The boys were both neutered on Monday and had a post op check on Thursday.

Both are healing well although the 30mo has quite a bruised/full scrotum. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, the vet okayed me (when I asked) to give him 2 additional days of metacam and suggested I might ice the area a few times a day if he'll let me, but also said that it was "not uncommon in dogs his age". The 16mo is nowhere near as bruised but different vets did them (the 30mo's incision is twice as long and in a different position too).

The vet said to keep them to short 10-15minute lead walks for 7 to 10 days.  That was fine for the first few days when they were presumably a bit sore still, but now they are really obviously needing their exercise. I'm having to keep one crated (they take turns) as together they just bounce into full-poodle anti gravity mode and zip around the garden at shoulder height like fluffy drones.

I'm doing tons and tons of peaceful training but I can't give chews or a kong to entertain whoever is in the crate because the cones of shame stop them using their feet, and the puzzle toys I have are also really impossible to do with a cone on. I know I could technically take the cone off if I'm watching them but it seems a risk as if my son suddenly needed me I'd have to respond. I really want to minimise the complication risk and healing time as much as possible.

So my question after that big ramble is for those who have neutered, especially castrated (spaying is a bit more involved physically), what did you do about exercise? They are used to 4-5 miles on lead walk days. I do about 3.5 miles on off lead days but of course they are running around me so probably do double that at least. I am mainly wondering if I can give 3 or 4 or even 5 of the 10-minute walks a day? They are on lead and I go slowly enough that they can't trot.

My borzoi boys were running off lead in the field the day after they were castrated. They're the only two boys I've had done so I don't have a lot of experience but hounds are not brave at all, if they were sore I would have known.

Like your older boy one of mine had a swollen scrotum for several days, the other didn't. Both were completely back to normal and running the day after the op.

When the girls are spayed I don't let them run until about 2 weeks after the op, and no racing for 4 weeks but the boys is just a tiny snip

I never used cones on  them, I guess maybe they did lick now and again, but mostly they just didn't bother.

My dog did not read the "rest for 10 days" part of the manual.. He was back to his energetic, wanting to play self that very night! So, the next day i took him to the park on lead, which lasted for a whole 5 whole minutes, after which i unclipped him and let him go.

The only thing i didn't let him do was play and rough house with other dogs. But other than that, keeping him settled and rested was not an option.

I did have to wait an extra couple of days (12 days, instead of 10) to get the all clear from the vet because his wound was slightly on the red side, which was my fault for not resting him, but other than that he was fine.

Poodlenoodle, I'm excited to hear the results from your boys after neutering. Hopefully it'll make a positive difference.

Thank you Christine. Life intervened last week in a way which rather made my previous worries pale. On the Thursday morning I looked out when I was waiting on transport (my son is taxied to his special school, my daughter is bussed to hers) to see a strange collie cross squatting on my front lawn. I went out to see if I could see an owner as ours is a quiet street but it's not typical to see dogs off lead with no owner near at all.

A middle aged man was puffing up the street and apologetically waving his lead and shouting. He put the dog on the lead and said to me that she'd escaped round the front door twice that week, "no' like her". Off they went and the bus arrived and I went to organise my daughter onto it.

Later that day I was walking my two and they stopped and planted their feet and drooled over the front lawn on the way out and the way back, and I thought a-ha well THAT'S why she's escaping! She must smell extra lovely.

That night I was out with friends and my husband was left in charge. The next morning when I got up he told me that the previous evening he was putting our son to bed when he heard several shouts of "hello, hello" downstairs and went down to find the front door wide open and 2 strangers stood in the hall. The dogs had seen a similar dog (not the same one I don't think) go past the window, the 16mo had opened the front door and the two of them had gone off after it. The strangers in the hall live on the street at the end of ours and recognised them as they went by but couldn't catch them so began going door to door looking for an owner. They eventually got my husband who had to leave a neighbour we barely know and my 12yo who has autism herself in charge of the other kids and go after them. When he found them they were on the grass verge of the bypass . Unharmed by some miracle. Ironically they recalled immediately and joyfully on his first shout.

That rather galvanised us all. I had to sit down when he was telling me. I felt sick! If we didn't have such kind neighbours they wouldn't have needed neutering, being as they would have been, squashed flat on the bypass.

I dropped them off on Monday morning and when I was waiting for them to be taken in the eldest drooled a pint of dribble onto a spot on the floor where some bitch had been sitting which he sniffed dreamily with dribble pouring out. The staff were all in the waiting room discussing a "silent" season as an owner had a bitch he said had only been bleeding 2 days but had been bred by a random dog on her walk that morning. The fairly junior vet who'd seen them had come out to confer and they were all discussing how first seasons can be atypical and saying it can't be the 2nd day if she stood to be bred and debating injection/spay. And when I got in my car who should come out behind me but the man with the collie on my lawn!

Chaumsong can you remember how long the scrotum took to heal. Its a week tomorrow and my boys is still full and very bruised looking. It's not actually any bigger than it was before but hangs lower now the internal structures are gone. I asked if it was a scrotal haematoma and the vet was sort of non-committal and said as it wasn't hugely swollen and it was broadly typical.

I suppose my worry is that if it is a haematoma and I let him bounce it about too much it'll get worse. It isn't bothering him but I'd hate to see it start to.

I can't remember with my two old boys, but if at any stage you are concerned about the healing, get back to your vet.  They'd far rather hear from you than you worry, and it all go wrong after all.

Crikey, poodlenoodle!  Your boys' little adventure to the bypass must have taken a few years off your life - or at least given you a few grey hairs.  Unfortunately not all owners are as careful with their in season bitches as they should be.  We have several living near us who should know better and it can be a worry.

Can you get a poodle-proof lock on the front door to be in place at all times?  They are obviously too clever for their own good!  What a relief that all was well in the end.

Can't remember how long it took my boy to heal.  He was a little bit sore and I did restrict him to on-lead walks only - for a full week, I think.  Cone on at night only or when unsupervised.

If you have any doubts at all I would take him in for an extra vet check  - for peace of mind, if nothing else and better safe than sorry.

Good luck with the rest of the recovery phase - hope it is uneventful!

We think the door was locked. The door is always locked, because my son is a flight risk and has been for at least 3 years. But it is possible that frantic scrabbling turned the key or that for some reason on this one occasion it wasn't locked. The breeder says one of her bitches can unlock doors with keys left in so who knows.

The eldest knows not to open the front door (as in I specifically taught him to ignore a request to open it in case my son ever directed him to), which is how I know it was the youngest. To be honest if I'm in the house they stick to my side and certainly wouldn't dare mess with the front door, so if I'd been in it probably wouldn't have happened. But with an in season bitch on their front door step who knows!

I am surmising that the bitch was the one being discussed at the vets, as I didn't see her, only her owner, but if it was then the owner genuinely didn't seem to have a clue that she was even in season at all as per the vets duscussion.

The vet who saw them on Thursday gave me the impression that I was worrying over nothing and said if it got any worse (it's not, it's slightly better, just not as better as I'd like) or he was in pain (he's not had metacam today and is totally fine) or it hadn't improved at all by 10 days after to bring him back. I suppose I'll just have to calm down and keep an eye on it.

Is there brain stuff you could do to tire them out maybe? Nosework, something like that?

Am I the only dog owner who has never had a dog with swelling after castration?  Admittedly I've only ever had 2 dogs castrated in 40 odd years, and I do have 5 entire dogs at the moment but I never had problems with the 2 who were "done."

Jean the vet seemed to think that the chance of swelling went up the bigger and older the dog is so maybe that is a factor? Our old rescue was done by the pound and had no issues, he was 4 and a pyranees cross and one of mine is fine. The breeder has had several done over the years and most totally fine, a few with some swelling. I think my older boy has been a bit unlucky.

As i say, I think surgical techniques differed as my youngest has a 1 inch wound in front of the scrotum and to the left of the penis. The oldest has a 2.5inch midline wound which extends just into scrotal skin. He had a lot more bruising in general as well as the scrotal swelling. The vet put the difference down to age/size of tackle but I hold them out the way of the clippers every weekend and if anything the youngest's were bigger!

When we had my 11 year old boy castrated we took him camping to a music festival, where he was on the lead, walking wherever we went. It stopped him going stir-crazy. (He only had a 1-inch wound midline in front of his scrotum, with no bruising and minimal swelling, although it's normal for the first few days for it to look as though nothing's been taken away!)

When i had my Bernese castrated at 9yrs old he never had an issues and after 7 days he was off lead. Sadly no longer with us, never had any swelling.