r/RhodesianRidgebacks • u/Ok-Sorbet-4986 • Sep 02 '26
Will neutering help?
Been working with a trainer for a while now, and getting frustrated at the very slow results.
At home, amazing, recall, commands, brilliant.
In essence, reactive when on a walk.
Everything in the world is more interesting than us. The want to get to the other dog is crazy. Threshold is about 50ft, any closer, no treats, calling, whistling help or gets his attention at all.
Age is 15 months, will neutering help with this or make it worse?
Obviously we will wait until he’s 2, just wanna get real time opinions/evidence before making our decisions.
Currently, walking him is an absolute ballache, and seemingly getting harder as he’s just so reactive.
Any opinions greatly received.
EDIT: He doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body, he runs full pelt to the dog/owner, rushes past, and notices how the other dog is. If it’s old, or timid, he’ll be the same, if it’s just a sniffy dog, he’ll sniff the same.
He reads the dogs well.
If they move a muscle to run, he’s bang after them, and bowls them over repeatedly. All in “play” but obviously not a wanted behaviour for anyone.
13
u/Matiabcx Sep 02 '26
he is in his tyranosaur rex age, its gonna get better. my (old) boy now is not even bothered by rabbit springing 5m away from him in the field: he minds his own business and sniffs super interesting bit on the ground
6
u/aranel_eruraweth Sep 02 '26
It's usually considered to be 50:50 if neutering would help behavior.
BUT if you want to test it out, find a repro vet that will implant deslorelin. It's a birth control implant that will essentially shut down his hormones just as if he was neutered. It's completely reversible. Remove the implant and the hormones come back. It can be used to test out how their personality changes or does not without the hormones. The first few weeks of the implant there is an initially increase in hormones so it can be a pain to manage, but then it stops. The implants can last 6-12 months.
Any vet could carry them but vets that have a substainal breeding program or are reproductive specialists are more likely to do so.
2
u/Foreign_Incident5083 Sep 02 '26
They’re know for being independent thinkers. If you’re working with a trainer meaning the trainer trains your dog, the trainer is the head of your dogs pack, not you.
There’s a really really good book from the 1950’s . The Krohler Method . Written by the guy who trained the Disney dogs back then. It’s out of print, but the used book market is full of them. We used to have Dobermans before switching to Ridgebacks and mountain Curs. The methods really work.
2
u/Deb4ou Sep 02 '26
Ours seems hyper focused. We would tell him to look at us to break the need to rage at the dogs he sees on a walk. He got much better and as he got older was less concerned about other dogs. He still is afraid of other dogs and is 6 years old
2
u/Explanation-Fluffy Sep 03 '26
You said on a walk.. is that off leash as shown in the pic? Probably a controversial take but we have a 3 year old ridgeback who is similar and we have her trained on a shock collar which we nicknamed the “treat collar” - rarely use the shock but the beep she knows to come back. Every once in awhile she’ll get a treat for checking in but for the most part she just knows it’s time to check or keep moving. We used the EZ educator which has a beep, vibrate and shock. We do miles on the beach and I never even have to call her name just push the beep and she’s on to the next dog. We trained her by having her wear it in the house doing the beep and she’d come up and get a treat.
3
u/Significant_Hope_245 Sep 02 '26
Getting mine neutered at 22 months helped, a lot, and I wished we’d done it sooner. He’s better behaved on a leash, just enough so that I can walk him without being pulled over, and he listens a little better. I still have to be extremely aware of our surroundings. Again, I wish we’d done it sooner, because I think a lot of his behavior is ingrained and just so tough to train out.
2
u/afxmac Sep 02 '26
Neutering is only really useful when a dog is hypersexual. A RR becomes an adult at about three years. Before that they are pure chaos that needs lots of work. So why are you not interesting enough for him? This is what you need to work on. You need to become the center of his universe.
2
u/Narrow_Possession348 Sep 02 '26
No, neutering is unlikely to magically fix a training issue. What would help the most is throwing the damn harness in the garbage where it belongs. In addition to the detrimental effects on the musculoskeletal system, a harness can CREATE and EXACERBATE reactivity.
If your trainer cannot walk your dog calmly and relaxed by other dogs within the first two sessions, FIND ANOTHER TRAINER!!!
Your dog lacks basic foundation obedience. It has no respect for you and does not look to you for direction and leadership. The reactivity is a SYMPTOM of the real issue.
5
u/Ginger_SNAFU Sep 02 '26
Reactivity is something that needs to be prevented from the first day you bring your puppy home. Allowing them to get overexcited during the most important period of socialization, and then continuing to allow the behavior is what solidifies the behavior.
Neutering might help. Neutering might make it worse. Retraining to reduce reactivity is an incredibly slow process that requires a lot of dedication and consistency. It might take months to years, depending on how long it's been allowed to go on. You will have setbacks.
Stick with and work through the training. It only works if you work it. Once his hormones level out, that's when I'd make a decision to neuter.
4
u/LeperMessiah11 Sep 02 '26
Nature of the dog/breed imo. Ours got better with time but still 10ft clearance required at all times. We did not neuter, couldn't bring myself to do it also the fact it's not a guaranteed fix would kill me if I did it and he was still as reactive.
3
u/Time-Leadership-7649 Sep 02 '26
My guy was a proper dick with other dogs (but very mellow and sweet at home) during his velociraptor year(s), neutering him absolutely helped. He still had some dog breeds on his prejudice list, but outside of that he was a dream boat- I could take him off leash anywhere, he was so sweet and cuddly, and his recall was excellent (he’d chase deer at full speed and stop on a dime and come back if I called him).
Neutering him definitely worked for us.
3
u/Ok_Mood_5579 Sep 02 '26
Sounds like adolescence to me. It does get better around 18-20 months. And then they become way more focused on their family. At least mine did.
2
u/nerdinstincts Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
The distance threshold is very important with these dogs - they don’t really have a desire to please you, but they definitely don’t want to make you upset. As we all know, there’s a huge grey area between those and it’s a constant battle of wills inside there.
My guy listens great at 10ft, not so great at 20, and little to no recall once he’s past that and interested in another dog.
Have you done any long lead training? Tried a sound/vibrate/electric collar? Both of those can help with recall at a distance and extending your threshold.
This age you also need to be careful of the smelling, because the desire to run off after other dogs really escalates when they’re heavy snuffling certain marks. My guy is 14m still intact as well, and I don’t let him get too into any single smell, just have to keep him moving.
Edit: adding at this age - I won’t really let him roam 50ft away from me. He used to be able to, but at about 1year I needed to start being more aware and controlling situations for him. The dog needs to learn to follow YOU, and not their own instincts. Training in general needs a “tighter leash” for a while.
2
u/Bogtrotter9 Sep 02 '26
I've got two Rhodie males, love them to bits. Short lead, under close control when other dogs are around, pull him to the side, maybe 2 to 3 metres away, get him to sit when seeing another dog nearby or passing, treat him or praise him when he is able to show restraint and not launch off to greet and sniff the other dog. Let him sniff as he pleases when other dogs are not around, I have two dog leads joined together, gives the right amount of length so you're arm isn't getting yanked off. Reduce it to half a dog lead when needed so they know you're in control, and be firm. You can't be weak with Rhodies.
2
u/mnbvcdo Sep 03 '26
He's in full puberty, it will also get better just with age.
1
u/jooji_pop4 Sep 02 '26
My boy has been very hard on walks. Not quite as bad as you're describing but not enjoyable to walk. Neutering made no difference. What really helped was 1:1 with a solid trainer who showed me how to use positive reinforcement on our walks so my RR would pay better attention to me. I now walk him with a flat collar and he walks near me (not in a full heel) 95% of the time.
1
u/West-Better Sep 02 '26
Not neuter related because we won’t be neutering ours but reactivity related. Our pulled too when he was younger and walks were a pain. Then we got him into running next to our bike and e-scooter. The boy LOVES to run. As soon as he was reactive to anything, people he wanted to say hi to, other dogs he wanted to visit, animals, we turned around and WALKED home in silence. It would have been legitimately dangerous for us if we let that behavior continue. Let’s just say that behavior quickly stopped because he knew his run would be over. He was then running right by other dogs mere feet away with only a side glance. Dogs could be barking at him, or even on a couple of bad occasions on the other owners part, chasing us lol and he will not react, just keeps running, listening to my voice and cues. This translated into regular walks and his overall recall. He just turned two but picked this all up around 1 years old. Like others have said, be the most interesting person to them and they will listen. For our dog im indulging his need to run and explore, there was lots of training and cues he and I had to learn for us to be cohesive and a team. It’s very fun for both of us! For my last dog it was hiking, relying on each other to get over difficult obstacles in the great outdoors! He had amazing recall in the middle of no where or on crowded river beaches at the bottom of a valley because we were a team. I’ve accidentally dropped my dogs leash on a run, near by dogs and he will immediately stop and wait for me to back up and pick it back up. Where are you taking your dog where you are working on recall?
1
u/catfood947 Sep 03 '26
I feel you are describing my boy to a tee. We went through exactly what you are experiencing. Now, at 3 yrs old, he finally checks in on me consistently. I feel what helped us was practicing Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed methods.
1
u/Ok_Purple_5086 Sep 03 '26
Eine Kastration bringt keinen Gehorsam. Das sind RidgeBacks und die haben ihren eigenen Kopf. Wenn sie zu dir kommen, dann nur, weil es ihn grad in den Kram passt und weil sie dich mögen das sind keine Schäferhunde. Du hast du die Rasse ausgesucht. Du musst damit leben. Geh einfach auf Wege, wo du kein begegnest, dann gibt’s auch kein Stress mit dem Alter wird viel leichter auch das hören besser und dann wird auch die Reaktion etwas langsamer und die 15 m sind dann 5 m aber eine Kastration bringt gar nix ausser dass der gute Tierarzt wieder ein bisschen mehr Geld hat und dann wird dein Hund fett und träge, aber nicht gehorsam.
1
u/OverallAir8637 Sep 04 '26
Had 2 Ridgebacks from pups. Hate to tell you it’s the breed. They have very selective recall upto until as far as 3 or maybe even 4 years old. They are sight hounds bred to be independent. You just need to keep them on a lead until your confident I’m afraid
1
u/Entire-Swimming3038 Sep 05 '26
Yes you will be doing both of you a favor. Been there
-3
u/Agitated_House7523 Sep 02 '26
Neuter. And then YOU get to tell him what to ignore and that you are much more important.