neutering

[Siegfried]

Any recommendations on the appropriate age for a dog to be neutered?

[brunie's mom]

Many forum members like to wait until the dog is at least 12 months old. I had my pup neutered at 13 months. He has done most of his growing and is well proportioned. Some like to wait till about 18 months. The reason I did not want to wait was because we were starting another set of obedience classes, and he was going to be the only intact male in the class...also sometimes if you wait too long...some habits become ingrained such as marking.

It really is up to you, but I would try not to have it done too early.

Gina

[Patty1231]

Myself, I'm not a big proponent of ingrained habits. I believe this goes hand in hand with training. My male lifted his leg and started to pee on a dining room chair and I read him the riot act immediately. He never did it again. I had him neutered a couple months later at 12 months of age only because I did not feel at the time, being a novice owner, I could have handled an intact male rottweiler. I did what I felt I had to do at the time, although I do regret it now. I wish I would have waited until age 3, when he was fully grown. I feel I cheated him out of his full physical and maturity potential. Everyone does what they feel they have to do. But if I'm ever in that position again, I will wait until he's 3 years old.

[ArwensMom]

I dunno, I've always heard the earlier, the better. There have been many studies done on this and though females spayed younger than 8 weeks tended to have incontinence issues later in life, no detrimental effects were noticed in males neuter at this age. If you do it early, you will avoid the "male tendencies" altogether. At work we recommend spay/neuter at 16 weeks in concurrence with the last series of vaccines.

[Judi W]

Having testicles does not retard training or manners and I don't know about your training club, but we have intact males in ours (mine among them). The dogs are there for work, not sex so whether they are complete or not has no issue.

As long as you practice good management and effective ownership, the age for neutering is entirely up to your individual choice.

[ArwensMom]

http://www.ivis.org/advances/Concann...r_frm.asp?LA=1
http://www.foxvalleypets.org/dogs/?details=19&page=124

Here are some links about early spay/neuter.

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by Judi W

Having testicles does not retard training or manners and I don't know about your training club, but we have intact males in ours (mine among them). The dogs are there for work, not sex so whether they are complete or not has no issue.

As long as you practice good management and effective ownership, the age for neutering is entirely up to your individual choice.

I wish we had a training club. Unfortunatley...we live in a very rural area...our training classes are held in a hay field. I am lucky to even have one trainer in this area.
Baxter was sold on a spay/neuter contact he had to be neutered there were no choices I could not keep him intact. Many pet pups that are sold from COE breeders are sold like that. I did talk the breeder into letting me have him neutered after the age of 1....many breeders in Ontario insist that pups be neutered much earlier then that.

I guess it depends on your breeder and on the contact that you sign or whether the pup is sold as a pet or a show prospect.

I would never have any pup of mine spayed or neutered at the age of 16 weeks !!!! That is unless it was coming out of a shelter and those were the rules. I feel that pups need some of the sex hormones to mature and to grow in mind and body properly.

Gina

[rottielover2004]

My breeder sold him on a non breeding contract, she did not specify him to be neutered. But she said if I chose to neuter him, she would prefer after 18 months... She is from ontario, and a COE breeder. But she also convinced me to show him. So no neutering now anyways

[Siegfried]

Thank you everyone for your responses. It seems like between 6 months and one year appears to be the best option?

[Judi W]

Originally Posted by ArwensMom

I dunno, I've always heard the earlier, the better. There have been many studies done on this and though females spayed younger than 8 weeks tended to have incontinence issues later in life, no detrimental effects were noticed in males neuter at this age. If you do it early, you will avoid the "male tendencies" altogether. At work we recommend spay/neuter at 16 weeks in concurrence with the last series of vaccines.

If one dislikes "male tendencies" then one should acquire bitches. As to the declaration that there are no detrimal effects in juvenile desexing of males, that is certainly no longer accepted.

http://showdogsupersite.com/kenlclub...vet/neutr.html

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/con...ull/11/11/1434

[ArwensMom]

JudIW . . . . I read your articles, and they were fascinating. I had never heard of a relationship between castration and any kind of sarcoma; working in my field you would think that I would have! However, we do see a high incidence of prostate cancer in uncastrated dogs, and virtually none in castrated dogs. And in my opinion, given the choice between handling a castrated two year old rott and an uncastrated two year old rott, I'd pick the altered dog any day (though I am aware being at the vet certainly puts a different spin on things). We have also never noted a difference in body structure of large breed dogs as they mature. However, I respect your opinions and beliefs, and ask that you respect mine. These are the things I deal with daily, and they are what I base my opinions on, as well as what my vet says, and what I have read on the subject, and I am sure your opinions are based on the same things. I will definitely keep the topics you posted in mind though, it never hurts to have information.

[GenHannibal]

It's called teaching your male ....MANNERS! Having recently purchase a young male (11 mos) and raised 5 of my own from puppyhood, it's amazing what a difference there was. My new male was a pig about peeing all over the place. It didn't take long for him to learn that was not acceptable. There is still some fine tuning in that regard, but it's a huge difference from when he first arrived. Neutering was never my first thought, because the habit has already been formed and he is my competition dog. TRAINING was my first thought in addressing the issue. As puppies, my males were taught what was acceptable & what wasn't when it came to peeing. That is the best time to start working with a male. The boyz even wait until my bitches "finish" their business before going over to do theirs.

So far I've been very fortunate with not having males get prostrate cancer. Most of my males, when neutered were between the ages of 2-3.

[Judi W]

It is not a matter of belief or faith. Just as one can easily spot a gelding from a stallion, the neutered male also has its own physical characteristics. The cancer research that is being funded has no political agenda other than health.