# Getting your dog Neutered..



## Ares God Of War (Jan 13, 2011)

So I was just wondering what age is best to get your dog fixed? I know 4 mths is ok...but mine is 7 mths..Im doing it tomorrow but will he stop growing? If he does thats ok....Ive just heard people say to get them fixed at 2 yrs so he can grow all the way. Is this true?


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## DDR Chief (Nov 24, 2010)

Your dog won't stop growing.

I'm in no way an expert on the matter, but there are a ton of different opinions on the topic. Some say that when you neuter young, the dog matures to be lankier than they would have in tact. Others say it has no effect on them whatsoever to neuter young. My boy is 10 months old and I won't be getting him fixed until he's at least 2, if I decide to neuter at all. I don't care what the couple vets I've talked to tell me, I don't believe that taking man parts off when they are that young has no effect on their development. I think they're geared more towards the average owner and are advocates to nueter/spay early to prevent unwanted litters. That's the biggest draw back to having your dog remain in tact - you have to be sure there is NO way any "oops" litters can occur.

Also the older/bigger they are, the more involved the surgery becomes to remove them.

But to answer your question: Your pup will be fine getting neutered tomorrow. He won't stop growing, he'll continue to grow the way his genetics instruct.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

If you neuter before the growth plates close, then the long bones can continue to grow longer than they would have otherwise. Also, some secondary sex characteristics will not develop as they would in an intact dog, so your dog may not get those things that you will generally see in a mature male, like the way they fill out. 

I generally encourage people to wait until they are fully mature, or not to neuter at all.


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## CLARKE-DUNCAN (Apr 8, 2011)

I heard someone saying that if you neuter a young male dog his bark does'nt have time to develope and it won't be as deep!? Im not sure about that!? Nero is'nt neuterd.I wanted to get his fur plums done but my fiancee would'nt." he said cutting my dogs balls off would be like cutting off my balls". What is it with guys and their assets anyway? Fortunatly for us we have never seen any agression in Nero.


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

CLARKE-DUNCAN said:


> fur plums


:rofl:


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## krystyne73 (Oct 13, 2010)

In my house everyone is neutered or spayed lol humans included. I would never want any "accidents " happening. 
My husband and male Dane are still very much male haha


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## Davey Benson (Nov 10, 2010)

I was under the impression that it was better to leave them for a year so the growing pup could get that shot of testorone for muscle developement and so forth. One poster mentioned that there was no genetic diffence in the dog neutered or not, but removing testostorone hormone is a little like altering the genetic ingredents of the dog, certianly removing one key building block of it anyway. If you wait a little while, they get the benifit of that.

I have one male that is neutered, and two that arent. All my females are spayed. I notice no real difference in the behavior between my males. (in fact my neutered male is one of the worse offenders when it come to marking his territory.)


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

I prefer to wait at least a year preferably 2- IF you can be responsible and ensure your dog is not roaming. There are benefits to an early neutered dog in terms of them maintaining puppy-like behavior but personally I like the look of a mature male dog and I need the hormones for our SchH training. There is a difference in body type between a neutered and intact male like what others have already mentioned. I haven't noticed an impact on the bark.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Of course there's no genetic difference-- your genetics are determined at conception and can't be changed. There IS a hormonal difference. 

Steers look different than bulls, stallions look different than geldings, and eunichs look different than men. I have a hard time believing that dogs are any different.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

One year old Intact male:


















His son (neutered at four months) at six months:


















One year:









His intact brother at 11 months:









I wish I had a photo of Cujo now, as he is truly a leggy lanky dog, without they thick mane his sire and brother have. His head is a little bitchy.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Well here's another humble opinion: Let him grow to maturity (2?) to develop his secondary sex characteristics, then do it. He may lose a little muscle mass due to loss of testosterone but most of that can be retained through exercise. As for his bark, that comes from his chest. My female sounds like a 100 pound male when she barks and she was spayed at 6 months, go figure. I have seen some pretty macho males with 'sissy' barks. Listen to Mike Tyson sometime, for example.


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## jkscandi50 (Nov 17, 2010)

We're waiting until our boy is at least 2 years old - my vet (owns 3 GSD's) - believes they need to physically mature - 18 mos to 2 years before neuter/spay.


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## Davey Benson (Nov 10, 2010)

I think barks are determined by breed. I've notice with my borders, that one sounds like another. In fact the first time my current border started barking I about got whiplash looking back expecting to see my previous border who had passed away. Sounded exactly the same.

My unaltered male black lab has one of the more effimenant barks, I've heard. The more excited he gets the higher pitch his bark gets, and if he's really wound up, he squeeks. My last border I had sweet girl she was had a way more threatening and manly bark than my males did.

If you want a really deep bark, get a great pyrenees.


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## ElvisP (May 19, 2010)

Though my wife wanted them chopped long ago, I'm waiting to get Elvis clipped this summer ... he'll be about 16 months if I get it done in August. For me, getting it done in the Phoenix summer is best because he'll be less active.


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## Jessiewessie99 (Mar 6, 2009)

All dogs are different. Some will have growing issues, some won't. I would say wait until the dog is 1 1/2 to 2 years old to neuter. We got Tanner when he was 1 1/2, but he was adopted by a couple then brought back. I am guessing he was fixed around 6 months to a year. He is not lanky or "feminine" like, he is very mature looking.

But once again all dogs are different. It really is up to you and whats best for you and your dog.


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## Syaoransbear (Sep 25, 2008)

selzer said:


>


That's EXACTLY the kind of head my dog has and I neutered him young at 6 months. I definitely regret it, I wish I would have waited until he was at least 2 if at all. I'd like to find a vet that performs vasectomies if I ever get another male.


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## Rowan (Feb 10, 2011)

I'm for waiting as well. I was told to wait on Rowan but he will be done between 9-10 months. One of his "jewels" has never droped. We think we found it the other day up near his stomach...


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

There are a lot of potential negatives to neutering a large breed dog so young. I quite doubt your husband is "neutered". A vasectomy is much different because you are not removing the hormones. If you were having your young dog vasectomized, it would only affect his ability to reproduce. Having him neutered will affect his entire body. Hormones are extremely important for proper development, physically and mentally. 

If you'd like to read up on the issues associated with early neutering:
Canine Sports Productions: Early Spay-Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete

And the issues associated with neutering at any age:
 http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longtermhealtheffectsofspayneuterindogs.pdf

or in Quick View: Powered by Google Docs


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I had my boy neutered at 15 months, but I wanted to wait until he was 2 years old.


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## Dr. Teeth (Mar 10, 2011)

My opinion: The Veterinary industry is programming customers to neuter and spay young, too young. Their goal is to prevent unplanned litters, but they are using the disguise of it being better for dogs. 

Let your individual situation guide you. 

Mine neutered at 14 months - no weight gain, hit the 87lb. mark perfect, lots of maturity after the proceedure and continued to do schutzhund work like a bat outta ****.


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## TheNamesNelson (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm leaning towards not neutering my boy. The main reason I see spaying/neutering being pushed is because of rampant overpopulation of pets. A lot of this is due to a huge population of pet owners being irresponsible letting their pets run loose, leaving them in backyards where they can escape and run loose, or not watching them at off leash gathering locations. Like most other dog behavior related issues, the problem is with the owner not the dog.

I consider myself a responsible dog owner, I have a best friend and a child in my dog, not just a beast I own. I control my dog and he responds to me. If he begins displaying sexual behavior that I cannot control I will change my stance. Fortunately I have a male, I think the issues is more complicated with owners of female dogs because they run the risk of an irresponsible owners dog inseminating their girl, which takes the control out of their hands.

I would say though, for those people who are all for neutering, at least wait till the dog is matures at 2 years of age or so. You get your way and your dog is given the best possible biological conditions for growth.


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## Germanshepherdlova (Apr 16, 2011)

Neutering before a dog is done growing greatly increases the chance of him developing bone cancer. I just had my boy neutered, he is 2. My hubby didn't want to do it, but I insisted. I wish I had never done it. He ended up having to get a scrotal ablation, and now he has a huge incision and lots of stitches, and a month recovery ahead of him. Not to mention the scare that his complication to the neutering put us through, and the pain he experienced. He still barks the same and growls, and seems basically the same, except he is not marking as much as he used to.


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## zeus von entringer staal (Jan 3, 2011)

I was going to wait until he is 2yrs old, unless I hear otherwise that earlier is better(?)


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

TheNamesNelson said:


> Fortunately I have a male, I think the issues is more complicated with owners of female dogs because they run the risk of an irresponsible owners dog inseminating their girl, which takes the control out of their hands.


This makes zero sense to me.  

If the owner of the female dog allows her to be unsupervised, ESPECIALLY while in heat, and therefore an intact male gets to her; how is the owner of the female any less responsible for what happened than the males owner? I feel they are both equally irresponsible for allowing it to occur. JMHO


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## TheNamesNelson (Apr 4, 2011)

Rerun said:


> This makes zero sense to me.
> 
> If the owner of the female dog allows her to be unsupervised, ESPECIALLY while in heat, and therefore an intact male gets to her; how is the owner of the female any less responsible for what happened than the males owner? I feel they are both equally irresponsible for allowing it to occur. JMHO


I wasn't pointing the finger on who is to blame. I was just saying its more complicated having an intact female making the decision to neuter or spay your dog more difficult based on the sex. 

I am responsible and have a fully fenced in yard, and my dog is trained to know he cannot jump the fence. I have been responsible and my dog is under control. If some irresponsible neighbors female dog jumped my fence and got mounted by my dog, they would have to pay for their irresponsibility by being stuck with puppies.

If you have a fully fenced in yard and your female knows to stay in your yard you can still be the victim of a loose neighborhood dog who isn't in control and can jump your fence and impregnate your girl. In that scenario you would have to pay for someone elses irresponsibility.

You can do your part to control your dog, but you can't control everyone else's dogs. I am not advocating for spaying females, or saying that its ok to spay females but not males. I am just saying that there is more to take into consideration.


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## TheNamesNelson (Apr 4, 2011)

Spay/Neutering or not Spay/Neutering is a scale in my mind. Not wanting accidental puppies may tip the scales for me to justify spaying a female. With males, I don't have that concern so the scales are still tipped in favor of staying intact.

No matter how responsible you are, incidents out of your control can happen and the owners of a female dog may have to pay the price of others irresponsibility.

That is unless there is child support for canines and Maury can prove who the daddy is


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## ladybugmomma (Mar 20, 2011)

This is really interesting. I thought getting our pup neutered at 4 months was the right thing to do, to avoid marking and aggression. However I believe I will bevwaitingbuntil he is about 18 months. Does the growth reasoning apply to all big dogs or just GSD?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Germanshepherdlova said:


> Neutering before a dog is done growing greatly increases the chance of him developing bone cancer. I just had my boy neutered, he is 2. My hubby didn't want to do it, but I insisted. I wish I had never done it. He ended up having to get a scrotal ablation,


Out of curiosity, why did he have to get the ablation?

Sorry to hear the neuter didn't go well, by the way. Hope he's feeling better.


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