Cobi and Sonja, Noelle's dogs and Beau s best friends, cooled toward him after his neutering. Whatever it was that he had before the surgery, he no longer had after it. Sonja became positively hostile to him, preventing him from entering the house. Noelle and I remained friends, but with the dog thing no longer working, we saw less of each other. Mango, the golden who seemed to share the same spark as Beau, seemed to lose his spark after he was neutered.
Neutering seems to take a heavy toll on golden retrievers.
Basil, the other golden in our neighborhood, continued to exhibit his customary personality deficit. I now, belatedly, came to understand why so many dog owners, seeing Beau down the street, hurried their dogs away. It was not because they were party poopers, but because their dogs were like Beau they were willing to fight to establish dominance. They had been embarrassed too many times, and did not want to be embarrassed again. But the saddest story involved the two Samoyeds, Sophie and Bear.