How young is too young to spay & neuter?

CharlieDog

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#21
I'm actually really weirded out about girl dogs junk lol so I don't look at it. Enzo didn't have nipples until after her first heat with me. I got her at nine months, so it's possible shed never had one before that.

There's a pit bull mix who comes to daycare. She must have had a litter or four before being picked up on the street. You guys, her nipples are enormous. Everyone rock paper scissors at work when her owner wants her to have a bath because no one wants to touch them lol
 

BostonBanker

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#22
Ugh. Girl's stuff doesn't bother me - Meg had a litter before I got her, so stuff is "there", but it isn't flopping around or anything. Boy stuff is gross. I'd have neutered Gusto at 6 weeks if it meant he wouldn't have anything down there. Like a little Ken doll.
 

Emily

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#23
LOL no junk really bothers me, I think boys looks weird without balls and girls looks weird with like zero nipples... although CharlieDog's description is pretty repulsive, hahaha!

Ok so some junk bothers me... the other day I bathed an intact male Swissy and his. balls. were. SO. HUGE. IT WAS LIKE A SACK OF APPLES. I admit I was kind of traumatized, though personally I still find hanging empty scrotums far worse!
 

OwnedByBCs

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#24
For me... it depends on what the dog is doing. Faith was spayed because she is a FEMA dog, and needed to not go into heat. She had two litters and was 6 when she was spayed. Sadie, probably won't ever be spayed. She loves showing and until she tells me that she doesn't want to show, I will keep doing it. She is 7 now and just started showing in veterans. Gyp was monorchid, so he was neutered before he turned 2. He is also a great example of the structural issues that are associated with early spay and neuter.
 

JacksonsMom

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#25
Physically, they're far better developed. In females, it's milder, they simply seem to have a more natural shape and carry weight much better. In males it's like painful, those altered "late" have large heads, necks, shoulders, are much better proportioned in general. The neuters done before maturity tend to appear slab-sided, narrow fronts, small heads. I've yet to be surprised by a client telling me, "He was HUMPING? But he got 'snipped' at 5 months!" vs. them telling me a dog was rescue as an adult (likely intact until then) etc. I can spot the "manly" boys from a mile away.

We even had a young female dog come into work that I looked at wondered if she was really spayed. Turned out she had a retained ovary and came into "heat" shortly after she first started coming to us.

Behaviorally, they act... neutered, lol, in the purist sense of the word. Genderless. That's what some people want, actually, I just happen to find it weird. They do tend to act slightly... immature. I'm not sure that behavioral differences are particularly significant though, tbh. The early neuters still mark and hump, they just kinda look like they have no idea why they're doing it, LOL! (ETA) Intact or late altered males seems to be very clear that they're marking their territory, or interested in girls, etc, in contrast.

Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions, of course, but this is what I've seen by far and large.
I definitely have noticed this with a dog that I dogsit for. He was rescued and fixed at 8 weeks old.

He's over one now and just soooo immature. It's hard to explain. He's just different, it's not simply playfulness or whatever, he's just kind of clueless. He still humps dogs at the dog park. And you nailed it, when he marks, it's like... he has NO idea what he's doing, it's a very awkward leg lift. He's also so awkwardly shaped too, very long legged, like he grew too fast/too tall.

Huge difference between him and Jackson though, who was neutered around 8 months. If I knew more back then, as I do now, I'd probably have waited even a bit longer.

I know sometimes it can just be personalities and stuff, but I can tell a big difference, that's hard to explain.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#26
Arnold is one of those exceptions, neutered at 4 months, male as it gets. Humper, pee-er, SSA, etc. I've always wondered though if he would look stouter with more hormones. He's a lanky dog by nature.
 

Southpaw

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#27
Well because I've always had it drilled into my head that you fix a dog at 6 months old, any age before that seems TOO young. I get why shelters do it though.

I am starting to think that for ME 6 months old is too young as well (maybe. Boy dogs humping and marking is so beyond unappealing to me), but I absolutely think doing it at that age is the best decision for the majority of pet owners.

Both of mine were spayed at 6 months and unfortunately it's impossible to know if it affected their behavior or structure in any way.
 
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#28
For me personally any age is too young ideally. Overall altering wigs me out but especially before at least 18 months.

And I agree, you can defiantly overall tell a dog that was altered young (or at all). Different look, different feel, different temperament. My sister has been going to the dog park with me and I started pointing out intact dogs to her before seeing any genitalia. By the end of a couple trip she was able to start picking them out too. Females and males a like. Though, one female we both thought was intact but she was a recently spayed rescue (shaved belly and all).

For rescues? Well, it's one of the main reasons even if I was allowed to adopt I wouldn't and would rather get an intact craigslist dog. I agree with Emily that I really would like to see them explore solutions that don't rid the dog of important hormones.

And overall, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think better education rather than propaganda is key. Most people don't know what a heat looks like or that it's more than just bleeding and done. Rather than screaming to alter all dogs because they will have cancer and babies explode from them give them the information.
 

Laurelin

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#29
Beau wasn't neutered until he was 6 1/2 (and it was for behavior reasons, and the neuter did help). His wee-wee looks bizarre now. It's like... it doesn't stick out from his belly much. And he got weird awful old man neuter coat and gained weight like crazy. He's lost most the weight now but is still not as muscled as he was. Of course now he's not a dog that humps and marks EVERYTHING.

Mia has been my youngest at 11 months. She is very puppy still and I often wonder if that has to do with it but I think it's just her personality. Summer was spayed at 4 after losing two litters (one absorbed, the other was a stillborn puppy). I honestly don't think you can tell she's spayed at all. Her coat never got weird and she never gained weight/had to reduce food like my other dogs have. I honestly wonder if it's because she went through a pregnancy before being spayed.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#30
Oh and BTW Shamoo has hideously huge junk. It's like wham bam and the saggy nipples? Forget about it. Of course she's old as a dinosaur and she had a few litters and was obese when I found her.

Balls do gross me out though and I am SO thankful Backup has hairy balls. Naked pit bull balls wagging around are nasty.
 

Laurelin

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#31
I'm honestly in a dilemma now. The breeders I like in a couple breeds don't register with the AKC but I need AKC registration to do agility around here. To ILP you need to neuter your dog. Blegh.

My preferred plan is if it's a girl let them go through a few heats then spay. Boy, keep intact unless there's a problem. Bernard is still intact and I don't think he'll ever be neutered.

I do really wish I'd let Mia go through a heat before spaying her. Her breeder wanted her done before 10 months and I held out to 11 months.
 

PWCorgi

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#32
Just wanted to stop in and say that despite being neutered right at 6 months, Frodo has a huge johnson. :cool:

:rofl1:

As for me, if I ever have a female dog I plan on getting her spayed because I don't want to deal with it. I don't plan on having a female dog. Ever.

For boys, I'd absolutely wait until maturity, but then they're coming off. Cause racecar.
 

Emily

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#33
I'm honestly in a dilemma now. The breeders I like in a couple breeds don't register with the AKC but I need AKC registration to do agility around here. To ILP you need to neuter your dog. Blegh.

My preferred plan is if it's a girl let them go through a few heats then spay. Boy, keep intact unless there's a problem. Bernard is still intact and I don't think he'll ever be neutered.

I do really wish I'd let Mia go through a heat before spaying her. Her breeder wanted her done before 10 months and I held out to 11 months.
Are you talking BC's? ABCA reg will get you AKC reg, but many of the breeders make that in direct violation of their contract. Same goes for ASCA, I believe. Usually with the working Aussies/BC's it's a matter of breech of contract.
 

Paige

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#34
I don't know if it was just age or hormones but Bandit eats about a fourth of what he did before. His muscle tone used to be beautiful and now I have a hard time keeping him nice and trim. I swear Chihuahuas eat more than he does.

:(
 

Laurelin

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#35
Are you talking BC's? ABCA reg will get you AKC reg, but many of the breeders make that in direct violation of their contract. Same goes for ASCA, I believe. Usually with the working Aussies/BC's it's a matter of breech of contract.
Yes with BCs it's often a breech of contract. Well with pretty much every BC breeder I've been interested in. It seems less common in the Aussie breeders I've looked at. A lot more dual ASCA and AKC regged dogs.
 

elegy

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#36
LOL no junk really bothers me, I think boys looks weird without balls and girls looks weird with like zero nipples... although CharlieDog's description is pretty repulsive, hahaha!

Ok so some junk bothers me... the other day I bathed an intact male Swissy and his. balls. were. SO. HUGE. IT WAS LIKE A SACK OF APPLES. I admit I was kind of traumatized, though personally I still find hanging empty scrotums far worse!
I admit, it skeeves me out when we have old intact dogs come in and their balls are bouncing off their knees. Get those boys some tighty whiteys or *something*.

I find Luce's boobies very distracting. They're not huge, but they're definitely *there*. Her mustn't touch it is, at least, relatively discreet. LOL
 

Laurelin

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#37
I know this will sound really odd but I notice a lot of female pit bulls in particular have huge and strange looking er.... 'mustn't touches'. (to put it like you said) It distracts me.
 
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#38
Balls really don't bother me. I mean, Traveler's are really not in your face unless he's putting them literally in your face. I get told what a pretty girl he is all the time. But overall I find nothing offensive or gross about them. Looks wrong to me when they aren't there.

And Paige, Kaylee is at least 85 lb and eats way less than Traveler at 39 and she's still overweight. I blame altering and unfortunate genetics but I feel so bad for her because she's always hungry but if given anymore than she gets she would be obese.
 

Emily

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#39
I don't know if it was just age or hormones but Bandit eats about a fourth of what he did before. His muscle tone used to be beautiful and now I have a hard time keeping him nice and trim. I swear Chihuahuas eat more than he does.

:(
Macky has the same deal. She eats a minuscule amount of food, gets lot of exercise, and still isn't as lean as I'd like. It's really frustrating.

Keeva, OTO, eats a generous portion of raw food for her size plus marrow bones, chews, training treats, stuffed kongs, and is still sport lean with big muscles. It's a relief not to have to stress over how much eats, I have to say. Yes, Keeva is an adolescent still, but Macky was chubby 15 months (Keeva's age). We were SHOCKED to realize it, because she was eating a reasonable amount of food and getting lots of exercise.

I know that there's more at play than just hormones (although even her vet feels that's a large part of why Keeva is as lean as she is), but... if I needed another reason to think twice about altering, that's certainly a good one.

Laurelin, I remember looking at BC breeders before I got DemonSeed and wanting to SCREAM. "I JUST WANT TO DO SPORTS, I SWEAR!" lol
 

yoko

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#40
Mackenzy has no nipples. NO. NIPPLES. YOU GUYS. They're flat spots. As for her vajayjay... the running joke is that it only exists in theory, nobody's actually seen it.
Same for Yoshi... I didn't even know she had them *yeah I'm stupid* until I was like what is this tiny bump??? Took her to the doctor and was told it was a nipple.

Female dogs with giant dog boobs kinda gross me out x.x


For spay/neuter I like how boy dogs look if they aren't neutered or are neutered later in life. They just look like boys. For females though I can't always tell a difference.

I'll always get my dog as a shelter rescue though so they'll be spay/neutered regardless of age.
 

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