Early Neutering ....

[Kris & Brinkley]

 I have had other dogs but Brinkley is my 1st Doodle .

 

Since he seems to be very smart & doing things much earlier than my others I wondered about  early neutering.

He is a ShepaDoodle being 1/2 German Shepard I want to be mindful of early sexual onset & aggressiveness.

He has picked up on humping from somewhere @ 12 weeks old he tries it on my sleeping 8yro male lab, the lab would never go for it if awake LOL. I had never seen humping in such a young age, so once again I find myself seeing him do everything early.

 

* insert Advise below* ;-)

 

[Kris & Brinkley]

 I used the search engine & it didn't show me that thread- Thank You!

I have seen so much conflicting  advise as to it does or it doesn't effect their bones other than it would seem it makes the males grow taller & bigger, which in my mind should have been the other way around, go figure.

 

[Camilla and Darwin]

The search engine has been kind of... on the fritz lately unfortunately.

[Nelson, Rufus & KO]

I have 2 young doodles - I had rufus neutered at about 14 weeks. It went very very well; much easier than Nelson's.

Nelson was 5 months.  My vet's comment when I asked him if its too young was "get them before their rear brians grow in". He claims that once they get that testosterone surge - neutering is less and less effective against undesired behaviors.

[Kris & Brinkley]

Would you mind telling me how it went better for Rufus vs Nelson?

[Nelson, Rufus & KO]

Nelson was a bit out of it for a day or two. He also licked like crazy and the wound took about 10 days to heal - not unusual. Rufus (neutered younger) came home from the vet like nothing happpened ( they use much less anesthesia on lighter weight dogs). He never licked the wound and it healed up in about 3 - 4 days (porbbaly because he didn't lick it). The evening of the surgery, he was totally normal.

Good luck with your decision.  I really didn't want them to devleop any undesireable behaviors ( esp since I have 2 males).

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My Vet felt the same way....get them before the testosterone surge.  We did Murph at 5 months.

[Smita, Ollie and Juno]

My Australian Labradoodle puppy was neutered at 7 weeks before we got him from the breeder. At 9 weeks when we got him he was completely healed. Healing is much faster for puppies as compared to older dogs and even a few months makes a difference according to some.

[Amy & Bernie]

We got Bernie at 12 weeks and he was already neutered. We haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary and while the vet tech was surprised it was done so young (and seemed a bit passive-aggressive about it) the vet said it's totally a matter of opinion and he didn't necessarily see anything wrong with it. If I were you I wouldn't hesitate to get it done sooner than later, he'll heal while he's still in the puppy stage of napping and needing lots of sleep regularly! Lucky! =)

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Rooney was done by the breeder at 7 weeks.  We saw video of him the next day and he was running around like nothing had happened.  Rooney is 5 months old now and has never humped (knock on wood - pun intended - lol) on anything.  I say do them as tiny babies and they never know what they are missing. 

[Lesley, Wellington & Bingley]

 

Im in the 'wait as long as you can' camp for neutering male dogs.

Hormones play a part in both physical and emotional development. They give confidence - which is where many owners find them a challenge. I have come to wonder if this stage is merely a teenage stage that would pass - if we were able to bere it. I had Welly done at 7.5 months - much earlier than I had wanted. He was getting very pushy - and marked indoors. When he peed on my bed that was it!

But - I wish I had waited, gritted my teeth and got through that stage - for that is all it was. He may have been a much more confident dog now if I had done that.

 

Bingley on the other hand is nearly 10 months and not yet neutered. I will have him neutered at 1 year - when much of his development is over.

[Kris & Brinkley]

Some Great Thoughts Here! 

I am loving this site, I am feeling Blessed to have found it!

 

@ Lesley that is something I wondered about....I can say that Brinkley does not seem to lack confidence the Shepa in him I think ;) 

[Candy & Hudson]

Like some of the others, Hudson was fixed around 7 weeks old and we picked him up a week later. He is now 6 months and is a good boy, but in the first couple of months he humped me and the kids. It was simply him trying to tell us he was the boss, but we sorted that out :)