# Neuter at 6 months



## CeeDoubleU (Aug 23, 2018)

I like to hear from anyone who has neutered their male dogs at the age of 6 months. 
Pros? Cons? 
I’m looking for actual experience not recommendations. 
Thanks so much!!!?


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I personally haven't had dogs who were neutered at that young age but had many in my classes. Their legs were lengthy so they grew taller than they should have. no muscle tone, bad coats in the longer haired dogs, under developed genitals (could barely see a penis) and a feminine look. It's a shame that the shelters neuter them so young, sometimes as young as 8 weeks. Does this sound convincing on why it's better to wait?


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

I neutered my shiba at 6 months. I regret it. Knowing what I know now vs back then, I would have waited until he was two. We were talked into a puppy plan when we got him and talked into neutering him at 6 months. I do think part of my decision was based on him having an undescended testicle. Even then, I could have waited


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## CeeDoubleU (Aug 23, 2018)

What do you think were the negatives to getting your Shiba neutered so young?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

No males only females.

They were typically leggier. One female had incontinence, proven to be caused by early spay.

The other female had HD, torn ACL and died of hemangio. All 3 have a higher incidence in dogs who are spayed or neutered early.

Both females were more dominant regardless of early spay. They would mark and they would Assert themselves by posturing.

As far as marking in males, my male is intact. I can say thst marking is a training issue.


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## Pawsed (May 24, 2014)

We have a male that was neutered at 6 months. He is now nearing 9, is oversized and his weight has always been a struggle to keep him from being absolutely obese. In spite of his being 20 pounds heavier than our younger dog, he can eat only maybe 2/3 as much to keep him anywhere near an acceptable weight. Needless to say, he isn't very happy with that situation. 

He seems healthy, but he doesn't have the enthusiasm of our younger dog and never has, and would gladly lie around all day if he were allowed to do so. He is too passive, which is fine if you want a couch potato, but not if you want an active companion, as these dogs should be.

We also had a female who was spayed very young. She was diagnosed with the worst hips that our vet had ever seen and died at the grand old age of 3 from hemangio.

I have learned from our mistakes and would recommend that no one make the same ones that we made. It's awful that our dogs had to pay the price for our bad decisions. I can see no advantage to routine neutering and our younger dog will not be neutered unless there is some medical reason that it would be necessary.


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

CeeDoubleU said:


> What do you think were the negatives to getting your Shiba neutered so young?


Namely, depriving him of the hormones for half of his growth period.


He is very tall for a Shiba (about 19-20" although this could be because of where I got him) and disproportionate. If he wasn't overweight, he would definitely look odd with super long legs. He did start packing on the pounds after his neuter as well. I cannot say for sure if he has luxating patella or HD, but he can be very reluctant to go up and down stairs or jump up on the bed/in the car (different story if I have food in my hand.) I do mean to take him in to have this checked. I know there is some correlation between hormones and HD. I am aware excess weight can play a factor in this as well.


His attitude did not change - he has such a great temperament for a Shiba Inu that I have considered making him a therapy dog for a children's hospital or wing of hospital. He absolutely adores children.


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

Pawsed said:


> We have a male that was neutered at 6 months. He is now nearing 9, is oversized and his weight has always been a struggle to keep him from being absolutely obese. In spite of his being 20 pounds heavier than our younger dog, he can eat only maybe 2/3 as much to keep him anywhere near an acceptable weight. Needless to say, he isn't very happy with that situation.
> 
> He seems healthy, but he doesn't have the enthusiasm of our younger dog and never has, and would gladly lie around all day if he were allowed to do so. He is too passive, which is fine if you want a couch potato, but not if you want an active companion, as these dogs should be.
> 
> ...


My Shiba would sell his soul to lay around the house and sleep all day.


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## McGloomy (Mar 13, 2018)

I created a threat on neutering not long ago, it got into long discussions. Based on a lot of discussions with experienced people and my vet, I'm gonna wait until my boy is 3 or even 4 years old.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

McGloomy said:


> I created a threat on neutering not long ago, it got into long discussions. Based on a lot of discussions with experienced people and my vet, I'm gonna wait until my boy is 3 or even 4 years old.


If you made it that far why would you neuter him then?


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## McGloomy (Mar 13, 2018)

Wolfy dog I think you asked the exact same question on my thread. And like I said before, it's a personal choice and I've come to that conclusion based on what I make off of the opinions of my vet and some people. Even though that's the current plan, decision won't be final until then.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

McGloomy said:


> Wolfy dog I think you asked the exact same question on my thread. And like I said before, it's a personal choice and I've come to that conclusion based on what I make off of the opinions of my vet and some people. Even though that's the current plan, decision won't be final until then.


Sorry. I don't go back often to other threads. Can hardly find them actually.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Why neuter a male GSD at all? It doesn't cut down on unwanted litters. If a bitch is available some street dog will get to her. Intact male behaviours, these are training issues. I can't imagine why someone would want to do that to a GSD. Unless there is a medical reason, why do it? I've had 5 male dogs in my life and 7 bitches. None were neutered and never produced a single litter. All had great dispositions with no problems. People in Europe hardly ever neuter their male dogs.


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

Nuetering my dog was a condition of sale from his breeder.


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

Dunkirk said:


> Nuetering my dog was a condition of sale from his breeder.


My breeder's condition was that I wasn't allowed to neuter him until at least 2 years old and she said she would prefer I didn't neuter him at all. 

Funny how they differ.


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## huntergreen (Jun 28, 2012)

Always neutered my dogs at six months. Never had any issues until they were older and arthritic. Not sure that is a result of neutering. There are studies out there saying not neutering will increase lifespan. Methinks we should do our research and then decide.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Dunkirk said:


> Nuetering my dog was a condition of sale from his breeder.


A red-flag for a breeder in my opinion. Most breeders actually do understand the need for hormones, and if they do not trust someone to make appropriate decisions for their dog, and use appropriate management, they do not sell them the dog.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

We've had many, many, many dogs in that age range that were neutered in rescue. They grew up to be happy and healthy.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Were any long legged, lacked muscularity and male sex characteristics, low energy, fat? I saw a poor creature of a Doberman in a feed store. It did not even look like a Doberman. Tiny nearly invisible penis, thin like a Borzoi, legs like a giraffe, timid. No thank you.


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## Pytheis (Sep 23, 2016)

Nurse Bishop said:


> Were any long legged, lacked muscularity and male sex characteristics, low energy, fat? I saw a poor creature of a Doberman in a feed store. It did not even look like a Doberman. Tiny nearly invisible penis, thin like a Borzoi, legs like a giraffe, timid. No thank you.


Okay, how do you know that this wasn't _poor breeding_? How can you for a fact say it was all because of the early neuter? Actually, you don't even know when he was neutered. It could have been after 2 years. Did you ask?

Dobermans are a breed that are rarely bred well. They are in demand, and many people breed poor examples just to make money. They have a plethora of health issues and have to have a lot of health tests done on breeding stock. I was discussing hypothyroidism with a doberman owner, and she said it is not a matter of if your doberman will get hypothyroidism, but when. Even the best bred, carefully chosen, titled parents produce dogs with hypo. Often.


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## Pytheis (Sep 23, 2016)

My female golden retriever was spayed at 8 months after her first heat. She now has the worst spay coat ever. I have to hand strip her fur because she looks so bad. She is also 10 pounds over standard, has hip dysplasia, allergies, and a plethora of other health issues we can't even solve. Could I blame all that on an early spay? Sure! Was it most likely just not the best breeding? Absolutely.

I do know the spay coat was from, well, the spay, but I have no idea about the other things. Genetics are kind of unpredictable that way.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

If you have to neuter by contract, ask if a vasectomy will do. At least the male dogs can keep their hormones. I assume the neuter requirement is to prevent unwanted litters or competition. If they don't honor that, I'd pass.
After refreshing my mind about the spay consequences, it is off the table for Deja as she just had major abdominal surgery due to that twisted colon. So I won't have her go through surgery again and will deal whatever comes.


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## Felafufu (May 19, 2018)

My boy came to me at 4 months; a bully/greyhound mix of some sort. He was already neutered (shelter rescue). He had small genitalia but that was the only "issue". He was well proportioned, great coat, no joint issues, and generally just very happy, active and healthy all his life (had an oral melanoma at the end, and died of cancer at age 12).


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

This isn't a one-sided argument, though some here often act as though it is. Because of the volume of dogs I've known passing through breed rescue, I've known way too many lovely, older females that had shortened lives due to aggressive, malignant mammary cancer, or experienced pyometra surgeries late in life due to life-threatening infections. I just got word from an adopter about a dog I adored who just passed around 8 y.o. due to an aggressive form of mammary cancer -- she was spayed, but not while young (which means her mammary cancer risk was as high as an intact dog). 

I've also known older intact males who needed multi-thousand dollar perineal hernia surgery (a painful problem almost exclusively in intact, middle aged males) and/or had terrible prostate issues -- at least one didn't survive (despite a herculean effort to save him). 

The vets (including the specialists) always say about these hormonally mediated problems in our older dogs: "If only they'd been fixed when they were younger, we wouldn't be going through this now." They say it out loud to me since I'm the rescuer not the original owner who made that choice -- they can't say it out loud to the original owners without making them feel guilty, so they tend to hold it back. So there _is _a cost/benefit balance to be weighed, with pros and cons on both sides. I've written a lot of checks to vets for these kinds of health problems for middle-aged dogs in the rescue, so they're not just theoretical problems to me! With enough dogs and enough years, the odds of being on the heart-breaking side of it eventually grow -- and the costs of the things that can go wrong are extremely high, so _please_ keep good pet insurance on them if you choose to take the risk.


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## Katsugsd (Jul 7, 2018)

Magwart said:


> This isn't a one-sided argument, though some here often act as though it is. Because of the volume of dogs I've known passing through breed rescue, I've known way too many lovely, older females that had shortened lives due to aggressive, malignant mammary cancer, or experienced pyometra surgeries late in life due to life-threatening infections. I just got word from an adopter about a dog I adored who just passed around 8 y.o. due to an aggressive form of mammary cancer -- she was spayed, but not while young (which means her mammary cancer risk was as high as an intact dog).
> 
> I've also known older intact males who needed multi-thousand dollar perineal hernia surgery (a painful problem almost exclusively in intact, middle aged males) and/or had terrible prostate issues -- at least one didn't survive (despite a herculean effort to save him).
> 
> The vets (including the specialists) always say about these hormonally mediated problems in our older dogs: "If only they'd been fixed when they were younger, we wouldn't be going through this now." They say it out loud to me since I'm the rescuer not the original owner who made that choice -- they can't say it out loud to the original owners without making them feel guilty, so they tend to hold it back. So there _is _a cost/benefit balance to be weighed, with pros and cons on both sides. I've written a lot of checks to vets for these kinds of health problems for middle-aged dogs in the rescue, so they're not just theoretical problems to me! With enough dogs and enough years, the odds of being on the heart-breaking side of it eventually grow -- and the costs of the things that can go wrong are extremely high, so _please_ keep good pet insurance on them if you choose to take the risk.



I will agree...there are down sides to both. And both will make their best case going forward as to why you should do one over the other. It's your dog, if you choose to spay/neuter at 6 months, who am I to stop you? I don't agree with it, but there are so many contradicting studies out there now. 


My Labrador Retriever growing up was not spayed until 12. I'm not quite sure if there was an agreement with the breeder we got her from since we neutered our male after we got her (he was severely dysplastic.) 


She developed an aggressive mammary cancer and rather than putting her down, my mother opted to have her mammaries removed (at 12...mind you...I probably would have put her down to end her suffering if I were the adult.) While they had her out, they preformed the spay. She lived for another 3 years, although I can't say for sure whether or not they were decent years. She lost control of her back end and bladder near the end of her life.


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## Springbrz (Aug 13, 2013)

A bit off topic but has anyone ever had a breeder with a spay/neuter clause in their contract ever gone back to enforce such a policy on the owner? I think it's relevant to the topic for those who feel compelled to spay/neuter do to contract (rescues aside because they are usually done before adoption). 
If you have limited registration rights you are not going to be able to register a litter anyway. If you intentionally breed on such a contract you didn't care about the contract from the start. I get the intended purpose of the clause. To prevent poor or unethical breeding. But the reality is if you get a dog and don't have any health issues just how much contact does the average buyer actually have with their breeder as the their dog ages. Do breeders stalk their buyers for years to make sure they speuter...I think not. 
I know a lot of members here stay in touch with their reputable breeders because they participate in sports, shows, etc. and it's a small circle. But for the average pet buyer once they get their dog they go on with life and their breeder soon is out of the picture. How is the breeder going to know you don't neuter your dog unless you tell them. I'm just saying once you own the dog it's yours. I understand it's a legal contract but is it ever enforced? I doubt it. If it were than there would be almost no BYB's out there and a whole lot less unintended oopsie litters. 
If you don't want to neuter than don't. If you want to neuter do your homework and make an educated decision using your best judgement as to when and why you want to neuter. 

I don't have a male dog. My current female was spayed at 19 months. Previous dogs were spayed young 6-8 months. The first we didn't know what we know now and trusted our vet to know what was best and it was the 80's and she was a mix anyway. Our next two (mixed breed) were emergency spayed because I never had a female in heat before and was ignorant to the heat cycle. One tied with a male sibling and we weren't bringing a mixed breed incest litter into the world. It was a risk to our dogs life, expensive and not without post surgical complication. We lived, we learned and then the world got internet and we are much more educated now. If I ever have a male in the future I wouldn't neuter unless it was medically necessary. Just my choice based on research I have done.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

My first male non GSD herding breed was neutered at 6 months, he got fat and crabby, but I don’t know if it was due to neutering. My first female GSD was spayed at 6 months per the contract and I saw no negative results at all. She was always lean and fit, but she also got a lot of exercise. My current dogs are a rescue who was ped spayed and a male who is intact and had one serious health problem, probably not related. He had pano as a child so that factored into our decision to avoid neutering.


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## huntergreen (Jun 28, 2012)

Agree magwart. Some issues can be avoided with early spay and neuter ing, yet other issues can develop because of it. IMHO, it's a crap shoot.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Since I was adopting out rescues all needed to be speutered before leaving. I still have contact with a large number of them. Some look as though they may have some effects from it, but since none were well bred to start with it is really tough to say.

In general with pups I stalled as long as I could but they were done at about 10 weeks. With my personal dogs, the vet I used for years would not do the surgeries until the dogs were done growing. When I took any dog in he always asked if I was keeping or adopting, and he never scheduled the surgeries until I had an adopter lined up or until any other health issues had been resolved. I take that to heart.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Pytheis said:


> Okay, how do you know that this wasn't _poor breeding_? How can you for a fact say it was all because of the early neuter? Actually, you don't even know when he was neutered. It could have been after 2 years. Did you ask?
> 
> Dobermans are a breed that are rarely bred well. They are in demand, and many people breed poor examples just to make money. They have a plethora of health issues and have to have a lot of health tests done on breeding stock. I was discussing hypothyroidism with a doberman owner, and she said it is not a matter of if your doberman will get hypothyroidism, but when. Even the best bred, carefully chosen, titled parents produce dogs with hypo. Often.


Because that was just one example I have seen, one of many breeds with the same build. All were neutered early of the ones I asked about. My ex husband had two Doberman males, one after another, and both were magnificent animals.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Magwart said:


> This isn't a one-sided argument, though some here often act as though it is. Because of the volume of dogs I've known passing through breed rescue, I've known way too many lovely, older females that had shortened lives due to aggressive, malignant mammary cancer, or experienced pyometra surgeries late in life due to life-threatening infections. I just got word from an adopter about a dog I adored who just passed around 8 y.o. due to an aggressive form of mammary cancer -- she was spayed, but not while young (which means her mammary cancer risk was as high as an intact dog).
> 
> I've also known older intact males who needed multi-thousand dollar perineal hernia surgery (a painful problem almost exclusively in intact, middle aged males) and/or had terrible prostate issues -- at least one didn't survive (despite a herculean effort to save him).
> 
> The vets (including the specialists) always say about these hormonally mediated problems in our older dogs: "If only they'd been fixed when they were younger, we wouldn't be going through this now." They say it out loud to me since I'm the rescuer not the original owner who made that choice -- they can't say it out loud to the original owners without making them feel guilty, so they tend to hold it back. So there _is _a cost/benefit balance to be weighed, with pros and cons on both sides. I've written a lot of checks to vets for these kinds of health problems for middle-aged dogs in the rescue, so they're not just theoretical problems to me! With enough dogs and enough years, the odds of being on the heart-breaking side of it eventually grow -- and the costs of the things that can go wrong are extremely high, so _please_ keep good pet insurance on them if you choose to take the risk.


How many dogs have you known Mag? What are the chances of individual dogs? None of the 12 intact dogs I have known, nor my ex husbands 2 male Dobermans ever had these problems. Why is neutering of males so rarely done in Europe?

I intend to get Inga spayed when she is 4 or 5 because of the possiblity of pyro, although none of my other unspayed bitches ever had this problem.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Magwart said:


> This isn't a one-sided argument, though some here often act as though it is. Because of the volume of dogs I've known passing through breed rescue, I've known way too many lovely, older females that had shortened lives due to aggressive, malignant mammary cancer, or experienced pyometra surgeries late in life due to life-threatening infections. I just got word from an adopter about a dog I adored who just passed around 8 y.o. due to an aggressive form of mammary cancer -- she was spayed, but not while young (which means her mammary cancer risk was as high as an intact dog).
> 
> I've also known older intact males who needed multi-thousand dollar perineal hernia surgery (a painful problem almost exclusively in intact, middle aged males) and/or had terrible prostate issues -- at least one didn't survive (despite a herculean effort to save him).
> 
> The vets (including the specialists) always say about these hormonally mediated problems in our older dogs: "If only they'd been fixed when they were younger, we wouldn't be going through this now." They say it out loud to me since I'm the rescuer not the original owner who made that choice -- they can't say it out loud to the original owners without making them feel guilty, so they tend to hold it back. So there _is _a cost/benefit balance to be weighed, with pros and cons on both sides. I've written a lot of checks to vets for these kinds of health problems for middle-aged dogs in the rescue, so they're not just theoretical problems to me! With enough dogs and enough years, the odds of being on the heart-breaking side of it eventually grow -- and the costs of the things that can go wrong are extremely high, so _please_ keep good pet insurance on them if you choose to take the risk.


Perennial hernia is caused by straining due to an enlarged prostate. Even I would be able to diagnose an enlarged prostate. I would also be able to see straining. Wouldn’t that be the time to neuter rather than before anything happens? Wouldn’t that prevent a hernia?


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

To neuter or not always turns into a huge cluster of a debate.
Here is my 2 cents (or nickel because Canada has no cents) :

If you have ANY doubt about your ability to prevent your pet from indiscriminate mating and/or causing chaos and havoc in your neighborhood due to unsupervised heats or seeking partner romps GET IT "FIXED"! The sooner the better.
Otherwise do your research, talk to vets and breeders and draw your own conclusions. Because it would be rare to get an honest, unbiased opinion from JQP. The members of this forum do not for the most part offer a realistic sample of the average dog owner, so while in general we may agree that there are benefits to waiting or not doing it at all that is not always solid advice.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

LuvShepherds said:


> Wouldn’t that be the time to neuter rather than before anything happens? Wouldn’t that prevent a hernia?



It takes quite a while for the hormones to go down enough for the prostate size to reduce after neutering. It's not instantaneous. If the pelvic floor ruptures, it ruptures. You can't really predict which day straining to poop will be the one that causes it to rupture. The specialist surgeon who did our surgeries says he sees it pretty frequently in intact males. If it were as easy as you're hoping to avoid, I don't think he'd see so much of it. But maybe you'll be the lucky one!


How often when dogs have constipated BMs here though do you see people concerned about prostates? It's almost always months of food changes, probiotics, etc....so I'm pretty skeptical that poop issues would trigger most people to rush to get the dog neutered and do an ultrasound on the prostate.


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

CeeDoubleU said:


> I like to hear from anyone who has neutered their male dogs at the age of 6 months.
> Pros? Cons?
> I’m looking for actual experience not recommendations.
> Thanks so much!!!?


I have had 3 male dogs all neutered at age 6 months. They were healthy, lovely coats, and great temperaments. Interesting, that with my Aussie, one day, while walking him, a man suddenly stopped his car and came up to me. He was a breeder of Aussies, and was so impressed with mine. He admired his coat and the way he moved and wanted to know the pedigree.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Magwart said:


> It takes quite a while for the hormones to go down enough for the prostate size to reduce after neutering. It's not instantaneous. If the pelvic floor ruptures, it ruptures. You can't really predict which day straining to poop will be the one that causes it to rupture. The specialist surgeon who did our surgeries says he sees it pretty frequently in intact males. If it were as easy as you're hoping to avoid, I don't think he'd see so much of it. But maybe you'll be the lucky one!
> 
> 
> How often when dogs have constipated BMs here though do you see people concerned about prostates? It's almost always months of food changes, probiotics, etc....so I'm pretty skeptical that poop issues would trigger most people to rush to get the dog neutered and do an ultrasound on the prostate.


Now that we have read this, I hope all of us would know!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Nurse Bishop said:


> Were any long legged, lacked muscularity and male sex characteristics, low energy, fat? I saw a poor creature of a Doberman in a feed store. It did not even look like a Doberman. Tiny nearly invisible penis, thin like a Borzoi, legs like a giraffe, timid. No thank you.


Do you really pay attention to dogs' penises? 

I have a GSD that was neutered young, too young. I think around 4 months. But I am not certain. He is leggy, lacks the mane that many GSDs (males) have around their necks, his face is a little thinner and girlier than males that I have had that had their hormones longer. And his testical-sacks are there, but thin and of course, neutered. 

Yep, I checked. I had him in with Hepsi when she was in heat, and he was doing the nasty with her. I got him out of there, flipped him over, and checked, because I had a paper saying he was neutered. But I hadn't had him neutered. So, I wanted to know. The boy's penis has never struck me as odd. I admit that I haven't compared it to intact dogs' penises though.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

selzer said:


> Do you really pay attention to dogs' penises?


I am because it is a regular body part like everything else on a dog. As a breeder I assume you would too


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## Shane'sDad (Jul 22, 2010)

I've only had 2 dogs neutered that early...both were dogs my dad and i got from the SPCA while I lived at home so technically entire family dogs not truly mine. Most dogs I've had since married were speutered around 1 year give or take....with 3 exceptions-Sheba our first female who had a litter of pups and was spayed at 2&1/2 to 3 years old......our first solid black Baron & sire to Sheba's litter neutered at approx 10 years old with a health issue that may have been related to not neutering earlier and Linus my first purebred GSD-the ex police dog who had killed dogs died intact with cancer.

I never really noticed many of the issues with my speutered dogs others have mentioned here....leggy....males looking feminine ...weight issues because I control that with diet and exercise ...when they reached old age( a couple died younger) most were very arthritic and ended up on Cosequin-Rimadyl or gabapentin in some combination-----Linus who had the roughest life of all my dogs died intact and never really showed signs of arthritis---Baron and Sheba both speutered latter in life showed very little if any signs of old age arthritis. Do I know the arthritis is related to speutering of course not...how could I actually know that??...very well may all be genetic or maybe not.


Another thing that has helped change my way of thinking is this and it's human related..not dogs....it's pretty much the norm on TV today to see a story about a male who wants to be a female or vice versy...what's the first thing done to "get"their wish...they take hormones...what happens ?.....they gain or loose facial hair....voice changes....grow breasts.......which for me proves how powerful these hormones are.....so could removing these hormones too early in animals affect OR cause severe arthritis later in life-very possible in my mind...could it affect other organs or maybe brain development??....maybe so......moving forward IF I do speuter at all--it will be much much later in life....frankly I doubt I'll do it at all.....because my views for my personal dogs is much different than 30 years ago



I get that most vets recommend early speutering it's what they were taught and what their teachers were taught...it's a cycle that won't be broken by most pet owners-it shows they're responsible pet owners....right??? I get why shelters/rescues require speutering I really..really do... it must be 100% heart breaking to pick up a homeless starving mother dog with 8 pups...take them to an already over crowded shelter... all the while wondering will they find a "good" home or will they face euthanasia ?


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

wolfy dog said:


> I am because it is a regular body part like everything else on a dog. As a breeder I assume you would too


Maybe I am a little sensitive to the subject for reasons of my own, but no, I see no reason as a breeder to pay extra attention to the penis. If I had a boy that was spending undue attention to his organ, I'd check it out, but in 20+ years of owning dogs (as opposed to bitches), I have never had any reason to pay attention to the length, breadth, or condition of the penis. 

I mean, if some yayhoo were to say to me, "And I don't want him to be embarrassed about his junk if you know what I mean." I just wouldn't sell him a puppy. I am not breeding for penis size, it isn't part of the standard after all. 

Now there are problems, like if the bulbs will not go down and it will not retract into the sheath, it can be dangerous. So far though, I have been really lucky, I guess. 

The first and only time I got my dog collected (when I was there), it was super embarrassing. Wouldn't EVER be a vet. It may be a body part like any other, but...

The first time my dog had to have a berry check, that was weird too. Not as bad as having my dog collected though. My mentor used to have a ton of fun with me over my squeamishness, and more than once we were _those_ people sitting in the next booth talking about stuff in a restaurant. 

As a breeder I need to know possible issues that can happen with regard to breeding, whelping, and raising puppies. I need to know about the breed's health. But I don't need to pay any more attention to my dog's penis that the average owner, and I think that some folks pay too much attention, like when the testicles are going up and down. I think sometimes we can create unnecessary stress in dogs when we pay undue attention to stuff. Sometimes.


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