I'm so happy I delayed my puppies neutering!

[lightlovehope]

I rescued my puppy and the state laws require neutering after X amount of time for rescues. The time frame would of been 4.5 months for my guy. After research and talking to my vet they recommended at 12 months since he is going to be more than 45 pounds full grown. It got approved from the resuce after a letter from the vet and seeing the development happening with my dog versus my friends dog who they fixed at 4 months is cool to see. My puppy started peeing with his leg up recently and ive noticed that he wants to mark more and his bark got deeper (idk if is because of testosterone or not) He's very humpy but we have controlled it to where he only humps his blankets lol. He will be neutered at 12 months but I'm still sad about it. I know it's for the best but he is my baby that will have to go through surgery. I delayed it for joint development and since the research showed that testosterone is the confidence hormone.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@lightlovehope Yeah I’ve heard that you need to leave larger dogs intact until they’re done growing so they can develop properly! The puppy I have is an accident, lol so just be careful! You seem like a dog owner and good to listen to your vet!

 

[lightlovehope]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Yes I am very careful. My mom's dog was also an accidental litter. Luckily as of right now my dog is too afraid of the chain linked fence to jump over it and we will be getting a tall privacy fence hopefully in the spring

 

[james75]

@lightlovehope Just be careful. He may be afraid of the fence now but if he smells a female in heat he may jump or dig under it.

 

[lightlovehope]

@james75 Oh yeah for sure! Luckily I live in a small neighborhood with not that many dogs. I see three people walk their dogs and that's it.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@lightlovehope Like a good* dog owner lol that sounds good! Best of luck to you

 

[boogaloo]

@lightlovehope I think you totally did the right thing
Our dog was neutered at 8 weeks old by the rescue which is fairly common for rescues in our area and I’ll admit I was a little naive of the issues it could cause. Long story short our dog ended up being on the giant end of the spectrum he’s taller then most dogs with the exception of male Danes and Irish wolfhounds he’s the kind of dog that people stop to comment on how huge he is, he’s almost 2 and has already been diagnosed with hip dysplasia and has major surgery to correct and he walks a little funny and runs a little funny and we expect that he’ll prob have ongoing hip and joint issues as he gets older which we believe are a direct result of him being fixed so young. He also struggled with putting on weight etc he prob now weighs about 120lbs and is a mixed breed resembling more of a like gsd/husky/Akita but like in giant mode lol

 

[lightlovehope]

@boogaloo I am so sorry for what is happening to your pup! 8 weeks is very young! I understand why they are wanting to make sure dogs are neutered but it is just so sad about the damage it can cause if not done at an apporpriate time! I feel like they don't care about the development of the dog, it's more like balls make baby's, which leads to more dogs, so no balls. It's like the benefits of a hormone that is supposed to be in the body doesn't matter, especially because they don't have to (hopefully) deal with the outcome

 

[boogaloo]

@lightlovehope I agree ! I don’t hate on the shelter cause they are just doing what’s best from their perspective but I think maybe implementing a program where you leave a deposit and if you like get your dog neutered within like x amount of time with proof from a vet and get your deposit back

 

[lightlovehope]

@boogaloo I agree but I'm sure too many people would just not do it. I was able to prolong mine with a letter from my vet. I do understand the risks that it does provide and it does stink that it effects the development of dogs. I just wish that people were more responsible owners!

 

[boogaloo]

@lightlovehope I totally agree with that ! And your right it does come down to the fact that there are too many irresponsible owners

 

[flaunge]

@boogaloo Would love to see pics of your pup if you have any you’d be happy to share!

 

[boogaloo]

@flaunge I have never posted a pic on Reddit before !! How do I do that ?

 

[flaunge]

@boogaloo I think the easiest way is to post a photo on a site called imgur and then share the link here! No worries if it’s too much faff - your pup just sounds lovely

 

[samuelg29]

@boogaloo The rescue where I got my 8 week old wouldnt let me take her home without spaying. Her mom is a husky mix that is about 45 pounds and she is 70. Unfortunately she has frequent UTIs from it and may need surgery later to fix it

 

[ablitive]

@boogaloo My dog is similar, my vet even offered to talk to the shelter but they said it was happening at 8 weeks regardless and if it was a deal breaker for us then they’d pick someone else from the list of potential adopters because they have to neuter/spay before they can adopt out. My dog is 11 months old now and has a bit of a funny gait; I’m petrified of him developing some sort of joint/back problem because he’s a big boy (80-85 pounds and still growing). He’s clumsy but I don’t know if that’s just him or something wrong— vet says it’s too early to really tell at this point, but that was a few months ago and I haven’t asked about it since. He’s also a GSD/Husky/Other mix and over 80 lbs.

 

[boogaloo]

@ablitive I’m sorry to hear that sounds like we have similar dogs, not to discount your vet but my pup was diagnosed at about 6months old with hip dysplasia and had surgery on his right hip at about 11months, we luckily had purchased a pet Insurance plan (trupanion) as soon as we brought him home and they covered the majority of his surgery (I’m in canada surgery was just over $6000 and we paid $1000 of that) the surgery he had was called a triple pelvic osteotomy which basically they “break” his pelvis, rotate the joint so it sits more correctly snd then plate and screw it back together. It was a rough recovery more so in the fact that he was cooped up for so long (approx 3-4months) but he healed beautifully and is doing really well

 

[tjm1978dec]

@lightlovehope We’re going through this with my 11 month old pup (female). She’s almost done with her first heat, and is scheduled to be spayed in March. It’s definitely inconvenient since she’s out of daycare, no dog parks (she LOVES the dog park), and only interacting with female dogs on walks, but worth it to reduce the likelihood of joint issues. In about 2 weeks she can re-join doggy society and I can’t wait!

Honestly, it hasn’t been that bad. I feel worse for her since she’s so social and can’t socialize with most dogs right now. Monitoring her isn’t that tough and we have a yard the size of a walk in closet with an 8 ft fence, so easy to monitor her there too.

 

[lightlovehope]

@tjm1978dec I'm so nervous about the recovery portion! My pup is pretty playful and my husband and I were just talking about how he should be calm. I got months to actually worry about that tho lol

 

[dominatio]

@lightlovehope It's not anything to worry about, especially neutering. My older boy didn't barely even notice. When I picked him up he was happy and not drowsy at all. What sucks is making sure they don't do anything strenuous or lack at it. You'll barely notice any change. I didn't have to put a cone on him, but my new female lab had to have a cone, which can be embarrassing. I got a neck pillow thing they make and it worked awesome, she kept running into walls with the plastic one.....