We have a 15-week old black lab puppy Dennis. I have been reading about the best age for neutering and had in my head it would be after 12 months, but hopefully wait until 18 months. I have been looking at options for him once my husband and I both need to be back in our full-time work in September. I had planned that he would go to a doggy daycare facility and there is an excellent one locally. I contacted them today and they advise that all dogs must be neutered/spayed after 6 months old and this is the terms of their insurance. I can understand their position. This has rather thrown me and I am wondering about the implications of neutering at 6 months. I obviously want to do the best thing for my puppy both in terms of care and his health.
There's is some really good research about this now. Orthopedically, it's best to wait until after the age of 2 and cancer wise, being intact gives dogs protection from many of the very aggressive cancers. My beloved boy was taken by hemangiosarcoma and I've done a ton of research and spoken to several oncologists and I will NOT be neutering another one. There is research being done into whether or not sterizing (vasectomy and tube tying and partial spaying) gives the same protection. It's looking like it will. My biggest regret is letting my vet pleasure me into neutering my boy and I'm a vet tech. https://fall2018.iaabcjournal.org/2018/10/31/spay-and-neuter-surgery-effects-on-dogs/
I would find a different solution until your pup is older. 6 months is too early IMHO. A lot of doggie day cares in the US have similar rules, but they usually allow un-neuterd until about 12 months, if the dogs don't cause problems.
It’s not that common in the UK for kennels to request neutering . I have had various dogs and bitches kennelled at various times and have never been asked. One dog was never neutered and the other age 9 as we got a bitch and he became at bit obsessed. My vet won’t castrate a dog unless there is a specific reason. Maybe you could look for another solution to your daycare issue..dog walker maybe? 6 months is very young.
Personally, I would not neuter a male dog at all - ever - unless behaviourally or medically he needed to be neutered. Neutering increases the risk of various cancers, joint diseases, it affects the immune system.... It is not just a button that turns off a dog's sexual drive, it affects the entire organism that is the dog! You might want to join this FB group as all the research can be found in the Files: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AgainstRoutineNeutering/
Me too I was just that .. if it’s pure I would never do it again my dog developed a weird growth on his lower hind leg and it was not cancer it was removed twice and came third time by that he was 9 I battled till 13/ 1/2 the Canadian study and the ucdavis study says pretty don’t do it .. the. Interesting they found was that the neutered dogs had more behavioral problems that the ones that was intact.. the Canadian say basically ya can cause your own problems like mine had .. it wasn’t common lab I was
