The Debate on When to Spay or Neuter Your Dog
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Let me start by saying I have always been an advocate for spaying and neutering. Until now I've believed it was the best thing to do for a dog's health, behavior, and obviously the overpopulation of dogs. I have always had male dogs and the past 5 dogs we have had have been neutered at 6 months or 8 weeks if they were a rescue. We recently got a large breed puppy and at his 8 week appointment the vet recommended no earlier than 1 year possibly waiting until 2 years. Basically until the dog's body is fully matured. I just took him back in for his 12 week appointment and had a different vet at the practice. This vet recommended the traditional 6 months to avoid unwanted behaviors.
When I got home I started down the rabbit hole of Google researching and trying to decide when the best time to neuter would be. I'll post a couple of the articles that I read below, but the consensus from my reading of different studies and opinions was disconcerting. Health wise it does reduce the risk of hormonal cancers but increases the risk of various other cancers. The behavior part is really what got me thinking, I've always been told by vets that spaying and neutering reduces the risk of aggression issues, but the few studies that have been done show the opposite. Spaying and neutering at any age increases anxiety and therefore aggression issues. While for the most part our past dogs were all good dogs, they all had some sort of behavioral issue even though we did extensive training and socializing. The one rescue we have that was neutered at 8 weeks has major anxiety issues and our last dog that was neutered at 6 months had occasional aggression issues leading to the need for Prozac. My sister's rescue female was also spayed at 8 weeks and has major anxiety issues now at 6 years old that they need to medicate with Trazodone. They had this dog professionally trained and they extensively socialized her, they are at a loss as to why her anxiety keeps getting worse. Finally, my mother said the best dog she has ever had was an unaltered male dog. She said he was an amazing dog and had no behavioral issues. She also said her and my dad had just gotten married and were extremely busy and did minimal training but that he was very even tempered and never had any of the anxiety issues we are seeing in our dogs and friend's dogs today. One other thing in my reading that I found interesting is that in many European countries the rates of spaying and neutering are much lower. In Norway it is illegal to have your dog spayed or neutered. I can't believe that all of their male dogs are humpy and aggressive with marking issues like we are led to believe will happen. Now I don't know what to do, but I am almost leaning towards not having him neutered at all. Although there is such a stigma here for not having it done, and unneutered male dogs are obviously pretty easy to notice. Please share your thoughts and opinions! https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/when-should-you-neuter-your-dog-avoid-health-risks https://www.baxterboo.com/fun/a.cfm/why-you-should-consider-not-spaying-or-neutering-your-dog/ https://www-psychologytoday-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201702/are-there-behavior-changes-when-dogs-are-spayed-or-neutered?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16243289412542&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fus%2Fblog%2Fcanine-corner%2F201702%2Fare-there-behavior-changes-when-dogs-are-spayed-or-neutered |
Anonymous
| With our first couple dogs, they were neutered around the typical-in-the-US 6 mos. Those were all shelter/rescue puppies. Our latest dog is an English lab from a breeder who strongly recommended waiting until 2 years, saying that was best for the full bone structure to develop. However, we ended up doing it at 16 mos because he could not be around other dogs from mounting all of them. I supposed he would have outgrown that with training and time but neutering definitely showed a sharp reduction in the behavior so I'm glad we did it. |
Anonymous
|
I sympathize; I always research extensively and think (and over-think) before making decisions, wanting to do the right thing. And of course, the more you dig into any issue, the more data you alas,, the more complex the decision becomes.
However, I can tell you in this instance, with great confidence, that spaying/neutering is the right choice in 99% of all situations. Whether you delay or not may be the decision you continue to ponder, but in the end, spay/neuter is without doubt the right decision. |
Anonymous
I'm seeing way too much of this out at the parks and I've begun to lose patience with it. I of course had some of the same concerns for my own puppy, but looked at the actual rates and thought it was a minimal decrease in issues between about 10 months and later and neutered him then. Leading up to the neuter, he was also attacked a few times as other dogs can take issue with unaltered males. The whole thing was stressful and the more he was humped the more he began to hump and I was just done with that. You also can't board or do doggy daycare with un neutered dogs. If you live on a farm and can carefully control dog interactions maybe it's fine, but I live in the city and I think if your dog is meeting and playing with other dogs they really should be neutered. It's pretty antisocial behavior and while people will cut you some slack for a 6 month old humper it's a lot harder to tolerate as they get past a year. |
Anonymous
|
Yeah, waiting or not spaying / neutering may work great in Europe, where standards for dog behavior in public are much higher than here--in the US it seems that many dog owners think it's totally fine for their dogs to run up to/jump on other dogs and people. In Europe not so much.
Also, if you choose to wait, you must be 1000% certain your dog will not contribute to unwanted litters. Period. |
Anonymous
| I have a seven month old rescue puppy and I’m similarly agonizing over this. We’ve done a lot of training snd socializing and he’s a wonderful wonderful dog. No anxiety or stress, very friendly and social. Im mostly worried about the impact of neutering on his behavior. Im worried he will change behavior-wise. |
Anonymous
| I had my dog neutered at six months. He is not an anxious nor a neurotic dog so the correlation is not 1. We did it at six months because that is what our veterinarian recommended. He’s a small breed dog though as he is only 11.5 pounds. I just love that he does not have any of the unwanted behaviors. He does not mark territory on our walks. The only thing he humps is one large stuffed animal from his toybox. We call that stuffed animal his girlfriend. Outside of that, nothing. We do not take him to the dog park though. There are a couple of dogs in our neighborhood whom he plays with in one of our backyards. |
Anonymous
|
We waited until after the first heat with one dog. With our second dog who had a lot of health issues, we waited until two years. We would never not spay or not neuter, but we wanted both to be fully developed in terms of bones and hormones before doing it.
I will say, this does limit what you can do with your dog. Most training classes, boarding facilities, won't take non-spay/neutered dogs. And you definitely have to be careful when walking if the dog is in heat. |
Anonymous
It has not been my experience that there were any negative behavior changes in my own dogs after neutering. I have, however, noticed that most of the territorial aggression that I have witnessed is from unaltered (both male & female) dogs. |
Anonymous
+1. This is the first I am hearing about anxiety or stress related to neutering or spaying. Neither have ever had any negative impact on my dogs and any behavior changes have been for the better (less wandering, less aggression, less likely to remain in the "boundary testing" phase). That is with neutering/spaying at or after 6 months of age. I wouldn't do sooner, though I understand why rescues and shelters do. Most of the territorial aggression does seem to be from the unneutered/spayed. |
Anonymous
| Thank you for that PP! |
Anonymous
| Anyone here who chose not to spay or neuter their dog who can weigh in? |
Anonymous
|
There is really no legitimate debate about waiting for large breed male dogs. There was significant research about this several years ago and the data was quick clear that waiting until 1-2 years had significant health benefits for large breed male dogs. It was less clear for female or small breed dogs.
I’m shocked the second vet didn’t know this and suggests he is waaaaaay behind on research. But the research also indicated no real benefit to never neutering, as compared to weighting until 18-24 months. And some negative as you have to worry about testicular cancer and, depending on dog, potential issues with humping or territory guarding. |
Anonymous
| Until this last week I’ve only had rescue dogs that have been spayed/neutered when we got them. We got a male puppy a week ago and his breeder recommended waiting till 2, our vet recommended waiting till 1…..he is not a large breed dog. We are just going to see how it goes and try and hold out till a year since it seems like the best thing for him. I haven’t gone to dog parks in about 10 years so I have no experience with unaltered dogs and their bad behavior, I feel like dog parks in general feed into bad behavior from the owners and the dogs so I generally stay away from them |
Anonymous
| Some male dogs do not hump. My 1 year old large breed that is not altered does not have this issue. We most likely will not alter because there are more downsides and we don’t have a wandering issue with this dog. I would alter if a female because one escape and you could have a litter. |