It's complicated, though. I'd have preferred to keep my male dog intact, but once he matured he was constantly getting attacked by other males, and it made walk

It's complicated, though. I'd have preferred to keep my male dog intact, but once he matured he was constantly getting attacked by other males, and it made walks miserable for him, not to mention dangerous. To see how castration would affect him, we gave him a hormone implant which has the same effect, but wears off after a few months. He didn't get attacked any more, so we made it permanent. He leads a safer, happier life now because we made that choice. It has certain downsides, like some loss of muscle tone and a greater tendency to put on fat, but it's totally manageable. It doesn't completely cut testosterone production, it just reduces it by 90% or so, as some is still made in the adrenal glands.