Once the cause of prostatic swelling is established, the hope would be that an appropriate treatment regimen would lead to a long term correction or cure. However, this problem can be very resistant to even aggressive treatment protocols. In those cases in which treatment is not creating desirable results, unfortunately neutering needs to be seriously considered for the well-being of the dog. Neutering eliminates the hormonal influence on the secretory cells of the prostate, thereby helping to decrease its size. This effect is most noticeable when the swelling of the prostate is being caused by hypertrophy, infection or cysts.
Neutering has no meaningful effect on prostatic tumors.
If your dog is a valuable breeding animal and it develops prostatic problems, it would be advisable to collect semen and have it frozen once the problem is controlled. The reality of this disorder is that if treatment is unsuccessful, neutering may be necessary, and given the recent improvements in the use of frozen semen, you would be ensured of your ability to have offspring from him. It has been my experience that neutering a dog in the age group that would typically have prostatic disease would have minimal if any effect on his work. Given the fact that almost all of us, as working dog owners, are primarily concerned with the health of our dogs, the tradeoff of health for future breedings and work should not be much of a contest. With appropriate diagnostic and treatment regimens, hopefully you won't be faced with that decision.