Male to Male Aggression

Question
Hello,

I am about to give a home to a 3 year old male Golden Retriever. The person I am taking him from is a breeder who finds that when the females are in heat, he becomes too stressed in the environment and will not eat. She wants to continue to breed him for another year (two at most) and so therefore I will not be neutering him until that time. The Golden is people friendly, cat friendly, and female dog friendly but the breeder has explained to me that in her experience he tends to be aggressive with other males. I have a small 4 year old male Pomeranian that is neutered (has been since young, if this makes any difference) and he is very friendly with all other dogs. I also have a 7 year old female Cocker Spaniel that is spayed (also has been since young). Clearly this Golden gets very anxious about the mounting urge to reproduce when the females are in heat and because of his location he is surrounded by other males that would also be intact, similar in size and stature, and his competition for these females so I can understand where his aggression would be coming from in that case but I am wondering what the chances are that I would have an issue between him and my neutered Pom or between him and other neutered males. I am thinking that maybe once he is taken out of that environment of constant competition he may calm down. Also, are there any suggestions you can give me as to how I can work with him to possibly improve or eliminate this aggression and domineering personality? I read a lot that neutering him may help but I will not be able to do that until a year or two from now. Thanks so much in advance.

Answer
Well this is a lot more involved then I can tell you but in my experience I do know that unless this dog is neutered before you get him home the chances of him attacking your dogs is very high indeed. It isn't always just the breeding instinct that causes this aggression but just having other dogs around.

Any stud dog that is aggressive shouldn't be a breeding stud period. I don't care what the breeder says, it is a bad trait and it can be handed down. We have plenty of breeders around that don't have aggressive males even during breeding.So that is just an excuse. There IS such a thing as an aggressive, unruly Golden Retriever. I have been attacked by two of them myself at work.

If I were you, and I am not, I wouldn't even contemplate bring this dog into your peaceful home with your two other dogs. It only takes a second for this dog, who is MUCH bigger, to attack and kill one of your own little pets.

I would think about that if I were you.Get a rescued Golden if you really want one. One that has been neutered and needs another chance at love. Many of them come from owners that have died etc.

I hope you make the right choice for your other pets.