After speaking to fellow breeders, all of us find that we have had pups neutered earlier than we would have liked - even following lots of advice on telling them the reasons for leaving it later and in some cases even being written into a contract, but how do you deal with this problem when vets are so keen for it to be done so early?

One friend has recently found out her pup has been castrated a 6.5 months of age.  I dropped in to see a pup I bred yesterday and they said the vet told them at 2nd vaccination time to book him in at 6 months for a check up and castration appt!  Fortunately they are strong people and have no intentions of having him done.

This is so frustrating, I can't really see putting it in the contract worthwhile as by the time we find out, it's obviously too late for anything to be done about it.

It's the vets who need educating,I feel they see it as a steady form of income and give no thought to the problems caused by early spay/neuter.

I took my show/breed prospect male in to be microchipped and it was presumed that I would be getting him neutered at 6 months, I told the vet that as a family we had never found the need to have our male dogs castrated and didn't see that changing, they had all lived to a good age and none had died of complications of still having testicles.

Maybe buyers need to be told that neutering pups before the age recommended in the contract then makes it null and void when it comes to health issues because the reproductive hormones are needed for the  development of more than just the sex organs.

I agree, it's the vets that pressure the owners. My first boy had a small fleshy wart on his foreleg at 13 months and when I took him in to have it removed, the vet asked if I wanted him castrated while he was out!!! As he'd just won back to back BOB and group placings at his last two shows, you can imagine my reply! The following month he won a CC and BOB!

Here in Bristol, only last week I phoned 6 local vets, to find out cost etc of neutering a male dog we bought in, he's 9 months old, they all said the same, they prefer to neuter after 12 months of age, but for reasons I can't go into he has to be done now, so they did agree, but very reluctantly.

as a groomer I see lots of dogs and so many of the boys are done.  I do wonder how the vets justify to themselves doing what I see is a needless mutilation. I could see the need for castrating males when dogs were routinely let out to roam every day but now most dogs are kept in so don't get the chance to go round mating bitche

I see many coated breeds where the coat has obviously been affected and lots of overweight dogs. Nowadays I discuss it with the owners and advise not getting the dog done until he is well over one and then only if he has a problem.

And bitches are being spayed so young too. 6 months is very common. One of my customers has had problems recently with incontinence in her bitch. Her vet said it was because she was spayed too young. Owner is now very cross as he was the one who advised spaying her at 6 months!!

One of my customers also told me a bout a foster they had who was spayed at 3 months on the vets advise to calm her down. Obviously didn't work and she still ended up in rescue. What is wrong with these vets? Surely advising training would be more use

I was so lucky that my Jozi (10 CC's and mother of champions) was still entire when I got her back at 8 months of age as I had originally sold her trying to be sensible in having a bigger age gap before keeping a puppy from her Mum.

Someone else in my breed went to the trouble of taking their bitch abroad to be mated, but only got dog pups, and they had a male who was not easy with other males.

One of these came back for re-homing at about 9 months already castrated with that typical Eunuch look, such a shame as he could have been useful in a breeding program and could possibly have been homed with someone willing to let him be used as he looked very nice except for the retardation in head development.

From a breeders point of view if something happens to the dogs one is using to carry on their line, a bitch develops Pyometra, then the entire animals in Pet homes can sometimes be used to rescue ones lines, by either having a bitch back on loan, or having a dog used on a suitable bitch.

Great Post newyork - our breeds coat can be affected which makes the decison even worse.

I do agree that it is the vets who need education, it is a steady income for them but does it matter to them when it's done?

> does it matter to them when it's done?

Yes as they are more likely to find people realising it doesn't need doing, or loose touch with the client if they don't need to see the vet for a year.

The longer it is left, especially with males the less likely the owner will have it done.

I was quite annoyed with the vets of the owners of Inka's litter sister.  At five months she was growign ehr canines and still ahd the baby one, so they whipped her in for extraction (not really neccessary until at least 6 months) and spayed her at the same time.

She shows the classic signs of beign spayed young, tall and lanky, narrow head, lackign the weight of bone suitable to her size.

They had her half sister from the Dams last litter and waited longer with the spaying.

I've never been pressured by a vet to have this procedure done.  I've been asked, sometimes more than once (if we've seen different vets in the same practice), but all have listened carefully to my reply and not raised the subject again.

I genuinely think it's far more likely to be owners who probably don't understand that times, and thinking, have moved on since they had their childhood pets.  It did seem to be something that was commonplace and it's still touted as a good option to solve behavioural or training problems by those that don't know any better.  It's one of the myths like 'never let your dog go through the door before you'.

One of the difficulties is that owners are used to listening to their vets and don't realise that the conversation about neutering and spaying is NOT treatment advice and its not something that has to be scheduled when their dogs reach a particular age.  

Sadly I think that if owners have not spent time with entire bitches and dogs of their chosen breed and had a chance to compare those with spayed or neutered examples then they genuinely do not understand what we are talking about!  I must admit to a few anxieties and prejudices of my own before choosing my current breed some years ago.  I was worried about overtly doggy or male behaviours and I didn't know that some of what I had based my ideas on was one badly trained and badly managed dog with an inadequate owner!  Seeing my boys through puppyhood and adolescence to become sensible adults is a very good lesson BUT not one you can teach every owner :)