did I neuter too early?

DanL

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#81
Shadowfacedanes...You took the words right out of my mouth....errrrr....off the tips of my fingers!
:)
And mine too. Daisy is about 32", I can't imagine a GSD that large. This could be a great example of what happens to a large breed dog when it's neutered early. I bet he's not real thick either. Either that or he's one of those "jumbo, old world" style GSD's that unscrupulous breeders are putting out, with people who buy them unaware that the breed standard has always been under 27" for males and that there was never an old world style GSD that was bred that large.
 

smkie

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#82
My vet doesn't start until 6 months and my male got my female pregnant when he was only 3 months.

The rescue I used to foster for fixed at 6 weeks, now that I feel is WAY too young.
this is a big concern of mine, i think my mom's dog was done way to early. I can understand their reasoning about wanting to neuter before the dog leaves the shelter, but the way i see these dogs develop looks so wrong. I hope shaffer doesn't suffer because if it, he walks like an old man even at 3 yrs old.
 
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#83
Elwood was neutered at 6 months and I went to another forum where they were appalled that I had neutered him TOO YOUNG! They said that males shouldn't be neutered until 18-24 months due to their growth. They told me that by neutering too early I have caused him growth plates to close and therefore he's subject too joint problems and he will not fill out as he should:confused:.

What is the right age to neuter, I was under the assumption as soon as their shots are done it's best to neuter/spay as soon as you can but is it best to wait. I always did it at 6 months for all the dogs because I thought the earlier the better.


Many people are anti-early s/n which is about as silly as people who are anti-s/n all together or those that think everything should be done at 8 weeks old because that is what responsible people do or that responsible people s/n everything because that is the code of responsiblity. Silly-silly-silly

Growth plates do not close early from young s/n they close later. And if you don't want male behaviors 6 months is not to early. By 6 months of age the dog has done the majorty of its growing and the hormones are being released for the growth plates to begin closing. In giant breeds this is sometimes a little later in life.

I would not worry about it. Your dog will be fine.
 

DanL

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#84
Many people are anti-early s/n which is about as silly as people who are anti-s/n all together or those that think everything should be done at 8 weeks old because that is what responsible people do or that responsible people s/n everything because that is the code of responsiblity. Silly-silly-silly

Growth plates do not close early from young s/n they close later. And if you don't want male behaviors 6 months is not to early. By 6 months of age the dog has done the majorty of its growing and the hormones are being released for the growth plates to begin closing. In giant breeds this is sometimes a little later in life.

I would not worry about it. Your dog will be fine.
I could not disagree more. My dog was not nearly grown at 6 months old. At 2 1/2, he's just now reaching full size. At 6 months he was several inches shorter than he is now and he had no thickness to him. He's 30lbs heavier now and has filled out nicely. Was he mostly grown? In outward appearance, I guess you could say that. He was about 2/3 as big as he is now, which to me, really isn't mostly grown. He was mostly grown at a year, when he stopped growing taller, but he's been filling out for the last year and a half.

"Male behaviors" is another misconception. Perfect example- our pug started lifting his leg on things at 4 months old. We got him neutered because we thought this would fix the problem. 5 years later, he still lifts his leg on every blade of grass and vertical surface in our yard. The majority of his activity outside is marking things. Our GSD Gunnar is not neutered. He marks in a few places in the yard- a tree here and there- he's got to pee somewhere, right? He has no bad habits like humping, roaming, or lack of focus that people say intact dogs have. I take him to training where one of the dogs at the facility was in heat, he didn't pay any attention to her, he paid attention to me and our tasks at hand.

In my opinion, those hormones are used for more than growth plates, and if you neuter too soon, especially on a large breed, you are depriving the dog of natural resources it needs to mature and grow properly. If I knew back when we had Bruzer neutered what I know now, I wouldn't have had him fixed until he was a year old. It wouldn't have changed his "male habits" one bit. Oh, guess what? He's taller than the breed standard by a couple inches as well, and who knows if he would have been thicker.
 

Red_ACD_for_me

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#85
I couldn't agree more with what you are saying DanL :hail: Caiza just turned two in June and if he gets fixed won't be done until at least 3 years. I have seen lots of leggy, tall, scrawny boned ACD's around where I live and they were ALL neutered at 6 months. I also grew up with male GSD's that were never neutered and were always out loose with the kids in the yard because back then neutering and leash laws weren't the norm. They lived into their ripe old teens and never had any issues with health or aggression. I am back in the grooming/animal field and worked on an almost two year old English mastiff the other day who was neutered at 6 months :( I actually felt bad for the dog. He had no muscle tone in his back legs and he was almost knock kneed and walked funny. His head wasn't as big as it could of been and his chest wasn't filled out well. All from being neutered to early..............I have seen so many dogs with hip, bone, joint issues and arthritis and I swear it is in part of early neutering. My last two GSD mixes were neutered at 6 months and both had joint issues. From what I know now any male that comes into my home in the future won't be neutered before the age of two again :popcorn:
 
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#86
Many people are anti-early s/n which is about as silly as people who are anti-s/n all together or those that think everything should be done at 8 weeks old because that is what responsible people do or that responsible people s/n everything because that is the code of responsiblity. Silly-silly-silly

Growth plates do not close early from young s/n they close later. And if you don't want male behaviors 6 months is not to early. By 6 months of age the dog has done the majorty of its growing and the hormones are being released for the growth plates to begin closing. In giant breeds this is sometimes a little later in life.

I would not worry about it. Your dog will be fine.
And you are?

I'll take the word of my vet, his professors, all the other knowledgable giant breed owners, and other animal health professionals that advice against spay/neutering a giant breed too young.....

You obviously have very little understanding of a giant breeds special needs, so please do not spout out what you think you know. THAT is silly silly silly. I hardly call being educated about what's best for my dog silly.

FYI......male danes are not fully finished growing until upwards of three years of age. Not 6 months or "a little later in life".

Females are still maturing at 2 years and later. My female, who turned 2 in June, has grown another inch since.
 

SizzleDog

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#87
I'm not going to get into this discussion much, but I will say that my male is still maturing, and he's nearly 4 years old. His chest has finally dropped, wahoo! I saw him at six months, and he looked nothing like he does now - at six months, he was still puppyish - maybe 22" tall, very leggy and insubstantial. Now, he's broad and muscular, about 27" tall and solid... a far cry from his 6 month old appearance.
 
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#88
I waited until King was fully grown. I probably should have done it at about 1 year, but I have had friend's dogs that had it done very young, and seemed to change so drastically (personality, weight gain, energy level in general) that I waited until he was almost three. My friend lost his dog during neuter surgery about the time King hit the year mark, (some oddball reaction to the drugs used to put him out), and it freaked me out. Happily, other than making King slightly less muscular looking, it didn't seem to affect him in any way. My vet thought I waited too long, but it all worked out OK.

Even if I had done it at a year, King still would have fathered the 8 black and white pups he did when the neighbor's Lab/Husky mix jumped the fence when King was about 9 months old. All eight are alive and well, and about to turn 8 years old in November. Sadly, mom Goofy was hit by a car when she got loose again when the pups were about 6 months old. She was an escape artist and almost impossible to keep in the yard, or in the house. It was very sad.
 

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