We plan to fix our female golden retriever at around 12 months. She is on the small side (40 lbs at 9 months). I have no desire to put up with multiple heat cycles. Hopefully, we will not even have to deal with them at all.

One downside of neutering late is that I see so many intact male dogs in my agility/obedience classes, PetsMart, restaurant patios, Home Depot, etc that are constantly marking inside. It's gross.

We had our Lab spayed at 21 months. The breeder said to ideally wait until 2 yrs but after the first heat as long as it was after 18 months, it was fine.

Here is a study done with golden retrievers.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3572183/

Thanks all—it’s a male golden retriever. He’s actually our third one — the first was fixed at 6 months under the old advice and the second closer to 2 years. I do think the first has more issues with old age obesity that was maybe related to the early fix and also he had cancer but it was a very curable one and he lived almost 5 years after the tumor was removed. So a decent health outcome for him despite his chunky old age.
For whatever reason, we were told 12-18 months this time (although I think 8 years ago we were told 18-24).

Anonymous wrote:I have a male lab mix I rescued at approx 12 weeks and the vet said wait until a year old. Same reasons you were given.
However, all my prior rescues were fixed when I got them. One was 10 mos and one was a year but already spayed a few months before.
Neither one had joint issues.
I’ve also fostered several dogs. They’re all
Spayed and neutered early. Rescues are generally healthier than pure breds so this doesnt totally make sense.

Off the top of my head, I can think of three people who adopted rescue puppies fixed between 8 and 12 weeks old, and the health outcomes were heartbreaking. Two of those dogs suffered CCL tears that required surgery, while another owner saw both of their puppies develop hip dysplasia. Even my sister’s dog, who was spayed at just 8 weeks, has struggled with ongoing urinary incontinence.

Based on what we read and on the advice of our vet, we neutered our St. Bernard at 2 years old.

I have a male lab mix I rescued at approx 12 weeks and the vet said wait until a year old. Same reasons you were given.
However, all my prior rescues were fixed when I got them. One was 10 mos and one was a year but already spayed a few months before.
Neither one had joint issues.
I’ve also fostered several dogs. They’re all
Spayed and neutered early. Rescues are generally healthier than pure breds so this doesnt totally make sense.

If you do a vasectomy it can be done much earlier if your only goal is to prevent breeding if male or an ovary sparing hysterectomy if female.

Our initial plan was to neuter our male dog at the two-year mark, but we ultimately decided against the procedure. Since he wasn't exhibiting any behavioral challenges, the surgery felt unnecessary. At five years old, he is doing wonderfully. We’ve also been following the emerging research on the topic; while the focus used to be strictly on bone and joint development, current studies are increasingly highlighting the impact of hormones on cognitive health and cancer prevention.

What breed? Asking because the range for what some people consider to be a large breed can be pretty wide... like 75lb to 130lb. And the dogs on the top end of that range seem to be the ones that vets are more concerned about from a growth-bone structure perspective.

Anonymous wrote:I was told to wait until two for my male dog and that’s what I did.

Same here. For some large breed dogs this is especially important - because fixing them early can lead to joint problems when they are older - and even issues with incontinence in females. We consulted with two experienced vets and both told us to wait at least 18 months and ideally closer to 2 years.

I was told to wait until two for my male dog and that’s what I did.

Large breeds should be spayed 2 to 3 months after their first heat cycle

Do what’s convenient

For large breed puppies they are now recommending fixing between 12 to 18 months. Does anyone have thoughts on whether it makes much difference if it’s 13/14 or 18? With our last dog we waited until 18 but just given some other stuff going on in our lives, it would be a lot more convenient to do it at 13/14.