit unlimited participation in the field trials as long as you provide a vet's statement saying the hound wasn't neutered or spayed due to brucellosis, but not in bench or show. Uncertain about UKC.

thank you for your replies.My dog lives in the house and i want to eliminate the negative male behaviors he may(and probably will) exhibit,but my concern was the effect on his desire to hunt.I dont plan on showing or field trialing so i will probably go ahead and have it done in the next couple of months and leave the breeding to the pros.thanks again

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HAVE A MALE NEUTERED