When is the very best age to neuter a dog? It depends upon the dog.
When to spay or neuter a pet dog is a personal option between the dog’s owners as well as the dog’s vet (and often a contract with a breeder or shelter).
There are pros as well as cons to spaying or neutering a puppy or pet dog of any type of age.
When I bought my weimaraner puppy from a breeder I agreed under contract to have him neutered by 14 months, as well as that was okay with me.
Remy is 10.5 months now as well as I had him neutered on Monday. I believed it would be useful for others to hear about my decision, as well as please feel complimentary to share your own examples in the comments.
When is the very best age to neuter a pet dog or puppy?
Personally, I wished to wait as long as possible before neutering Remy since the newest research study states it’s healthier for a lot of dogs to stay intact as long as possible, ideally their whole lives. I’m thankful our vet keeps as much as date with the current research study as well as he really motivated me not to neuter Remy at all.
With a larger breed like Remy, my primary worry was the direct relation between early neutering as well as boosting the dog’s danger for joint issues as well as bone cancer down the road.
Since my pet dog will be extremely active as my running partner as well as prospective agility dog, I took this seriously.
I’ve already written well-researched articles on the pros as well as cons of spaying as well as neutering dogs. You can checked out those here:
Pros as well as cons of spaying as well as neutering a dog
Are rescue groups neutering puppies as well young? Yes!
Health benefits of spaying as well as neutering:
For females, a spay surgical treatment removes her uterus as well as ovaries, getting rid of her danger of ovarian cancer, getting rid of her danger of an infected uterus (pyometra) as well as minimizing her danger of breast cancer.
For the males, eliminate the spheres as well as you get rid of the danger of testicular cancer.
Health dangers of spaying as well as neutering:
(This is just a short sampling. checked out my full publish with references here.)
Spayed as well as neutered large-breed dogs are a lot more likely to establish bone cancer
Spayed as well as neutered dogs are a lot more likely to establish hip dysplasia
They’re a lot more likely to tear their ACLs
More likely to have adverse reactions to vaccines
Spayed women are a lot more likely than intact women to have urinary incontinence.
It doesn’t take a physician to figure out that hormone-producing organs impact lots of areas of the body beyond reproduction.
OK, however what about behavior?
My visitors outside of the U.S. are shaking their heads now.
In so lots of countries, people normally do not spay as well as neuter their dogs as well as the dogs do not have behavioral issues. At least, not any type of a lot more so than spayed as well as neutered dogs.
Do you notice that when a neutered pet dog is aggressive, his habits is blamed on either the owner or a lack of training?
But when an intact pet dog is aggressive, his habits is blamed on the truth that he has balls?
With my pet dog Remy, I would’ve neutered him sooner had I observed any type of evident behavioral issues.
We have not had any type of difficulty in any way with:
Marking in the house
Aggression around other dogs
Humping other dogs
These behaviors can normally be handled with training, socialization as well as controlling the environment, however every pet dog is different. I do believe spaying/neutering can at least assist with managing specific behaviors. But it’s not a magic fix.
With Remy, he regrettably does try to hump ME on event when he’s excited, as well as he’s extremely “up close as well as personal” with sniffing people as well as dogs. He likewise humps Ace’s pet dog bed.
Rude.
I do hope these behaviors will decrease at least a bit now that he’s neutered, however I’m not counting on it. Update: Neutering did seem to stop this behavior, however he stopped a year or so later, I believe because of being a lot more mature in general.
Other aspects in my decision:
By now I hope it’s evident there is no finest age to neuter a pet dog or puppy. So much depends upon the private dog.
Here were some extra aspects for me:
Cultural issue
In the United States, there are stereotypes against intact male dogs as well as they are normally not enabled lawfully in pet dog parks, off-leash pet dog beaches, pet dog daycares, etc. I board my dogs as well as I want Remy to be able to play in the pet dog daycare groups.
Aggression from neutered dogs
This was really a huge factor.
I’ve observed the majority of other dogs tend to show aggression to Remy. It’s mainly because of his immaturity as well as explosive energy, however I have to believe it was likewise because of him being intact.
People tend to blame the intact dogs for aggression, however it’s frequently the neutered dogs that are the issue. I notice neutered dogs show aggression around Remy, as well as that comes down to bad socialization.
Anyway, Remy likes other dogs as well as regrettably a lot of tend to posture as well as growl/snap at him or even bully him or try to assault him. I’m hoping now that he’s neutered other dogs will be a lot more accepting of him.
Update: Neutering Remy did not modification exactly how other dogs respond to him. They’re responding to his ENERGY, not the truth that he was intact.
Energy
It’s a myth that neutering a pet dog will decrease his energy, however hey, if Remy occurs to have 5% less energy, I’ll take it! We’ll see.
Update: As I assumed, neutering Remy did not decrease his energy.
What about unwanted litters as well as being ‘responsible’?
This was not a aspect in any way as well as is truly a non-issue for San Diego.
We online in an area where there are not stray dogs running around, let alone dogs in heat. a lot of dogs are kept inside your home as family pets as well as are leashed in public. It would’ve been selfish for me to neuter Remy just to “prevent unwanted litters.”
It could’ve been different had we lived somewhere else, however the accountable thing to perform in our situation was think about the health and wellness as well as finest rate of interest of our own dog.
But sufficient from me.
Remy is recuperating well as well as surprisingly it’s been relatively simple to keep him quiet. however we can’t wait up until he can RUN once again in a few days!
Now I’d like to hear from you …
What were the primary aspects in your decision about if as well as when to spay or neuter your dog?
What would you state is the very best age to neuter a pet dog or puppy?
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