What age was your male dog when you chose to get him neutered?

[Jeffers3]

What age was your dog when you chose to get him neutered? Is there anyone who wishes they’d waited longer?

I’ve got a 8 1/2 month old Sprocker, I don’t want to breed from him so I am going to get him neutered. I keep wondering when the best time is. Nothing is really helping online and my vet says anytime now onwards but easily can wait until 18 months. He’s a lovely chap and is not humping or being dominant at all. I don’t want to leave it too long and him start these behaviours but I’m worried about doing it too soon. A friend of mine got hers done at 6 months and then said he was much more timid around other dogs.

Sorry I know I sound really soft! I’m trying to do everything right and he’s such a lovely little chap I don’t want to ruin it. Would love to hear any experiences.

[BiteyShark]

Almost 11 months of age for a small working cocker spaniel. He is now almost 2 years of age.

No obvious behavioural issues afterwards. He is a timid around other dogs and humans until he gets his confidence but he didn't become that after neutering but after several days of vet admissions due to a serious illness.

[missbattenburg]

There is a good summary of some of the impact the age of neutering can have here: dogsfirst.ie/health-issues/dog-neutering/

It is a little on the anti-neutering side so it is worth also reading up on the other side of the argument.

The KC is a little more high level but gives a balance of for/against: www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getting-a-dog-or-puppy/general-advice-about-caring-for-your-new-puppy-or-dog/puberty-and-neutering/

[Jamforlunch]

About 8 months. No problems at all after.

[QueenCity]

We hadn't planned on neutering our poodle cross at all. However, shortly after his second birthday he started marking if we went into other dog owner's houses. Our vet advised us to try a chemical castration which was a injection that lasted a couple of months. We did that and the marking stopped so we went ahead and had him neutered. His personality remained unchanged the only negative is that his coat changed entirely.

Personally I would wait and see if he develops any undesirable behaviours and make a decision based on that.

[Elphame]

Mine is 13 months old and I have no plans at present to neuter him.

[Blobbyweeble]

Mines 10 months and he’ll be neutered at a year. I had my older dog neutered at 8 months, no noticeable change in behaviour or coat. I do worry that not having this one neutered would make him more attractive to dog thieves as it’s very obvious he is entire.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

Mine was neutered at some point before about 12 months, so I didn't get the choice.

However, had I had the choice I would have gone for vasectomy (no one needs mini PestDogs!) because he does have some issues around anxiety (highly likely related to his nurture, rather than lack of balls tbh) so he could have done with keeping the testosterone. If he didn't have issues, however, he would have been neutered.

I do fear that the current backlash against neutering is going to have a knock on effect on the number of unwanted / accidental litters. Rescues have enough to be dealing with without a return to the way things used to be before spay / neuter was common.

[anniehm]

9 months -he had serious wanderlust, our six foot fence was no match for his climbing, plus he was disrespectful towards us females (though perfect for any man!)

[CostaOrProseccoPlease]

I was always advised to wait as long as possible to help them develop as best they could before doing the deed. I got to 12 months with my Labrador and his behaviour told me he needed the op then! Too son and you risk them not fully developing and higher risk of certain issues.

[Hoppinggreen]

We had our GR done at 14 months
The humping was getting out of hand!
There were a few post op complications unfortunately but it was still the right decision

[unicornchaser]

18 months with my golden retriever. Wanted to wait until at least 2 as there can be health risks attached to neutering before they are fully developed, but he was starting to get overly dominant in his dog walking group and didn't want to risk those behaviours becoming his natural instinct.

All the advice points towards leaving it as late as you can unless there are problems developing.

[HomeOfMyOwn]

Never with my Cavalier. He's 2. There has never been any unwanted behaviour (except he had a particular toy he humped occasionally in an evening between the age of 10-18months).

He has never marked indoors - he went to once when visiting my brother's house and was told no and stopped before he'd actually started. But I don't think that had anything to do with being entire since my brother's neutered female went to wee in my house the first time she visited.

He's a wimp (as most cavaliers are) and I think he'd fall into being too timid/nervous without his testosterone.

[HomeOfMyOwn]

Also regarding unwanted litters - my boy has pretty much perfect recall, is never out of my sight when outside, etc so would never have opportunity to cause an unwanted litter of pups.

[typoqueen]

only ever owned males and never had any of them neutered, never had any problems x

[Nesssie]

Had mine done at 7months.

If you aren't planning on breeding then he doesn't need them.
Will also massively reduce the likelihood of him being stolen if they can't breed from him. Spaniels are one of the most commonly stolen breeds at the moment.

[Halfahunnerstillastunner]

That Irish article is very interesting missbattenburg thank you. Our dog is still intact as our vet seems to be more on the side of "don't neuter till mature unless there's issues" rather than the automatic "chop em off at 6 months" style. Having read that, I'm glad we took his advice!

[CarlyJayne1987]

6/7 months - we dont breed and they were both a pain in the arse even at that age

Calmed down since now :)

[InBlackwaterWoods]

7 months. He is very high energy and when hormones kicked in, he was beyond hyper! Almost unmanageable.
What decided it was he got his willy out and basically wanked himself off. Then proceeded to joyously lick up the mess! 🤢
DH booked him in that day!
Calmed him right down, but he's still a numpty!
There's enough unwanted dogs in this country without him spreading his seed! We don't agree with back yard breeding.

[1frenchfoodie]

About 11 months for our cocker x lab. It was roughly what we’d been advised by the vet but he had an undescended testicle so that made it a little more urgent though he wasn’t actually showing problem bahaviour. We had an unneutered lab that got testicular cancer at 10 so that was a factor in our thinking too.