Dog Experts Neutering Question

[Calliecake]

I have a 7 pound maltipoo who has been a humper her whole life. She has a big red stuffed dog that she loves to hump. Thank goodness that is the only thing she humps. She was spade at about 6 months. We also sent her to obedience school. She isn't very obedient but I blame her owners. I still think she is the best and sweetest baby that ever lived. Congratulations Mayk on your new baby boy!

 

[Scandinavian]

I'm not an expert. But I can tell you that in Scandinavia, neutering dogs is not "normal", and most people only do it if the dog has a health problem and the neutering can help. So what I can tell you, is that you - and the dog - will probably be fine either way Most dogs here are very nice and not aggressive, and they are not neutered

 

[woofmama]

I believe in keeping dogs intact until at least 2 yrs old. The spay & neuter fervor in the US was started about 10-15 yrs ago by the rescue community. It does cause a myriad of health problems. As Scandinavian posted, altering dogs is not the norm in most European countries.

Most holistic vets speak out against the practice as well. Here's a great article I direct all puppy buyers to that come to me for advice:
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

 

[Mayk]

I believe in keeping dogs intact until at least 2 yrs old. The spay & neuter fervor in the US was started about 10-15 yrs ago by the rescue community. It does cause a myriad of health problems. As Scandinavian posted, altering dogs is not the norm in most European countries.

Most holistic vets speak out against the practice as well. Here's a great article I direct all puppy buyers to that come to me for advice:
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

Woofmama. I was hoping you would weigh in! Thank you for the article it is great info!

Thank you Callie and Scandnavian and other who have contributed. I appreciate it, I'm learning a lot!

Now if we could get this house training thing down.

 

[AGBF]

Now if we could get this house training thing down.

It will happen! Was the puppy paper trained? Ours was and putting a piece of paper outside helped. In fact we kept her in the kitchen, on paper, and one day we left her for a few minutes. The kitchen had swinging doors. We came home to find that she had escaped the confines of the kitchen and was at loose in the house. She could have gone (and probably went) anywhere in the house. But one little piece of newspaper had blown out of the kitchen with her when she made her getaway. She was just a little yellow furball of a Golden-maybe eight or ten weeks old. The small piece of newspaper sat in the middle of our wooden living room floor and right in the middle of it was a neat little poop. What a good little girl she was!!!

AGBF

 

[Mayk]

Now if we could get this house training thing down.

It will happen! Was the puppy paper trained? Ours was and putting a piece of paper outside helped. In fact we kept her in the kitchen, on paper, and one day we left her for a few minutes. The kitchen had swinging doors. We came home to find that she had escaped the confines of the kitchen and was at loose in the house. She could have gone (and probably went) anywhere in the house. But one little piece of newspaper had blown out of the kitchen with her when she made her getaway. She was just a little yellow furball of a Golden-maybe eight or ten weeks old. The small piece of newspaper sat in the middle of our wooden living room floor and right in the middle of it was a neat little poop. What a good little girl she was!!!

AGBF

He wasn't paper trained. They were in a puppy room with a litter box of sorts. Six pups. Some used it some didn't. We take him out every hour - two hours depending on if he's sleeping. At night he's making it in his crate for 3.5-4 hours. He goes into the crate at 10. I get up about 1:30 and my husband gets up at 5:30. The nights are fine he has not gone in his crate at all. The days are still hit or miss. Lots of praise and treats for going outside. He will be 10 weeks tomorrow so we still have a ways to go. I read somewhere they are not fully trained until about six months.

 

[Scandinavian]

I believe in keeping dogs intact until at least 2 yrs old. The spay & neuter fervor in the US was started about 10-15 yrs ago by the rescue community. It does cause a myriad of health problems. As Scandinavian posted, altering dogs is not the norm in most European countries.

Most holistic vets speak out against the practice as well. Here's a great article I direct all puppy buyers to that come to me for advice:
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

Woofmama. I was hoping you would weigh in! Thank you for the article it is great info!

Thank you Callie and Scandnavian and other who have contributed. I appreciate it, I'm learning a lot!

Now if we could get this house training thing down.

My best advice for house training - watch him like a hawk. Every time he starts to sit down for peeing, carry him outside (even if he starts peeing on you on the way...) Say "no" when you lift him up, and "oh you are such a clever boy" when you put him down outside. Should only take a few days if you are really consistent. And also, try to take him outside when you know its about time, after meals etc And be sure to brag a lot whenever he pees outside You can also train him to pee on commando if you go "pee pee pee" every time he does it - then he will link the two so that it works the other way around also Best of luck! Such a beautiful furbaby! Congratulations on you new family member

 

[Rockinruby]

Some vets tend to think there may be accidental breedings so they will give you the marking/humping/aggression info to encourage you to go ahead and fix your dog. In many cases they have good cause to give people that info.

However, you have a well bred dog who has been socialized so far plus he will have consistent training. Also, he will need to stay intact if the breeder may want to breed him at some point.

I've become a fan of late neutering for health reasons. I have an intact male and he doesn't hike in our home. He is super sweet with other dogs and volunteers with kids too. I think consistent training makes a big difference. I keep him out in various training classes year round. It's a fun bonding time for us too!

Congratulations on your puppy! He's is truly a gorgeous boy! I think you are going to have a lot of wonderful times with him!

Thank you! This makes total sense. A friend mentioned the vet could be involved with the humane society which is all about fixing. I'm glad to see people with pets agree it's good to wait. And pet owners who are living with their intact males. I don't intend to breed but did tell the breeder if she wanted one sample before he was fixed I was ok with that. He's an "in line" breeding. For the breeder it was the dream match but she had kept two from her previous litter and couldn't keep anymore. She has 7 labs.

A picture below of him and his favorite toy. Picks one up on every walk and brings it home.

Hope this all makes sense...have to leave shortly, but wanted to respond first.

Mayk, I absolutely love the new pic! He's such a cutie! I love his sweet little face! I really love that about your breed and Goldens. They will pick up all kinds of things and carry items in their mouth. (I have to teach my dogs to pick up things and retrieve. It's not natural for them so it's neat when I see your baby already carrying things! So cute!).

I really admire the way you are researching things for the health and welfare of your new pup. We do have a few vets here that work in conjunction with the shelter & Humane Society. That definitely does influence their opinions at times so they recommend getting pets fixed very early. I did that with one of my girls years ago. She ended up with spay incontinence which we then dealt with for the rest of her life. In retrospect, I wish we had waited until she had a chance to mature a little.

I would just stick to your decision for now. It's something you can always revisit in future if your pup starts having any issues, but I doubt that will be the case. Also, I know several people that have had boys collected and they did not have bad habits after.
What type of training and commands will the pup learn at school?

 

[LoveLikeCrazy]

Hi Mayk!

I have a male yellow lab and my breeder recommended 13-18 months for neutering for the same exact reasons you described. When I took him to the vet, she agreed and suggested the same. She said there had been many studies specifically focused on labs that have found benefit when males stay intact for longer. She recommends as close to 18 months as possible. We are at the 14 month mark and we booked his neuter appt for March 9th. He has never once "marked" his territory....he doesn't even lift his leg to pee . He is the most calm, relaxed dog you will ever meet. The only reason we are getting him neutered close to to low end of what was suggested is because we have a wellness rider on our pet insurance that covers neuter or spay and his ins is due to renewal in April. We don't see much benefit from the wellness rider so we want to drop it at renewal. Also, he has been booted from doggy daycare until he is neutered. He does occasionally hump my female chocolate lab (she is 4 months older than him) - but he can't even do that right .

Beautiful puppy! Here are Pippa and Theodore.



ETA: Housetraining him was much easier than my female! The first 3 weeks he legit peed every 5 minutes (so it seemed!) i wold take him out and no sooner we came in, he would be going again. After the first few weeks he was completely potty trained! He is so much better than my female and will hold it all day. They are bell trained and i have only seen him ring once....he really had to go! Usually we just take them out together and he will go whenever she does.

 

[Mayk]

Love like Ray... awwwww love them

Rockingruby here's the detail or training.

Sit, Stand, Down, Sit Stay, Down Stay, Circles Right, Circles Left, Right and Left Turns, Heel and Come on Recall. On leash. Mat training and two private lessons are included.

 

[partgypsy]

I think the humping or other undesirable behaviors is individual (by dog), not really due to early or late spaying. My husband had a male dog he never got fixed (45 pound mixed breed) and the dog did not display humping, peeing behaviors that are "due" to late spaying.
The training is great, but I think it is best if the training is done with the dog AND owner for best results.