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At what age did you fix your large male dogs?
Topic Started: Mar 29 2010, 08:09 AM (818 Views)
RHowell
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I've only had one male dog during his puppy years and Scout is my second. The doggy daycare we are taking him to once his tenure at Guiding Eyes For the Blind Puppy Training Squatting ends requires them to be fixed at 6 months. On our shepherd I waited a little longer because I thought it helped him get more bulky (think "stallion neck" in horses gelded late)...the vet we've been using says it makes no difference in their growth. Does anyone else have some information/experiences to share?
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Boston
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I like the boys done at 10-12 months. This is your new golden, right? He'll have a bigger head and look a bit more built up and "manly". There are beliefs that waiting a bit longer reduces the risk of orthopedic issues, but I'm not sure how accurate those are. I know in giant breed dogs they always recommend waiting to neuter because their growth plates close later than smaller dogs. Most of our clients with goldens wait until 10-12 months.
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kady05
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I'm with Boston, I like to wait til at least a year when neutering large breeds. I wanted to wait for a year or two with Wilson, but once he hit about 8 months, he went bonkers at training one day when my trainer brought out his female (spayed) Doberman. :rolleyes: it wasn't *that* bad, but for perfect little Wilson, trainer & I looked at each other and said "Maybe he needs to get fixed now instead of later", so I got him done a week later.

I would've loved to see how he'd look if I had waited.. his two brothers are still intact and are much broader and thicker than he is. We waited a full 2yrs. to neuter our one male Lab, Zack, and he was nice and broad and much more masculine looking than Josey, my parents other Lab, who was neutered around the same time as Wilson. Obviously, it also depends on the dogs genetics, but that testosterone can play a big role in how the end up looking!

Btw - here's a good read on the long term effects of spaying/neutering (positive & negative): http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
Skip to the bottom of page one and onto page two for the neutering info.
Edited by kady05, Mar 29 2010, 08:46 AM.
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Trialbyfire
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I don't have any really great advice but I will say that training our middle brittany was really difficult before he was neutered. His breeder had hoped he would be show quality so we didn't consider neutering him before 6 months, and after that it was pretty obvious he was going to exceed the breed standard but we waited to be sure. In the end he was nearly 15 months old when we neutered him and afterwards he was a completely different and calmer dog. If I could do it again I wouldn't have waited a day after 6 months, it just wasn't worth it. And I'll say that he is no more masculine for waiting. I am sure there are some differences but I'm not sure they are always that obvious; in his case I could imagine people saying "too bad you had him neutered early because he might have looked more masculine if you waited."

FWIW, my boy was never dominant or studdy, but just had a lot of excess energy and hormones in him. I remember having him in obedience class and he would just randomly have ...ahem....doggie erections....and you knew that it must have just been tough for him to be *good* with all those hormones flying through him. Even only a few weeks afterwards he was much calmer and happier.

So, I would definitely ask your vet but I wouldn't necessarily put it off just for the benefit of more masculine traits because it might not help.

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Boston
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Kady brought up a good point that I meant to mention. Some people have every intention of waiting but because of behavioral stuff that pops up they do it sooner. It all depends on the individual dog. If your dog starts humping a ton, becoming aggressive or dominant, obviously you might have to do it sooner.
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kady05
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It's not all about looking more masculine though, in large breeds, it greatly reduces the risk of bone cancer if you wait a full year, among other things. Yes, they can get a bit silly (who can blame them), but with lots of exercise and discipline, most dogs can be managed fine. Treadmills are a great way of burning excess energy off of dogs, ask me how I know ;) I wish I would've waited longer with Wilson, but what's done is done, can't go back!
Edited by kady05, Mar 29 2010, 09:43 AM.
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kady05
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Boston
Mar 29 2010, 09:42 AM
Kady brought up a good point that I meant to mention. Some people have every intention of waiting but because of behavioral stuff that pops up they do it sooner. It all depends on the individual dog. If your dog starts humping a ton, becoming aggressive or dominant, obviously you might have to do it sooner.
Yeah, it sucked, but, oh well. My trainer has an intact male Doberman that's about 19 months (he shows the dog), and he behaves perfectly fine. And he is so. darn. handsome!
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Little Diva
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We had Tucker neutered at 9 months. I have friends who had their male dog neutered at 15 months and another person I know has yet to have their daschund neutered and he is 6. And he humps everything....
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kady05
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Little Diva
Mar 29 2010, 09:53 AM
We had Tucker neutered at 9 months. I have friends who had their male dog neutered at 15 months and another person I know has yet to have their daschund neutered and he is 6. And he humps everything....
Oh my, a humping Doxie :teehee: Seriously though, humping should not be tolerated, regardless of if the dog is intact or not. It's a dominant behavior.. not allowed in my house! Wilson still will try occasionally on Piper and he immediately gets corrected; the look on his face is priceless though.. 'but.. why mom??'
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Trialbyfire
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kady05
Mar 29 2010, 09:42 AM
It's not all about looking more masculine though, in large breeds, it greatly reduces the risk of bone cancer if you wait a full year, among other things. Yes, they can get a bit silly (who can blame them), but with lots of exercise and discipline, most dogs can be managed fine. Treadmills are a great way of burning excess energy off of dogs, ask me how I know ;) I wish I would've waited longer with Wilson, but what's done is done, can't go back!
I guess you do have to weigh the pros and cons; obviously if your dog is well behaved then waiting is not a big deal. My older brittany is almost 14 and still intact. But the middle guy was more than a typical brittany handful even with at least an hour-long off lead run through hilly golf courses every day; he got more than typical exercise and was really hard to live with. I am hoping the baby is more like our first since we will try to show him if he's as nice in 6 months as he is now. But he's a pet first; if he's a huge PITA his show career will be over.
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Little Diva
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kady05
Mar 29 2010, 09:57 AM
Little Diva
Mar 29 2010, 09:53 AM
We had Tucker neutered at 9 months. I have friends who had their male dog neutered at 15 months and another person I know has yet to have their daschund neutered and he is 6. And he humps everything....
Oh my, a humping Doxie :teehee: Seriously though, humping should not be tolerated, regardless of if the dog is intact or not. It's a dominant behavior.. not allowed in my house! Wilson still will try occasionally on Piper and he immediately gets corrected; the look on his face is priceless though.. 'but.. why mom??'
Oh I know. If the Doxie were MINE, he would have had THOSE lopped off quite awhile ago. He used to belong to Mr. Diva's ex wife, but she could not control the dog and he was crapping all over the house and in the middle of her bed so she gave the dog to the eldest child and he thinks it is cruel to neuter a dog. Needless to say, the mad humper is NOT allowed at our house because he feels the need to MARK all over the place, hump Tucker's head, back legs, tail, anyting, and if the cat would stand still long enough, he would hump him too. And no ankle is safe from the humper.

Anyway, this dog is a perfect example of bad ownership.
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Witchy
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I personally like to have boys neutered around 6 months. That way they don't start to lift their legs to mark things, instead they still pee like girls. :rofl: I find they are much easier to take for walks since they don't want to pee on things or stop to sniff everywhere another dog peed. It seems that once they develop the peeing on stuff thing, it sticks with them even after they are neutered.
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kady05
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Witchy
Mar 29 2010, 10:52 AM
I personally like to have boys neutered around 6 months. That way they don't start to lift their legs to mark things, instead they still pee like girls. :rofl: I find they are much easier to take for walks since they don't want to pee on things or stop to sniff everywhere another dog peed. It seems that once they develop the peeing on stuff thing, it sticks with them even after they are neutered.
I think for some dogs, lifting the leg is just something they do, regardless of when they were neutered. I've known pups that were neutered at 8wks. old (shelter policy) that humped, lifted their legs, etc. Actually, that puppy I brought home before Piper, the one I had to return due to being super aggressive, he was neutered at SIX weeks and was constantly trying to hump Wilson! My parents Lab was neutered at about 6 months and still lifts his leg every time he pees, and he's 9 this year!

As for peeing all over stuff, and sniffing on a walk, for me, that's not what walks are for, so that's not tolerated. Dogs are to stay at my side and walk, not sniff, not look around, just walk. If I release them, sure, they can do whatever (my mom calls me a drill sergent :teehee: ). So that's a training thing.. if you don't want your dog to do that, don't let them! I can't stand seeing people letting their dogs pee all over everything, and letting them stop to pee every 5 seconds. Drives me crazy!
Edited by kady05, Mar 29 2010, 11:28 AM.
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Trixie
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Four or five, but that wasn't on purpose... he just showed up here when he was four or five, so we had him fixed. He didn't hump much of anything, though, which was fortunate, nor was he particularly studly.
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SidesaddleRider
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We got Connor when he was six months old, and neutered him around 7 months. I wish now that we had waited until he was at least a year old, but we were remembering our previous lab, Derby, who was an entire male and VERY difficult, which we did not want to have happen again.

The corgi, Dewey, was picked up by animal control when they estimated he was 10-12 months, and he was done a few weeks later.
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