well, I didnt want to take over another thread so would like some advice. Yes, ultimately it is up to me to decide what is best but would still like others opinions..

the dogs we had when i was younger were all entire, and shannon, the english setter was terrible for humping everything in sight!

Then i got naseem, a rescue dog when i was 17, and due to his behaviour we had him "done" although i never found an improvement in his behaviour.

Then i got willow the weimeraner who was a bitch and was going to get spayed due to the health benefits, but long story...

Now we have reuben the poodle x bedlington and just found out that he has a birth defect (its a dermoid cyst on the back of his neck/spine and will not know fully how bad it is until they operate) and the vet has told us he will need to be neutered. As he needs an op, they have suggested doing it all together, so there are less risks.. Now, we were never going to breed from him, and I understand the health benefits, but Im still chewed up about it. It just was not something we had really thought about doing, and specifically chose a dog instead of a bitch, as I had complications with naz and harley my cats neuters..

What age is best, the vet told me he will "try and wait until 6 months" but other things ive read recommend as old as 3?

Also, after reading up on the pros and cons im just more confused.

Tori x

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I'd recommend neutering after 12 months old for a small-medium breed/s.

Whether you neuter or not is up to you. I would personally neuter all my dogs if they were pets. I don't see the increased health risks to neutering dogs at all.

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I OWN A CHOCOLATE ROAN COCKER SPANIEL
RIP David xx Run free at the bridge. Love you always xx 19th February 2011
RIP Jack and Mickey xx Run free at the bridge. Love you forever xx 20th June 2011

The advice is to allow your dog to mature properly first, and that really depends on the individual dog, but most don't stop fully growing/developing until at least 18 months. The advice is two fold really, if you neuter a dog whilst it's still developing, it can have an effect on the rate at which they grow, as I understand it, until their bone plates have fully fused, neutering early can cause them to carry on growing and so they end up larger than they would have been left entire. It can also affect their character, removing hormones too early can leave some dogs puppyish, so the preference is also to allow them to fully develop mentally. I have had one bitch spayed, and she was about two and a half years old, although looking back, I think I would have preferred to leave it until she was three and a half, but I still feel I made the best decision at the time, which is all any of us can do.

No-one can tell you what to do with your boy, personally, my choice would be to keep a dog entire unless you had any real reason to have him neutered, and that for me would be any direct health issues. Other people have different criteria, and, as I posted on the other thread, I can fully understand the advice about neutering for people in built up areas with lots of dogs, my only bug bear is I really wish people made the effort to find out a bit more before putting their dog through quite a bit operation, which you're obviously trying to do, but a lot of people just go with the flow and don't give it a second thought.

Good luck with your decision, it's never easy taking the responsibility for this sort of thing

I thought about this yesterday on a similar thread. My feelings until then were that if I had a dog, I probably wouldnt bother unless it became a problem BUT thinking about why I had Heidi spayed, those reasons are equally as important for a dog.

Firstly because of the health implications for entire females. I think maybe the risks arent as grave for males.
Secondly because I didnt want her having puppies. An entire male is an equal risk - he will create the puppies.
Thirdly, no point in her going thro seasons. A male will have sexual urges that wont be fufilled in much the same way.
Made me realise I was probably being a tad irresponsible and it's just as important to have a male neutered.

As already mentioned, it's obviously a matter of personal opinion but I would definately echo what everyone has said - best wait until they are fully grown.

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"Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own”

This thread could,nt have come at a better time for me- Having been at vet yesterday with baxter after falling and hurting his leg, the vet said have u thought about getting him neutered or are you going to breed from him.

I like you are not sure - i feel bad, the idea of paying a vet to snip him makes me feel i would be mutilating him if i got him neutered. I wouldn't rule out having pups either. I just think of cost and think could put that money to better use.

Think i,ll wait a year or 2 then think about it.

Hope you get all the right info so you can make an informed decision

Nothing to add to what Sleeping Lion has said

I only ever neuter if I have a need to - my three rescues are neutered since they were done before I got them, but the 2 I've had from pups are still entire - Alfie is 8 so will certainly be staying that way unless I medically have to get him done and as for Harvey, he's just turned 1 so certainly wouldn't be neutered yet anyway, but even so, I've got no plans even when he is a little bit older.

My entire dogs are healthy that way, and have no behavioural issues neutering ''could'' help - their recall is spot on, they don't wander, they don't inappropriate scent make or hump, and they certainly don't have access to inseason bitches - so I have no need whatsoever to put them through a needless operation.

Choice is ultimately yours of course, but it’s always my preference to leave dogs (never owned bitches) entire until given a reason to decide otherwise

IF you do decide to get him neutered, then I personally wouldn’t do it at the same time as his other op – twice the pain. I’d rather wait until he was recovered from that and do it separately at a later date.

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''Dogs are like chocolates, you can never have just one!''

We decided to wait until our puppies are a year before neutering. They do it quite early over here, and I had Aber done on vet's advice at 7 months (and he told me that was a little late, as he could have started developing bad behaviors). After his vertebral issues, I did a lot of research and, also with the help of this forum, discovered what common sense should have told me before--they aren't done growing at 6 months, so taking away hormones can impact normal growth. Since corgis are already prone to back and joint issues, I just thought it best to let them finish growing, then take the hormones away.

And yes, we've had some behavioral problems that we've had to work around.

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Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
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"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

If you do the research and decide to neuter because you feel it's the right decision for your dog, then you've done all that any responsible dog owner can, read the facts and come to what you feel is the best decision for your dog.

I don't know what type of dog you've got, but I'd think very seriously about pups, there's a lot more involved than many people realise. It's a nice idea, but it isn't that simple.

Our vet refuses to neuter until females have had at least one season. I had planned on doing Bella anyway, but after a very heavy first season, a phantom pregnancy and pyo we really had no choice. Bella recovered very very well from her spay surgery and has been fine since.

Before Bella I had my Nelly. We only castrated him at 2 years as this is when the need arose. He was miserable when there was an in season bitch in the neighbourhood, we couldn't do off lead walks etc. Neutering him solved this within 2 months.

I believe I will neuter future dogs I may own, but defintely only after they are mature.

tbh I'm a bit confused about our small puppy. Our vets say that their new policy is that they can spay as early as 4 months but as our pup is small there could be complications with the anaesthetic so suggested 6 months.

But now that I have read about leaving them until they are fully matured I'm not sure.

I would prefer not having to go through any seasons with the blood on the carpet etc and our vets say that with every season that they go through there is a higher chance of cancer...

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