Hi there,

I was on the mooch today and I popped into the local vets to have a look round (It's getting closer and closer to dog time... exciting!) and I wanted to check on spaying and neutering I was told it would be £200 to get a male neutered. Is this above or below the average or just about right?

Also by the by I met a woman with a lovely black lab pup in the waiting room and I started talking to her about dogs but when I mentioned that I liked german shepherds she suddenly gave me a funny look and stopped talking to me! Has anybody else had anything like that happen to them? Thankfully the receptionist came back through to talk to me before things could get any more awkward!

There was a thread on this about a year ago soon after I had my bitch spayed.  As I remember the prices vary a great deal between vets and area you live in.  I don't know about males but for having a bitch spayed the weight makes a difference to the price as well.  Probably has something to do with amount of anaesthetic and complexity of operation between bitches and dogs.

>I mentioned that I liked german shepherds she suddenly gave me a funny look and stopped talking to me!

Some odd people about so I wouldn't dwell on it.  If she's got a peculiar attitude then she probably did you a favour by not talking to you anymore :)

As you live in Edinburgh you may want to check out Vetwise, they are a discount neutering and vaccination clinic at Polwarth. I believe that this is where the students from the dick vet get practical experience (under supervision of course) I called them before having my girls done and they were charging £80 each which was about £50 less than my vets. In the end I was too worried about the long journey home and went to my regular vets, if I lived in town however I would use Vetwise :)

Thanks chaumsong I'll be sure to check vetwise out. It was a vet near Morningside (ever so posh!) I went to so maybe they bump up their prices to keep up with the Joneses! I know that people certainly seem to think the more that you pay the better the job they're doing.. but whether that's true or not is debatable I think! I knew a vet who wanted to close her surgery as she was moving so she put her prices up but that actually got her more patients! I really wish there was a national health style thing for animals (I'm not eligible for the PDSA). I went to visit my mum last week and she has links with Manchester dogs home. We went and had a look around and there was a lurcher that caught my eye and a few german shepherds, one of which was ever so friendly but completely emaciated- he'd nearly had to be put down. I wished I could have taken him home with me. I have such admiration for the vets and volunteers that work for charities like that... no £200 neutering there. But of course you can't guarantee they reach every animal. My mum is a doctor and she seemed to think that there couldn't be all that much to castrating a dog. She said, "I can't imagine it's that much different to castrating a human, I could do it in 20 minutes!" Thankfully she was joking. I hope.

£200 seems expensive to me. Our vets charge max of £150 for a female to be spayed, a male is aroun £100

i just had my sisters male done and i cost me £125 he is a 40kg gsd

I paid £55 for my male to be neutered 2 years ago (would have weighed about 35-40kg at the time).  My bitch cost £199 to be spayed (including a compulsory overnight stay) but by a different vet.

Hi there,

I am a very proud owner of Jack who is a German Shepherd, and since the few incidents that have been reported in the media, i have people crossing the road and picking small dogs/children up. At first, i must admit i took is to heart but now i just let them get on with it.

I had Jack neutering this year and paid £95, i live in the North East.

My male cost £120 to be done, he weighed 31kgs at the time.

re. the GSD look - it might be that the woman has not had good experiences with GSDs so doesn't share your enthusiasm!  Unfortunately I feel the same, although I have known some wonderful GSDs a lot of those I've met have varied between a little nervy and downright dodgy in their temperament, even after me working with them for some time (used to work in kennels).  So it could be that she's only met some iffy ones.  Some people also just have wariness of certain breeds - a woman on the work placement I'm on is nervous of every dobe she meets, despite the fact that every one she has met has been lovely and she's gotten on fine with them.  She can't explain or understand why she feels nervous of them, she just does!

For a large dog you will pay on average £130.  I don't want to offend but I agree with Nikita on GSD.  There are alot of them where I live and I've not met a good one, they have all been nervous with a short fuse.

We all have our own opinons on various breeds but I don't see that was any reason for the lady to stop talking altogether.    Couldn't she just have said she wasn't keen and then carried on the conversation?

I think GSDs are a bit of a Marmite breed - you either love 'em or hate 'em. 

When we arrived at our holiday cottage last week and the owner enquired what type of dog was in the crate, I was braced for either response. Luckily it was 'Oh, my favourite!' but could just as easily have been the 'My brother had one and it killed the cat/ate the baby/ripped his face off/can't trust them' variety. 

We didn't have one negative comment as we walked the beaches and paths of West Wales and one couple even let their young daughter run up to Zak barking and waving a stick in his face, which I thought was the height of stupidity but they obviously thought was safe.   

There's just no accounting for folks I guess.

Some people are just like that I think!  I've even had people cross the road to escape my terrifying springer pup today, it takes all kinds :D

I love GSD'S, I have owned 3 (all resue's) & my 1st & 2nd (both bitches) were perfectly well balanced, well behaved, good natured dogs. The people who owned them had treated them very, very badly & cruelly. They should have been prosecuted. I could cry now when I think back to the state which both dogs were in when I took them in.

My 3rd GSD (dog) has a lovely temperament with people, but can be a bit dominant with other dogs. However it isn't his fault, a stupid young girl bought him. Even though she had two babies to look after & 2 staffordshire bull terriers. The dogs got too much for her so she stuck them in a pen outside, all day every day. This is a terrible start for an 8 week old GSD. I have worked very hard with him & can take him anywhere. It's the wrong sort of owners taking on dog's which are not suited to them which is the problem. Mind you if the cost of neuturing & spaying was a bit cheaper, there might not be all these puppies about getting unsuitable homes.

I've known some beautiful GSDs but I also know several people who are unreasonably scared of the breed. Admittedly they are rarely dog people but it's a prejudice that can be difficult to overcome especially if it's based on a general unease rather than a specific experience.

But then there's always someone out there who can be guaranteed to detest whatever breed of dog you have or mention. Because if I had a pound for everyone who has confidently assured me that JRTs are vicious little brutes I could subsidise half the castrations in Sussex! ;)

I probally don't give GSD's a chance and i'm perhaps looking for fault as my sister was bitten by one and it left her with a deep rooted fear of large dogs.  As for JRT's I have such as soft spot for them, I used to clean a ladies house when I was a student and she had one.  When I was first interviewed for the job she said I have a JRT called Dancer and would I also walk him when I was finished cleaning.  She told me that the daughter would be in when I first came to introduce us.  It was  a very large house and I was given keys to enter via the basement at the rear of the house.  Well I arrived ready to start work and opened the back door,the corridor was pitch black as there was no windows.  I decided to leave the door open and go in search of a light switch.  I was half way along the corridor when I heard a bark from upstairs and at the same time the wind closed the door behind  me.  I made my way along the corridor feeling the wall for a switch and could hear the running of feet and growling comming from above.  I was saying to  myself keep calm you'll find the light as  Dancer was charging downstairs towards me growling.  I found the light just as she reached the second last stair.  I said "hello dancer there's a good doggy" while clutching the banister for support.  The daughter later sent her apologies for not being there as she forgot about me comming.  I lost count of the amount of times I had to clean up the remnants of Dancer's bin raids and subsequent pukes.  Recall was also a word that had no meaning for Dancer.  I foolishly let her once off the lead and took over two hours to get her out of the shrubbery.

GSD's are brill!!!!!!!  IF they are well bred and don't have dodgy temperaments which sadly, many of them seem to have

I just about fell off my seat when i read £200 to get a dog neutered!!!!!

a couple of years ago we paid £50 for our male dog (i would imagine this to be about £60 - £80 now?) and last year paid £120 for a bitch spay.