Ghilly - I'm so glad you're participating here! Your posts are greatly informative and helpful.
Snoopy - It seems that men have a difficult time having their male dogs (or cats) neutered. A little too much empathy perhaps? :-) There are so many more reasons to have this procedure done than to leave a dog intact. If it's done before mature male behavior sets in, your chances of having a calm pet who focuses on you instead of females are greatly enhanced. Worries about testicular cancer are gone. And of course, no worries about fathering unwanted puppies or injuries occurring when the dog roams around looking for that female in heat.
As Ghilly stated, the sex act in animals is driven by the urge to reproduce rather than forging an intimate and emotional bond that we humans expect. Most problems that people have with their dogs stem from treating the dogs like people. I know it's difficult sometimes, but the best thing you can do is always remember that whatever the breed, a dog is first and foremost a dog. Their needs are entirely different from those of humans, so please don't feel sorry for having your dog neutered. He'll be just fine. :-)
Neutering a dog is a simple procedure. A slit is made in the scrotum and the testes are removed, the tubes are sutured closed, the scrotum is sututed closed, and the dog heals up within a matter of days. There are no psychological implications from the surgery because, unlike with humans, dogs possess no image of themselves and what they should look like. This is also why dogs and cats who must have a leg amputated recover so quickly, because they don't know that they look different, they just know that they have to learn to walk differently. They don't worry about people staring at them or about people wondering what happened to them, they just adjust to the situation and go about their lives. In a neutered dog, he has no idea that he can no longer father puppies, all he knows is that he gets fed every day, his owner plays with him and lavishes attention on him, and as long as that happens, life is good as far as he is concerned. If you are considering having a male dog neutered, it's a good idea because it will totally remove any tendencies toward any hormonally-triggered issues such as aggression and the urge to go off roaming when they smell a female in heat. They become MUCH better pets, because their whole life is now dedicated toward just being a house pet instead of toward reproducing.
Ghilly