What are your opinions on early neutering? With more and more vets offering dog spay and neuter from 12 weeks and further, vets claiming there is no scientific reason not to would you consider it for any of your puppies? Are endorsements enough to discourage puppy buyers not to breed or does it come down to trust? In this economic climate more and more puppy buyers are turning to breeding or studding their dogs with or without endorsements, you only have to look through preloved/pets4homes etc.

I would never consider neutering either sex before physical maturity; sex hormones are needed in balance with others for correct development, both mentally and physically. In certain breeds there is a proven increase in the incidence of bone cancer in pre-pubescent neutering, for one thing! If I didn't trust my puppy buyers not to breed without consultation with me then they wouldn't be getting a puppy.

> vets claiming there is no scientific reason not to

That just isn't true.  This clearly shows this http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

I would not risk the health and welfare of puppies for 'Just in case', and just hope my vetting is enough along with the endorsements.

If I didn't trust my puppy buyers not to breed without consultation with me then they wouldn't be getting a puppy.

That's how I feel as well -and if I felt I couldn't trust buyers, I'd not be breeding. I think contracts often help as well as most buyers will not be aware they do not stand up legally. If they have signed something saying they agree to not breed from the dog, it often is enough of a deterrent. There are LOTS of bad breeders out there that do not endorse or ask for contracts to be signed, so it isn't strange that people feel able to breed so much when they have bought such a dog. Yes the odd one will slip through the net, that's life, but I'd still not be prepared to risk my puppies' HEALTH for it. (Saying that as somebody who once did have two 4 ½ month old pups neutered. NEVER again.)

I have spayed bitches.  Even the ones who have never been used for breeding were done after 4 years old.  After everything has developed as it should.  Would you remove an immature uterus from a 12 year old girl if there was no medical reason to do so?

I don't have males castrated unless there is a medical reason to do so.  I prefer that they remain intact for life.

I think it has to be a case of responsible breeding and more careful puppy homing, goodness knows how we encourage that in the majority of pet breeders though! But early neutering is not good for the dogs, those hormones do so many important things as in the link someone else posted. Any vet who says it is ok to neuter so young is just wrong, or money grabbing.

Think owners who habitually neuter their dogs before maturity just do not notice what effect it has on the overall conformation and of course you have no real way of knowing if your dogs ill health is caused by or the result of neutering.

On the other hand if you have had a dog neutered young and a dog left intact from  puppy-hood to death then you will know the difference and you would not neuter except for reasons of health.

Vets on the other hand often do not own a dog at all or if they do they will be a neutered cross breed so on two counts they will be unable to understand what the dogs life may have been had it had the advantage of being left intact and well bred, there are exceptions of course.

My opinion on early neutering can be summed up very briefly - DON'T! There are far too many long term health risks associated with early neutering, no matter what some vets may say, it's far better to wait until all growth is completed

I was recently arguing against early neutering on another forum, some peoples views are very deeply entrenched, even when confronted with research data.

Here are some links:

http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15319800/spay_neuter_considerations_2013.pdf
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
http://www.gpmcf.org/respectovaries.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805875/?tool=pubmed
http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10498
http://www.vizslacanada.ca/SNBehaviorBoneDataSnapShot.pdf
http://www.dogcancerblog.com/bladder-and-prostate-cancer-neutering-male-dogs-increases-risk-2/
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-practice-news-columns/bond-beyond/is-early-neutering-hurting-pets.aspx
http://moderndogmagazine.com/blogs/steveduno/2010/10/does-early-neutering-make-fools-us-all

I wouldn't neuter a male dog at all.  I'd wait till females are 6-7yrs before neutering and then have a laparoscopic spay (ovaries only removed by keyhole surgery).  I'm sickened by vets pushing the neuter-everything-that-moves line.  :(