When to get spayed

[Jessie40]

Hi, we have a 10 month old puppy who has been in season once. We are due to have her spayed next week.
Our question is... she s a lovely bouncy full of fun pup, will her personality change. I know boys can go quiet.
Should we have it done now or wait a bit
Thanks for any advice

I’ve always been told in the past that you should wait until after 18 months as the dog needs the hormones for growth.
I have a cocker and his personality hasn’t changed a bit, he’s still wild!

You need to get it done half way between seasons as that’s when the hormone level is at its lowest, so avoiding some problems. And not before she’s fully mature to allow the skeleton to fully develop. It doesn’t usually change personality much, not even for the boys, but it can change the coat quite significantly in some breeds.

The breeder we got our pointer from advised us to wait until she’d had at least one or preferably two seasons before spaying. She ended up having three, as lockdown one meant cancellation of her op. She had the op in December and is just now fully recovered. Could you ask the breeder?

The vet is saying its fine. The breeder hasn't really offered any advice. She just seems too young but obviously want to do the right thing for her.

What breed is she?

A lot depends on the size of dog, we've a large breed and been told 2 seasons at least

She's a shih tzu

I think she’s definitely too young. She’s a small breed but even so needs time to mature properly. Her growth plates won’t have closed yet, around 18 months in small breeds. I really don’t know why some vets will neuter puppies so young.

Too young IMO, I won't spay my girl until she's atleast two and fully matured. My vet advised me to spay her before her first season (haha!) they do love to gain financially from giving people poor advice sometimes!

This scientific study suggest 2 years for a ShiTzu

here

Shih Tzu
^^The study population was 104 intact males, 112 neutered males, 77 intact females, and 139 spayed females for a total sample of 432 cases. In this small-dog breed there were no occurrences of joint disorders in either intact or neutered males and females, revealing virtually no vulnerability in this regard. There was no occurrence of the cancers followed in intact males and females. In neutered males there was no occurrence of cancers. However, in females, the occurrence of cancers for those spayed at 6-11 mo. was 7 percent and at 1 year this measure reached a significant 18 percent (p