@lightlovehope I waited too. 12 months for my big boy. I’m so glad I did but he was a handful for a little while in the end there. He’s so much calmer now. So yeah he went from being turned up to 11 to like an 8 lol
He’s still a big ol puppy. Seems like he hears me a bit better now
@lightlovehope You’re following the vets advice, which is the best thing possible!
When to neuter is being hotly debated, because there are good tradeoffs on both sides of the issue, and a lot of new information that’s coming out all the time and changing how we think about it.
At least for my pup, a Greyhound, I’m looking at 18 months, which could be a pain for where I live and the number of female dogs and fixed dogs that could conflict. It’s what is best for his development, and I need to do it if I want to run him!
@lightlovehope I waited until my girls' first heat. It was pretty gross when she hit heat and bled more places than I'd like... But she was a healthy big lab at 72 lbs. The pup I rescued was already neutered at 14 weeks but I'm hoping will still be big and strong and over 70 lbs.
@lightlovehope I delayed mine, not until she was fully grown but to almost 2 months after she went into heat for the first time. I’m glad I did. My friend got her male dog done right on 6 months and is now commenting to me how he’s barely grown and he’s smaller than she thought he would be. I wonder why lol
@lightlovehope Our 10 month old little guy was neutered yesterday. He is very active and so far today was a slight fail trying to keep him relaxed and chilled out. It is fun watching him bump into things with his cone.
@lightlovehope It's crazy making trying to determine what age is best! I have a 10 month springer spaniel and I'm going to wait until at least a year, maybe longer. There's really very little chance of him getting anyone pregnant since I control his social interactions pretty well and limit them to his play group and various individual dogs. He doesn't do any of the "testosterony" behavior except maybe ignoring me on walks to overly focus on dogs walking by and getting super amped up at times. He has separation anxiety which we are working through but I fear neutering "too early" could make that worse. Of course there is no way of knowing...but I want to make sure his body and mind gets a chance to grow and develop properly. I've also heard that unaltered males can inspire aggression in older male dogs - have no idea if there's any merit to that. Again, you can make yourself crazy about it.
@scottishsoul Similar story as you. I decided to "watch and see" what happens with my 8 m/o Springer as he matures. I've read that neutering doesn't always stop humping or aggression. If I'm happy with his behavior he can keep his little eggs.
@l0ved As someone who currently has a 3 month old Springer, we’ve been trying to figure out the same! Do you not have any worries about him with other dogs?
@itoldmeso I personally don't with mine - he is not aggressive by nature and although he used to hump dog when playing when he was younger (5, 6 months) he's stopped doing that. My only concern (and I'm not sure it's founded) is that inspire aggression in older male dogs. I have no idea if that's a thing though....I think just keeping them in safe play spaces with properly socialized dogs is key.
@itoldmeso I've been socializing him with lots of other dogs/pups (not in dog parks though). He's a super social guy anyhow. I've read different posts about other dogs being aggressive towards not neutered males however, I think this more anecdotal. I've seen several other intact male dogs in my town that don't seem to have a problem.
I'm open to neutering but for now will wait and see.
@l0ved I think for us, we know that our reality is that he will sometimes have to go to a kennel or doggy day care, and they won’t take him if he’s intact. That might be our deciding factor, tbh
@lightlovehope Our breeder has it in the contract that we have to wait until at least a year. I have a corgi and they’re already prone to joint issues.
@lightlovehope Spayed our golden after her first heat and got a second golden in November and plan to do the same. Our older baby (coming up on 3 years) looks SO healthy and she such a damn sweetheart. She has never had any issues when it comes to health, has NEVER had diarrhea or randomly thrown up. Not that they’re directly connected, but either way, couldn’t recommend waiting enough.
@100200400 I agree! Of course there are risks on keeping the dogs intact too. Especially for females and their ovary sparing. But having it done so early is definitely troubling to me. I know that a vesectomy costs about 2k
@springlove Well luckily I'm a responsible owner and I don't let my dog out unsupervised. However this is a risk, which is why I am neutering but I also care about my dogs development so I delayed it
