New Study Argues Against Early Neuter For Reasons Related to Cancer and Behavior Problems

In this study owners of the breed Viszlas were asked to complete an online survey to determine if there was a link to certain behavior problems and certain cancers to early neutering of the breed. The author’s concluded that there was a significant risk in increasing the chances of cancer and behavior problems.

While their conclusion may be correct I’m not sure the structure of the study was the best and may have skewed the results related to behavior. Using Viszlas rather than a cross section of more commonly owned breeds might be a problem. I would question whether the people that own a less popular breed like a Viszla necessarily interact with their dogs in ways where they themselves might impact the outcome. For instance, the Viszlas is a hunting breed. It is more common for those that hunt to not neuter and also more common for them to invest more time in socialization and training, two things that would impact the sort of behaviour problems outlined in the study. On the flip side, if the subject Viszlas working drives were not “watered down” in their breeding which seems not unlikely due to the lack of commonness of the breed, people that purchased as pets, (would be more likely to neuter) and would be more likely be less prepared to harness the physical and mental needs of the breed which more often than not manifests in the sorts of problems developed by the dogs in the study.

Read the paper: Downside_To_Neutering_Viszlas