When to neuter

[ks-man]

We have an almost 5 month old male Doodle.  I haven't seen any recent threads about when is the best time to neuter him.  My vet says 6 months but our breeder was more in favor of waiting until 10-12 months or even later if we wanted.  

The last two days I've noticed him humping his toy pillow and stuffed animal in the evening (his zoomie time).  I haven't seen him doing it to anything else nor does he play very aggressively (just playful).  I'm not sure if any of that matters or should come into the decision.

Anyway please let me know if you have any thoughts.  There seems to be a lot of research on both sides so I'd love to hear people's opinions around here.  

Thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a discussion we had about this that you will find very interesting:
https://doodlekisses.com/group/healthandmedicalissues/forum/topics/...

[Connie]

My county requires licensing by 3 months old and is mandatory spay/neuter unless you have a breeders license. Our vet advised us of all the studies and research regarding removing "hormone producing organs." She strongly encouraged us to wait until he was at least a year old. She also wrote us a waiver letter for county licensing. They accepted it. No humping activity here yet which surprises me at 6 months so I am a happy doodle mom. ;-) I can live with that but I cant deal with funky Male smell.... so far so good. We're waiting but wondering why we dont just do vasectomies in this country and leave vital organs in place.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They do do vasectomies, if you choose to go that route. But there are a couple of problems with that. One is that the dog still looks intact, which does alienate some people, and would also cause you to have to carry proof of sterilization with you in certain situations. But the bigger problem to me is that the dog still has the drive to mate, and will still react to females in heat the same way an intact dog would. And have all of the same "problem" behaviors of intact males. 

I'm shocked that your county forces sterilization at 3 months. That is so contrary to current veterinary studies on the effects of early spay/neuter. 

[Connie]

Not so common here in the states, far more common in European counties.... Even nueterd males have the desire and the ability to mount and commit :-0 Beau has not humped a thing at 6 months. I am still shocked. We just had our grand kids and the fosters here for spring break and we totally expected some but WOW he was so awesome with them all. He's a bit skittish with some things, we had unnecessary  concerns. He was awesome!

[GBK]

Las Vegas has a law that requires you to neuter at 4 months!  If we can hold out for the one year mark I will, my vet is not pushing it.  He has a stuffed puppy we call his humpy dog :)  It's the only thing he humps.  I got rid of all the high backed beds because I could see he was trying those out early on.  If the humpy dog is all he humps I am fine with waiting on a year, but if he starts marking I will make an appointment earlier.

[Stacy]

The legal aspect of this is so strange to me. For one thing, my city doesn't require registering dogs. For another, even if they did I don't know how it's any of their business when I choose to to get my dog spayed or neutered. I support limiting the unwanted pet population, but I feel like people who care about the law are probably already responsible pet owners. What happens to the people who breed and/or show dogs? 

Plus, according to my vet there is evidence that spaying and neutering that young is not  healthy for the dogs.

[GBK]

When you get the rabies vaccine the vets are supposed to let the registering place know the dog and address and send a bill.  My vet doesn't do this, because I never got a notice after the puppy got his rabies shot.

When you show or breed you have to purchase a fancier's or breeder's license and agree to home checks whenever they feel like it.  There is more too, I was just talking to a friend about it.  Many breeders have moved to a neighboring city who does not have these laws.

It is sad that it is the people that always follow the rules that suffer.  There are many dog fighting rings and breeders in the bad areas of Vegas.  Of course they will never follow the rules, but they will just keep doing what they do with no consequences.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Las Vegas is weird with dog stuff. All of the vets belong to the same big franchise, too, from what I can tell.

[GBK]

I finally found one I like and is a private practice!  She and her office were extraordinary with everything that went on with Buddy.  They adore Baci of course and were wonderful with Kona and all her lump and bump removals.  No office charge for stitch removal and lot's of times she would wave the office visit.  Really caring and I am so thankful to have found her.  I think I had told you the horror of trying to find someone I trusted.

The 4 month neuter/spay comes from all the dog fighting that goes on.  Like that is going to stop those people anyway.  Only hurts the ones that are responsible.

[Stacy]

It would make more sense to me to move the fighting breeds out of the city instead of an arbitrary spaying/neutering age. But I know there's a lot of controversy along with that too.

[Connie]

GBK.... I am in Henderson, NV and our Vet wrote a waiver letter for us when we licensed our Beau. She highly recommended waiting until he was at least year old and stated the studies of early neutering on large breeds. I was a bit worried being new here but they accepted it and sent the license. He'll be over a year old by the time we have to renew it. :-) No humping or marking so far thankfully ... I so agree on the marking behavior

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, and regarding the humping behaviors, all of the puppies in Jasper's litter, males and females alike, were doing the humpty-dumpty dance before they were 9 weeks old.