I have a 6 month old puppy and my vet has been telling me to neuter him from about 5 months old but I have been holding out. I have now decided to get him neutered next week. I have signed in up for puppy classes and will need to take a week out due to his op, the trainer asked me while I'm getting him done so young and have I considered the health risks, I know confused any advice will be greatly appreciate.
Re: Neturing advice I'm not neutering my boy puppy because I don't believe it's necessary or beneficial, unless he turns out to be oversexed when he reaches maturity. I'm spaying my bitch because the health benefits are clear. Are you in the UK? I believe it's more common to have blanket neutering at a young age in the USA.
Re: Neturing advice Oooops! I just noticed he's a boy!! No - I wouldn't have a boy done at all unless it became obviously necessary. ........................ Gypsy was spayed at 6 months old. She is part of a large research trial to find out which is best (Guide Dogs are able to follow them cradle to grave so are in a unique position to do this) There is a lot of received wisdom about spaying after the first season, but very little robust research. Gypsy has been 100% fine and is growing totally normally - she is much taller than Tatze already! (8 months). Her behaviour is fine and normal. The up-side is that the operation is a much smaller one as their reproductive organs are undeveloped. Be sure she doesn't have an inverted vulva as the first season usually 'pops' these out and not letting them have a season would not allow this to happen. I had my (pet) dog, Tatze, spayed after her first season and probably would do again - simply because it does no harm to wait. But I will be interested to see the results of the trail.
Re: Neturing advice 9 month old male labrador carer here. My vet has been told under no circumstances is he getting him in by me. I was asked at puppy classes run by the vets. The nurses pushed for both bitches and dogs to get done. They didn't push me as I was and am adament that If and when Cupar gets neutered, I shall be the one deciding. Cupar is going to be allowed to grow up before neutering is considered. My 9 year old bitch was spayed in November, really to save any hassle between the two dogs. There is a study that was done on golden retreivers and labradors , unfortunately I can't find the link. It was really interesting regarding the health risks.
Re: Neturing advice Hi there. I am not an expert but here are what I think are the facts. I believe that in the past it was considered always best to neuter male dogs. The more modern / informed view is that there is no good reason - the health benefits are very small compared to the down-side (more likely to gain weight, problems with growth, and arrested maturity). We have decided that we will not neuter Pongo unless there is a very good reason (for example, if he has behavioural problems). I have read that there is some evidence that non-neutered males can appear threatening to neutered males, and so can be the focus of aggression (that is, aggression from the neutered males). If this becomes a real problem I could see an argument for neutering, but so far we have not had any problem with Pongo. I think it depends how modern your vet is? When we first got Pongo we just assumed we would neuter him, but it was our vet who told us that the latest thinking is that this is definitely NOT the right thing to do unless necessary. Other people on this board know much more than me and can give you better advice, but I hope this is useful for the moment! Rosie
Re: Neturing advice I had two male Labradors for many, many years - neither of them neutered. My experience with them make me fairly confident that neutering male dogs for behavioral reasons is not necessary.
Re: Neturing advice I don't have any problems with my 2 year old entire dog - well, no problems that could reasonably attributed to him having his boy bits anyway! ;D I'm sure it might depend on the dog. I walk in a very busy area, and quite often meet bitches in heat, but I still don't have problems. Other people on the forum have definitely had some hair raising experiences though. It limits my dog care options. I pay extra for the dog walker to walk him alone and mostly on lead (to limit her risks) and my local day care won't take intact dogs over 6 months. I most definitely had a problem with aggression from neutured dogs, to the extent he became a little wary of them. I took professional advice on that, and got him through it ok. It's definitely much better now and he is fine again with neutured dogs. I think he is older, so has less testosterone than when he was a bit younger, and he is also more confident himself around other dogs.
Re: Neturing advice My vet is of the don't castrate unless there is a problem, usually sexualised behaviour related. My Newfie who died at 13 was never done. My 9 year old Malamute has recently been done because he became demented with the new addition of a female lab. 6 months seems ever so young, but I am in the UK and I know different countries have different theories. Best of luck with your decision. Emma
Re: Neturing advice Neither of my dogs are neutered (3.5 years and six months old) and I don't have any behavioural issues that would suggest it's necessary. They're never left unattended though and our garden us secure. Generally people with bitches on heat round our way keep away from the main dog walking areas. I think the benefits and risks for neutering vs leaving intact are more finally balanced for males. All you can do is make the decision based on your dog and situation. Best of luck!
Re: Neturing advice My two boys are castrated but with males the longer you leave it the better; have a look on the internet. I had one done at 11 months and in my opinion that was too young and the other one was done at 19 months. There are health benefits, the won't get testicular cancer and two other things which I haven't the time to look up for accurate information at the moment. Prostate problems and perianal adenomas.
Re: Neturing advice There is a good reason for neutering male dogs and the reason is that you don't have to worry about them making a bitch pregnant. That is why I would neuter a male dog. We to to lots of places with other dogs (dog park, dog club, Flyball competitions) and some bitch owners don't realise that their girls are in season. Plus, where I live neutering is not just the norm, it's the law (by 6 months) unless you are a registered breeder. And my day care doesn't allow entire dogs. So, it's not a health thing for me, or even a behaviour thing, but a 'management' thing. And here in Oz there are two registers for purebreds - Full and Limited. Breeders decide which to put their puppies on. Dogs on the Full register can have registered puppies. Dogs on the Limited register can't. It's a way of allowing breeders to control who breeds from their lines. My dog is on the Limited register, so he can never have a registered litter. There is therefore no point contemplating a litter. Limited dogs get neutered. Also, as I've said before...I absolutely hate the look of dog balls ;D Sorry, that is a totally stupid reason ;D
Re: Neturing advice [quote author=Oberon link=topic=9835.msg142738#msg142738 date=1423515571] Also, as I've said before...I absolutely hate the look of dog balls ;D Sorry, that is a totally stupid reason ;D [/quote] ;D I love Charlie's plums! They are super cute!
Re: Neturing advice LOLOLOLOL ;D Each to their own As far as balls go, Charlie's are kinda endearing, I admit.
Re: Neturing advice As an aside I find it quite surprising that the gene pool can be narrowed potentially quite aggressively by having different registries. Can dogs move between registries if they meet certain standards or health tests? I know you can endorse papers in the UK but the endorsements can be lifted. Even labs with their popularity can't afford to lose genetic diversity :-\
Re: Neturing advice Homer is two nearly three and not done. I had some pressure from his agility trainer when he was going through a bouncy stage still about 18 months. I also had a locum vet want to lob them off when he was quite young who went into gory detail. I held my nerve and waited, I would do it if and when a problem arose and still have an open mind. We walk on a Common wich is busy with other dog walkers. There have been dogs on heat come up to him but he's more interested in his ball than girls waving her bits in his face! He gets a bit grumpy with yonger bounced dogs or small fluffy white dogs of both sexes neutered or not. Research I found was to wait until they are a year old and fully grown.
Re: Neturing advice Thank you all for your advice. My vet wanted me to get him done from about 5 months but I held back until 6 months. Just for info, I'm based in the uk. I rang another vet and they said from 6 months upwards, I emailed my breeder and they said between 9 & 12 months,im so confused, so I may just hold out :-\
Re: Neturing advice [quote author=bbrown link=topic=9835.msg142747#msg142747 date=1423516906] As an aside I find it quite surprising that the gene pool can be narrowed potentially quite aggressively by having different registries. Can dogs move between registries if they meet certain standards or health tests? I know you can endorse papers in the UK but the endorsements can be lifted. Even labs with their popularity can't afford to lose genetic diversity :-\ [/quote] They can move between registries - the breeder has to allow it though. It's not based on the 'quality' of the pups, purely a breeder control mechanism. You don't HAVE to neuter a Limited dog. That's up to the owner. But you can't register any litters. Definitely will have the effect of narrowing the gene pool.
Re: Neturing advice Charlie has an endorsement. It seems pretty strict, his pups can't be registered. I wonder how easy it would be to remove? (For the avoidance of any doubt, I have no intention of allowing Charlie to play his part in bringing any mini Charlie hooligans into the world.... ;D ).
Re: Neturing advice Interesting, thanks Rachael pretty much the same as endorsements then although I have heard of an endorsement that worked the other way. Dog up for sale but endorsement said she must be put to a certain stud dog at a certain age. I think the whole genetic diversity side of things is interesting and I wonder to what extent some breeds would benefit from centralized breeding programmes.....mere musings on my part though
Re: Neturing advice There's an interesting discussion regarding neutering of working gun dogs going on in another thread, that is also worth consideration: http://www.thelabradorforum.com/index.php?topic=9834.msg142824;topicseen#msg142824
