What's the right age to get him fixed?
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| Most vets who see predominantly pet dogs want them done young. Their goal is to make sure you're not one of those not so smart dog owners who doesn't watch their dog so he goes off making unwanted puppies. Vets who work with a fair number of breeders and performance people typically have different recommendations.The reason we wait to neuter/spay in this breed is primarily for health reasons: you want to wait till their growth plates have closed, ideally, to lessen the risk of othropedic problems, and also because dogs who were neutered young have higher risk of developing immune mediated problems including some cancers that are fairly prevalent in the breed unfortunately. Having said that, these are all relative risks and just because you neuter at 6-7 mos does not mean your dog will develop health problems, it just means he has a higher risk of doing so. Me, I'd listen to your dog's breeder. But as a society we North Americans are so programmed to want to snip as soon as possible that it's sometimes difficult to withstand the social pressure. Humping is normal in young puppies, boys and girls. They hump each other to establish rank. Him humping you/people I'd nip in the bud immediately. It doesn't mean he's a sex maniac in the making  at three months old those hormones haven't even come into play yet. It just means he's somewhat lacking in boundaries. No problem, you can easily establish those with some basic training. ("Off!" and divert to some kind of behavior you can live with and reward for, for instance?)Excellent question. It comes up all the time. Ultimately it's always up to the individual dog owner. Kristine |
| I've had both of my previous dogs neutered/spayed at 6mo. The vet told me that the younger the dogs, easier surgery, less complications, and faster recovery. None of them had any problems with immune systems. 1) The girl had hip dysplasia around 1 year of age, I never linked it to early spaying. (she was a rescue pup) 2) My boy did have some humping issue that went away within several months. 3) My friend had a golden retriever that was a biggest humper until age 2. No matter how they trained him, when he got excited, the behavior came out. When he got neutered, the behavior did go away soon after. |
| Please wait to have him neutered. In rescue I had to have them neutered at any age in order to get them to their new home. The few dogs of my own I had neutered early, well, they just didn't form up correctly. They were longer legged than normal (not a good thing for good body-joint-leg development and strength. Two developed bone cancer later in life. Conversely, the ones that were neutered/spay at later ages were lovely formed and IMHO healthier. As Kristine said so well, it is not sex, it is pack dominance. He is trying to establish his position in the pack. If you ignore him, he thinks, "a ha, I'm a rung above that pack member because they did not tell me "no." So next time it will be some other challenge until eventually he belives he runs the show. No way can you let that happen! Gently, but firmly stop the behavior. Not much talking, they don't understand the language, it's just babble to them. Your leadership mode must always be active. You set the boundaries, they have all the room inside to "be" but when they hit the boundary, you gently correct them. Dogs don't "love" per say, but greatly respect a good leader...which we in turn think of as "love." They want to be with their leader and please their leader, for if they don't, they are excluded from the pack..........oh no! |
| Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful replies. I will have to do a lot more research on this topic. Perhaps 6 months is a little young to do it, but I also don't want to wait till he's 1. That just seems very late to me, based on everything I've been reading. Perhaps a compromise of 8-9 months would be more appropriate? |
| As far as health goes the later the better.... 18-24 months if you can, at least a year really is more helpful. The humping is just dominance.... as mentioned you should really get that under control before worrying about neutering, it has nothing to do with being neutered or not. |
Good point Stacey,  , I forgot. My best humper was Paige a female, spayed at 2 years old. She used her "hips" to keep Sam dog under control. No way would it ever cross her mind to hump us. Sam's response, he outweighed her by 20 lbs, was to roll over onto his back, "I surrender." |
| I'd be listening to your breeder, large and giant breeds are different when it comes to de-sexing and the age to be done. Toy and small breeds mature faster so hence done earlier. Your boy as Kristine said is just showing dominance so you can correct that now quite easily. I had that with my boy at 5 months old and corrected it straight away he is a mature male now and still has his dangles and never tried it with me again. At the time it was not sexual it was all worked up and over excited and he latched onto my leg at 5 months old with correction straight away to correct that behaviour he never tried it again, I WON . Now humping as others said and especially at his age is not an over sexed puppy my girl humps her brother even now (we call her our Tom Boy) as a dominance thing to him and now I am saying to her off  Putting up this link for you to read and I really do hope you wait till at least over 12 months of age, but read this to make an informative choice as to when or even if you do at all. Really boys really dont have to be done IMO unless there is major aggression issues or later on humping everything in sight, the longer you can wait if you want to neuter the better long term health wise it will be for him Link http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTerm ... InDogs.pdf |
| hi i've had 5 male dogs so far. i've been arguing with vets quite awhile. due to cancer concerns is why i've given in and had them neutered after 2 or 3 yrs old. all have lived to a ripe old age and even the runt of a large litter outlived his littermates by 5 yrs. it of course is your decision, but please go a little longer. i wholeheartedly believe alfie will thank you with more time.   |
| Great information in that article. My first two sheepies were females and I spayed them at one year after their first heat cycle thinking I was doing the right thing. They both have had urinary incontinence. Lizzy who is only 6 years old has just started having this problem, which is very upsetting at such a young age. Bentley is a 6month old male and I had planned on listening to my breeder who says WAIT at least 1 year longer is better. She said the hormones help with their physical development. The humping can be stopped and as long as he isn't having aggression issues I'd wait. Good luck with your decision. |
| As Kristine has written with large breed dogs, spay/neuter before the dog is fully grown,24 months preferably, can cause orthopedic,cancer and incontinence problems. Not saying it will, but does raise the chances to a higher level. Humping is a dominance issue,has nothing to do with hormones, female dogs do this also. All excellent advice from Kristine and Lisa, as always. Robin |
| Dexter's breeder strongly recommends waiting until they are "full grown" or at least 1 year old. She says she can spot a dog that was neutered early from across the room; they tend to be longer legged and slimmer bodied. I thought about it a little and can relate when it comes to spotting a gelding v. stallion horse or steer v. bull. It's reasonable the same holds true for dogs. We will wait to see how Dexter does in shows and whether or not we want to pass his traits on to another generation before we make the decision on when to change his testicular future. It will happen sometime for the health and emotional stability reasons (his and ours) but not before he is 12-18 months old at the youngest. |
| VB, So happy to hear that you are doing what is in the best interest for your handsome boy. Sure wish vets would tell their clients the down side and not just the up side. Robin |
| Many people have asked us... "How old was Murph1 when he was neutered?" Due to his obvious long legs and thin build.  I have seen a lot of dogs with the same lines that are pretty tall as well but, not quite this tall! I do worry about him doing jumps in training so we stick to Rally that isn't as hard on his joints Georgie was spayed at 17 weeks and as you can see she is quite the leggy grrl too!  As Susan said with rescues we have to alter them no matter what the age but, with my own boy Finn I waited until he was 18months and he filled out very nicely, I think! |
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