At What Age to Neuter - Page 1

I have a 12 month old male that I am considering neutering. My question is at what age do you think he'll be fully matured. Mind you in most areas he seems to be lagging. Doesn't lift his leg to pee, doesn't seem to be aware of the females at all I may be wrong but he doesn't seem to notice. He's still kinda goofy and is just starting to not look like Jerry Lewis when he runs. I've heard 18 months. Would like any input, ideas, suggestions.Just throwing it out there, you guys seem to have a variety of opinions let's hear 'em

my breeder told me to wait until angus lifted his leg to pee. that way he could get his "male" growth. however, i had angus neutered at 11 months cuz he had to have a surgery and i didn't want him to have another one anytime soon after that one. he never has lifted his leg. i had a jack russell who was neutered at 6 months who lifted his leg on everything. i think you should wait as long as you can. angus is a big gsd and its probably for the best that he was fixed early. he does like girls. if i could of, i would of waited longer, tho.

18 months is correct  for the male  ,,,,,they now want to wait till he fully gets all the testosterone in place....

LET HIM GROW,

Personally I would wait till he is at least 2 years old, or you'll have problems 
with bladder control, weight gain, bone density, and him just plain looking like 
a male dog.

Same goes for females.

Hormones control the chemical balance within the body.

The advice you are getting here is great!  So many vets and breeders get this one wrong.  Definitely wait until he is a mature male.  Google this for veterinary evidence that early neutering is a major problem:

Early Spay-Neuter Considerations
for the Canine Athlete
One Veterinarian's Opinion
© 2005 Chris Zink DVM, PhD, DACVP

I don't think I can copy much of the article here, but I will try in parts.

Thanks for all the input.  Mirasmom my gut tells me to wait too. MVF I'll look that up. Angusmom congrats on his CGC.

Link to the article above: http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

Quote from article:

Those of us with responsibility for the health of canine athletes need to continually read and evaluate new scientific studies to ensure that we are taking the most appropriate care of our performance dogs. This article provides evidence through a number of recent studies to suggest that veterinarians and owners working with canine athletes should revisit the standard protocol in which all dogs that are not intended for breeding are spayed and neutered at or before 6 months of age.

Orthopedic Considerations

A study by Salmeri et al in 1991 found that bitches spayed at 7 weeks grew significantly taller than those spayed at 7 months, who were taller than those not spayed (or presumably spayed after the growth plates had closed).(1) A study of 1444 Golden Retrievers performed in 1998 and 1999 also found bitches and dogs spayed and neutered at less than a year of age were significantly taller than those spayed or neutered at more than a year of age.(2) The sex hormones, by communicating with a number of other growth-related hormones, promote the closure of the growth plates at puberty (3), so the bones of dogs or bitches neutered or spayed before puberty continue to grow. Dogs that have been spayed or neutered well before puberty can frequently be identified by their longer limbs, lighter bone structure, narrow chests and narrow skulls. This abnormal growth frequently results in significant alterations in body proportions and particularly the lengths (and therefore weights) of certain bones relative to others. For example, if the femur has achieved its genetically determined normal length at 8 months when a dog gets spayed or neutered, but the tibia, which normally stops growing at 12 to 14 months of age continues to grow, then an abnormal angle may develop at the stifle. In addition, with the extra growth, the lower leg below the stifle likely becomes heavier (because it is longer), and may cause increased stresses on the cranial cruciate ligament. In addition, sex hormones are critical for achieving peak bone density.(4) These structural and physiological alterations may be the reason why at least one recent study showed that spayed and neutered dogs had a higher incidence of CCL rupture.(5) Another recent study showed that dogs spayed or neutered before 5 1/2 months had a significantly higher incidence of hip dysplasia than those spayed or neutered after 5 1/2 months of age, although it should be noted that in this study there were no standard criteria for the diagnosis of hip dysplasia.(6) Nonetheless, breeders of purebred dogs should be cognizant of these studies and should consider whether or not pups they bred were spayed or neutered when considering breeding decisions

Unless your dog will be roaming the streets unattended you may want to
inform yourself regarding the consequences of neutering.
Although one sees less of an uncommon cancer after this procedure
chances of Prostrate cancer increase by 4X.
Sadly you must be wary of info you will come across, the
BILLION DOLLAR vet industry is very powerful and VERY RICH!

....Clinical studies show the Cancer link associated with the Rabies vaccine. Dogs and especially cats having had sex organ removal have many times more cancers.

http://www.geocities.com/rottndobie/SpayNeuterCancers.pdf
http://www.whale.to/a/vets1.html
http://www.petresource.com/Articles%20of%20Interest/vaccinations_for_dogs_and_cats.htm
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_vaccine_associated_fibrosarcom.html

Unless your dog will be roaming the streets unattended you may want to
inform yourself regarding the consequences of neutering.
Although one sees less of an uncommon cancer after this procedure
chances of Prostrate cancer increase by 4X.
Sadly you must be wary of info you will come across, the
BILLION DOLLAR vet industry is very powerful and VERY RICH!

....Clinical studies show the Cancer link associated with the Rabies vaccine. Dogs and especially cats having had sex organ removal have many times more cancers.

http://www.geocities.com/rottndobie/SpayNeuterCancers.pdf
http://www.whale.to/a/vets1.html
http://www.petresource.com/Articles%20of%20Interest/vaccinations_for_dogs_and_cats.htm
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_vaccine_associated_fibrosarcom.html