How do you decide when to get dog neutered?

[bbcessex]

Hi all

Our Labrador is a 10 month old boy.

He’s humped the sofa and a seemingly special blanket regularly but has now moved on to trying me and my teenage daughter as well.

It’s properly off putting. I’ve read differing views about when to neuter.. does anyone have any advice please?

Ask your vet

With males as it’s ideal to neuter ASAP. So speak to your vet and see what age they suggest. Some will do it from 4 months but most agree around the age of 6 months.

A lot of the current thinking is that you should wait until the dog has fully grown because neutering too early has been shown to affect the growth plates. My vets also didn't recommend neutering if there were any behavioural issues especially fear aggression of other dogs or people as a lack of testosterone could make that worse.

I had my cocker done at 10.5 months old because I also needed to factor in time off work for his 2 weeks recovery otherwise I would have probably waited until after 12 months.

Humping may well not stop just because you neuter.

Thanks all. We did speak to the vet previously and she was actually a bit non-commital, although certainly of the view that we should wait until 1 year at least, if no issues.

Good point about time off work, Bitey. We do mainly work from home but still need to factor in any extra attention needed.

I thought the current thinking about large breeds was to wait until they’re about two?

The bigger the dog the longer they advise to wait but around 10 months is considered ok (varies by breed too) my vet advised 8-9 months for ours

I have a giant breed. 2 years is the minimum recommended age.
TBH I would generally only neuter to prevent pregnancy in a bitch or running off if a dog does so to get to a bitch in season.

We had our Goldie done at 15 months. He was very humpy and generally hyper with other dogs, plus he was a nightmare with teen dd and her friends.
A FB breed group I’m a member of is 90% anti neutering but for us it was absolutely the right choice. He was much calmer and daycare said it was like having a different (better ) dog

Thanks all. I’ll monitor and see how it goes

We just had our miniature poodle neutered at 8 months. Vets said from 6 months for smaller dogs and over 1 tear for larger dogs as they grow slower but ours would have done most of his growing now.

After just a week he is still pretty hyper about other dogs and still enjoys humping his favourite cushion. I didn’t think he’d be feeling up to that so soon!

But he is a LOT hungrier. I mentioned it and the vet said that neutering slows a dogs metabolism by about 30% but increases his appetite by around the same.
I’m looking on the bright side with that - it will make him super focused on training for treats!

Loads of recent research saying that early neutering has affects on bones and interesting a more increased risk of damaged cruciate. The only behaviour that neutering alters is spray marking so it will do little to help the humping. Best to leave until at least 2 years old

Vet advised to wait till at least 2 before getting our male lab neutered as there's an increased risk of hip problems for labs if done earlier.
We waited till he was 3, and then got him done in a rush after he spotted a female in season, he was desperate to get to her and almost did. DH tripped over when dog pulled on the lead and only just managed to hang onto it.

OP - re the humping. We trained our dog to only hump in his bed out of sight of visitors, and anyone else likely to be startled by the sight of an intact lab in full arousal mode . He soon learnt, if he was somewhere inapropriate we sent him to his bed.

I've just got my cocker spaniel done at 18 months. he wasn't really humping anything just being very persistant not leaving other dogs alone. Its annoying that there is so much conflicting advice/ information around.

Was just coming on to say what @MasonJar & other posers have said about labs being fully grown before neutering.

I also read an article earlier saying that recent studies show links with early neutering & aggression .

My boy is 6 ,he's still intact & with all the recent research & advice regarding Retrievers I may not get him done at all.

@hoppinggreen I think I'm on the same Golden Facebook page. Some of them are quite aggressive with their anti neutering campaign! My golden boy is 16 months and I plan to neuter him after 18 months. He isn't a humper but I'm hoping it will calm him a bit!

Are they all “ I’ve had eleventy billion dogs for 890 years and no need for neutering, just proper training” red .?
If so, yes probably the same group 😁

That sounds like the one! "I've got 24 entire males in my house with no issues. Neutering is the worse thing you can do to a dog!"

I wouldn’t say it’s the worst thing but it often doesn’t help! There’s an implant you can get that’s temporary and would let you see if it’s a solution.