When to neuter?

[Iteotwawki]

We've been talking about getting a puppy / dog for some time, & are going for a labradoodle or retradoodle because of the non shedding fleece coat.

There are 2 recommended breeders here - one advocates neutering at 6months of age to allow the puppy to experience some hormones (but before first heat), the other neuters them before they leave (so 8 ish weeks).

Which is better for the dog?

Personally (as a breeder) I prefer to see dogs mature before they are neutered, or at least have one season for bitches. Dogs of a large breed, at least two years if neutered at all.

You do realise that any poodle crossbreed can shed?

I know there is the potential for the coat to shed, but the breeder I am looking at / talking to seems very careful to distinguish the pups by coat type as well as colour & temperament. If we get one that sheds, l'll clean more (and take more antihistamines). Hoping to get one that doesn't though.

Thanks for this thread. Our dog is 8 months old and we are having the same dilemma. The breeder said 6 months as it lowers the risk of mammary tumours and they recover more quickly if they have it done at a younger age. Another breeder I spoke to said 2 years. Then I read an article the other day that said to wait until they've stopped growing as neutering at an early age can inhibit the growth hormones and cause all sorts of problems for their joints. It's so difficult to know what to do for the best.

We are getting a puppy(Vizsla) in a few weeks. Our breeder has advised to wait until he is at least 18 months old before neutering, this agrees with the evidence I have read too. As supertressy says, it's to do with growth hormones etc. I will try and link some articles, but never done that before!

It's confusing as many vets will automatically suggest 6 months I think

What breeder would recommend having them neutered at 8 weeks? Whats the reasoning there?

SPCA etc advocate neutering young to try and catch all dogs to prevent unwanted litters. Bitches are recommended to be speyed after the first season to lower the incidence of some cancers (but it does increase the likelihood of mammary cancer even though it is only slight). Dogs - opinion is divided as to whether they need to be castrated at all. We had our dog done at 16 months and it was probably a bit late, some of his nuisance behaviours had set in by then which may or may not have been attributable to reaching maturity (i.e. very protective of our speyed bitch and us too, very barky etc).

We had MuttDog spayed at 6 months. She was around unneutered males and we did not want to risk yet another unwanted litter. She is a quiet, lovely, well natured Mutt and I think a lot of that is down to not having that rush of teenage hormones.

Before making a decision when or if to neuter please read the following article.

www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

But for every non-peer reviewed study, there is a rebuttal Decoded Science

My springer spaniel is just over 2 years old and has not been neutured. He has been to puppy training classes plus had some 1:1 training and he is a very chilled out, relaxed dog. I don't believe that neutering will stop undesired behaviour, they learn bad habits and the only way to change that is to train them.

I can't take credit for my dog being so good, I think we got lucky with him. His breeder did a lot of work with him in the early days which I think had something to do with how he has turned out. Even the vet comments on what a good dog he is!

I used to believe that neutering reduces bad behaviour but not anymore.

I recently attended a clinical review meeting about neutering. We considered all the studies out there. Firstly all the studies are very small so any numbers have too be taken with a large pinch of salt.
The agreement about 200 vets came to was that bitches should be done before their third season as after this there is little benefit in reducing mammary tumours. With dogs it is not clear cut and there are health benefits with neutering and health disadvantages.

Thank you for the links!

We're probably going for a dog rather than a bitch (not quite sure why but I don't really mind which gender it is) so looks like we have time to think about neutering. On balance it will definitely be later on in life, if at all. The only reason I am still thinking about it is because I don't want to be even partly responsible for an unwanted litter.

Neutering at 8 weeks seems brutal and is totally unnecessary. Is the breeder who does this also charging an outrageous price for her cross-bred puppies? If you want a poodle-cross because poodles don't moult, why not buy a poodle?