Neutering - pros and cons

[Night Hawk 3]

I would have to say that male dogs should typically be about 12 months before neutering, and that females is up to the owner, but about 1 year old as well.

My GSD was spayed at 8.5 years old as she was unable to have pups after several breeding and AI attempts when she was younger (pure bred, tracking dog with CKC Championship, certified hips/elbows etc.). She has just had her 15th birthday and has had no real medical issues in life until ~after~ she was spayed. About 8 months after spaying she tore her right ACL... and I suspect that spaying may have had something to do with it. Other than that she is now afflicted with Degenerative Myelopathy, she has had nothing in the way of medical problems.

I feel quite strongly that her physical health and fitness were closely tied to her not being spayed early in life. She had a very good quality diet that was high in protein, and she had a very active life with lots of running, mountain biking, hiking and tracking work. Early life fitness really pays dividends later in life in ongoing good health.

Was having an intact female around ever a problem? No, not really, aside from a little odour and a few blood spots during her heat cycles (about 2.5 times per year). The first heat was smelly, but after that it was not significant problem as she took very good care of herself.

Were male dogs ever a problem? No, not really, even when I spent a year living and teaching on a Reservation where all the male dogs were intact. She would not let them near her (perhaps she had better taste than that in a mate), but she was quite enamoured by the male GSD that the breeder had selected for her. Unfortunately, after several attempts she did not take and we gave up on breeding her.

If I was to get another dog of breeding quality, I would seriously consider not getting them spayed (or neutered).

Please note that many dogs are not of good breeding quality, and it is a very common misconception that it's a good idea to keep a dog intact so that they can be bred - it is not a good idea, and I am not advocating breeding just any old dog.

As for male dogs being hard to handle - some are, some are not. It is up to the owner to get adequate training for themselves and their dog so that controlling the dog's behaviour is not a problem. The one thing that would irritate me about having an intact male dog would be marking - it's really not a very nice trait. But, again, I have seen some dog owners effectively control this in their dogs - so it's all about good, educated owners, who are able to be assertive and in control of their dogs.


These are my experiences and opinions, yours may differ.

NH3

[Shooter Jr.]

Brittanys should not be neutered before 9 months and preferrably 1 year of age. The testosterone as your pup develops closes the growth plates. If a male is neutered too early they may develop long gangly legs.

Yup, pretty sure our brittany has that, hes about 6'2".....

[buck nash]

Spaying a female too early can cause a loss of bladder control. It's what happened to my ridgeback. We got her from the pound and she was already spayed at 4 months old. She would be sitting or sleeping and suddenly start to dribble. She would look like she was totallly surprised when it happened. Vet said they need the hormones to develop that control and had to put her on a hormone replacement treatment for a couple years to get the problem solved.

Having said that I would fix my dogs. A bitch in heat is a messy pain in the butt and a randy intact male is also a pain.

[Shooter]

Yup, pretty sure our brittany has that, hes about 6'2".....

1:14 AM !!!!! WTH are you doing up at that hour? Im gonna whoop ur butt when I get back home...

[Foxton Gundogs]

Spaying a female too early can cause a loss of bladder control. It's what happened to my ridgeback. We got her from the pound and she was already spayed at 4 months old. She would be sitting or sleeping and suddenly start to dribble. She would look like she was totallly surprised when it happened. Vet said they need the hormones to develop that control and had to put her on a hormone replacement treatment for a couple years to get the problem solved.

Having said that I would fix my dogs. A bitch in heat is a messy pain in the butt and a randy intact male is also a pain.

Any Info I have(vets included) has said that they should be spayed b4 their first heat to reduce risk of "female" cancers. That being said I have never personaly kept a bitch that was spayed before she had had at least 1 litter so have no personal knowlage of the blader problems and cause you speak of.

[littleheelers]

Educate yourself:

"Long-Term Health Risks and Benefits Associated with Spay/Neuter in Dogs" by Laura J. Sanborn

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longt...uterindogs.pdf

Behavioural and Physical Effects of Spaying and Neutering Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris)

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...iMzNj&hl=en_US

[Kayte]

for the studies quoting an increased risk of obesity... that's bollocks.
intact or not, fat dogs are created by their owners.
these two dogs are both spayed (and were spayed young), do they look fat?

[Foxton Gundogs]

FYI,

http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

This is a real problem for some dogs.

http://www.vet4petz.com/articles/uri...continence.htm

IMO behavior issues are not related to a dog (female or male) being intact unless it is sex based. Behavior issues are blamed on a dog being intact instead of taking responsibility for training of said dog.

In many European countries spay and neutering is banned because it is deemed a surgery which is unnecessary for the health of the animal. Pet over population doesn't seem to be an issue in those countries. Yet in North America, where it is routine to spay and neuter, we are over run with unwanted dogs. Why is that??

However intact dogs are NOT for everyone.

In my post the bitch I was refering to as being spayed because of temperment "problems" it wasn't to alter temperment it was that the owner didn't want to risk passing a problem down to pups. He was a very experiencied trainer/breeder so I expect it was warrented

[GoatGuy]

The pros are that your dog will want to piss on everything, hump everything and generally be more difficult to train. Apparently some people like that.

Add to that the fact that most people's dogs are already useless because their owners won't train them and all you're asking for is more trouble than you would normally have.

Unless you're in it to breed don't bother with the hastle.

[vortex hunter]

I have a eight month old pure bred pit show quality and I am waiting till he is a year before clipping him the vet told me thats the best cause it lets all his bones to grow to there full size .....my two cents