[hennie400]

The orthapeadic issues are results of surveys just focusing on sterilised vs unsterilised and includes bitches and males. One comment by a reviewer was that the sterilised animals are often heavier which may influence the cruciate results, but weight was not one of the variables. Animals may have been sterilised because they were not condsidered as suitable for breeding so had poorer conformation than the unsterilised sample.

The two rotties I know that blew their cruciates at a young age were both related unsterilised bitches owned by a breeder. Conformation was definitely an issue here but the breeder was not keen to recognise this fact, so I would be avoiding pups from these dogs.

I am certainly not opposed to sterilising once the animal is mature for some responsible people who can deal with unsterilised animals. I know that many are not so on the ball and have seen many oops breedings happen where people have waited.

One needs to read the information and question the scientific and statistical rigour with which it was done.

Most of our 17 dogs over the years have been sterilised between 6 and 10 months and I have never had any problems and all lived to very old age. The one cruciate problem I had was in a bitch with a very straight stifle and carrying a bit of extra weight. I dont believe age of sterilisation was an issue here.