When to neuter dog - for practical reasons, recovery etc

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Ddog has had chemical castration (we did this on advice to see how he reacted to it) about six months ago and I'm thinking of getting him in for the chop so we don't do another chemical as it begins to wear off.

What is recovery usually like? Do I need time off after? I WFH a fair bit but a few days a week he's off with the dog walker running about and having a great time. I thought doing it around Christmas would be sensible so I'm not in the office at all. He's a small breed. What is recovery like? Appreciate any views, thank you

Had my rescue lab done not long after we got him. We opted for the body suit thing in preference to the cone of shame. It's like a onesie that stopped him licking the wound, but could be unpoppered and pulled over his body to allow him to relieve himself on walks.

If I recall, he only needed this on for a week or so, and it meant I couldn't let him off the lead as exercise had to be gentle and I didn't want him splashing into mud / water etc. I ended up taking him on 3 shorter walks rather than 2 long ones, but it was all very manageable and not a big issue. Thoroughly recommend the onesie thing though, much better than the cone.

When our beagle got neutered he needed someone with him the day of the operation - he was really out of it and confused when he came home and I couldn't have left him on his own.

The next day he was still tired but we did a short lead walk. He was pretty much back to his usual self though. The following day he was 100% back to normal. He recovered really quickly.

He won't be able to go off the lead for 10-14 days after the operation and some walkers won't take them at all until they've had the "all clear", so make sure you speak to your walker and see what they're able to do!

Oh, and we didn't use a cone or a onesie on him at all :)

Thank you both, much appreciated!

Mine is the cautionary tale:
1 year old samoyed was showing unwanted behaviour to friend's little boy, so it was time for neutering. Operation went well, no problems there.
Unfortunately the edge of the cone was just at the incision line if he bent right, so we had large swelling and very painful, red, fluid filled testes sack. This in turn led to infection.
Given the state of things the vets ended up doing a full scrotal ablation (removing the entire sack) and extra healing time in cone. We tried a suit, but he was actually much happier crashing around (our knees knew it) in a cone than that.
Saying all that what we experienced was quite rare, vets said 2% of cases.
Good luck either way, we now have a new boy pup and he'll still be undergoing the procedure when it's time.

Im dreading getting mine down. He is a dalmatian X and needs 2 plus hours running wild every day to be even slightly manageable

My small breed was very sorry got himself for a couple of days and needed regular painkillers (tbf he is a complete baby at the best of times!) then he was okay for short walks.

He wore the baby vest thing, he hated it but it did stop him licking so was useful for when I couldn't have my eyes on him.

In total I'd say it was a couple of weeks before he was completely back to normal but like I said he is a bit of a wimp!