Adopting Retired Stud Dog

[Canadian78]

Hi there. My wife and I are going to go meet a gorgeous 4 year old black male that is being rehomed by our current girls breeder. We have always had females. I am just wondering if a dog being mated changes his personality or if there is anything we should know? Of course he would be neutered.

[Snowshoe]

Hasn't he already been mated, if he's a stud dog? So his personality has already changed, in the unlikely event it has changed at all? There is research to show that neutering males and females can make some behaviours worse. Check out the fourth link in our file here on this website for that: https://www.lab-retriever.net/board/...cle-links.html

If it's a condition of his placement he be neutered then you're stuck. But if you have a choice read the other research at the link above.

[smartrock]

As Snowshoe said, if he's been bred already, presumably if there was going to be a personality change it would have already occurred. Maybe the owner/breeder can let you know what changes occurred, if any, assuming they've owned him since before he was bred. You should ask why he's being rehomed if they've been using him as a stud dog. And the breeder should be able to tell you how he behaves around other dogs, both male and female. I'm not a breeder and have never bred my dogs either by chance or by choice, so all I can offer is what you can read online.

[barry581]

I adopted a chocolate boy who had been a show/stud dog. He was 7 and had just been neutered a couple months before I got him. He was one of the calmest and sweetest Labs we ever had and got along great with the 10 year old yellow girl we had at the time. My suggestion would be to take your girls and meet the dog on neutral ground just to see how they get along then go from there.