[Lara's mom]

The breeder that I got my little JRT Lara from has approached me with a proposition. She would like me to take a show quality male puppy from this new litter but not have him neutered so that he can some day "express his romantic inclinations" toward show quality female JRT's.

Can someone explain to me how this whole "stud" thing works? Also, I have always somehow ended up with female animals. Are there special challenges involved in having an unneutered male? All of my furry kids have always been spayed/neutered.

I would appreciate any advice that you guys could offer me.

[cigwyllt]

I'm not a breeder but as I understand it there are risks in putting your dog to stud. If the mating isn't properly supervised the bitch could turn on him and attack him, if she tries to pull away during the tie she could cause irreparable damage. How would you be fixed if that happened to your dog? Would the owner of the bitch cover the vets bills etc?

Also, a stud dog can be more aggressive, more pushy. Having used his "equipment" he could be more inclined to find another bitch and more prone to running off if he catches the scent of a bitch.

Personally I get too emotionally involved in my pets to risk anything like that happening.

But my husband and I had to entire males (my dog was neutered later in life) and there were no problems with them as pets in any way at all. They were no harder or easier to keep than the neutered male I have now.

[Lara's mom]

I would basically have nothing to do with the mating process. That would be left up to Kim (the breeder.) She is experienced in the mating and whelping of puppies and would assume all liability. Aggression is one of the things that I was concerned about but, both of the parents of this little guy are very laid back and personable dogs. They are also the parents of my almost 2 year old spayed pet quality JRT. So, there is no possibility of "ooops" breedings. Any "encounters of the romantic kind" would be planned by Kim.

I was hoping that someone could explain the whole stud thing to me and if the breeders in the forum have notice increased aggression in their unneutered dogs.

[Yogi]

realistically the only time that an intact male becomes aggressive is when their is a bitch in season unless the dog has some type of aggression issues. Even in the case of when a bitch comes into season, the aggression if any is generally toward other males especially other males that are also intact. If neutered males show no interest in the bitch, the intact male rarely sees them as a threat. My 2 intact males will get a little aggressive with each other only when a bitch is in season, rarely have they shown interest displaying aggressive outbursts toward my neutered males.

[Lara's mom]

Thanks Yogi. That was my biggest concern with having an unaltered male - the possibility of aggression.