I have tried to do a search on here to find if anything has been said on this subject but nothing really answers my question.

My little girl finished her first season last week and I thought if I waited another 3 months should I have her speyed, she will only be 9 months old then. In our puppy pack, our breeder recommends waiting until she is 18 months old which would mean another 2 seasons. Although she is a beautiful rottie, I am not going to breed.

What would you do? Should I get it done in 3 months or wait until she is older?

Sarah , i think your best option is to ask for the vets advice as they work on recent research and advice , whereas sometimes , not always so don't bite my head off , breeders tend to go on what they have always done kinda thing, a bit like , the advice your mum may give you about looking after your new born baby ( it may have beeen good at the time but things do change ).

My vet advised me to spay my giant breed pup at 6 months but I wasn't comfortable with this. My vet does not have many of my breed as clients (uncommon breed). Having sought the advise of several people knowledgable in the breed and a vet who does have a lot of experience of the breed (but too far away from where I live to go to) the general consensus was 18 months or thereabouts. However, it is likely that a bitch of this breed would have only had one season by this time.

Sadly JOx on this subject it is rarely true.  Many vets have a spay and castrate everything view, and seem unaware or dismissive of any negative side effects. 

Rotties are on of the breeds where a high proportion of spayed bitches develop urinary incontinence after spaying, so I would defiately wait in hopes that full physical and hormonal maturity will reduce this risk.

I think Brainless is right.  I picked up an advice leaflet from vet on speying as my dog has had 2 seasons and now 22 mnths.  I asked the receptionist why it didn't mention the possibility of incontinence in some dogs and she said she'd never heard of it happening in all the dogs they had speyed.  I know she isn't the actual vet but nevertheless her opinion was that it was best to get it done asap to prevent chance of mating and unwanted pups.  I didn't want her opinion I wanted the facts.

edited to say * I ended up finding out what I wanted to know by asking on here *

Well just a sample of the owners of large breeds with post spay incontinence that I know, who are all on medication from their vets for it gives the lie to that statement from your vet receptionist!

I have just spoken with one of the nurses at the vet and she said that its better to get it done 3 months after their first season as this can prevent mamory tumours etc. She also said that there was a risk with urinary incontinence so at least she was honest. It was so much easier having a dog than a bitch :(

The breeder of my GR advised having her speyed after her first season, although my vet advised having her done before her first season " to prevent cancer".  As my pup is now 18weeks old, I need to make up my mind soon.

Any advice would be appreciated, especially from other GR owners.

From what I have read, the chances of a bitch developing mammary cancer if spayed before first season is about 1%. That figure rises to about 8% if spayed after first season. I personally feel that, on balance, the benefits of allowing the bitch to have one season (particularly in larger breeds) outweighs the very slightly increased risk of cancer. That is just my opinion though.

I am no expert, but I would let her have one season and then consider it.

I have read somewhere that you should let a bitch have there first season before spaying so they can mature a bit before, which seems to make sense.