Our Lab is due to be Castrated this Friday.
I was just wondering if it would be 'safe' for him to travel about 7pm the same day. Any idea?
The journey is about 2 hours long and he's done it several times before.

I wouldn't myself.  When my girl had her operation I stayed at home for a few days, although she was 13 at the time.

Best to ask your vet.  I would have thought he would have slept the whole 2 hrs. where if he was at home he may have been more mobile.  So long as it were a smooth journey I wouldnt have thought it would have done him any harm. More damage is often done through owners allowing rough play/too much excersice too soon.

I wouldn't do it either. Would you be able to see during this time if he was licking his wound and bothering it? I can remember travelling home in the car from the vet with a bandaged dog (leg), and when arriving home the bandage was gone -yet we never heard a thing whilst in the car.

He may feel quite sick after the anaesthetic too, so even a dog that normally travels happily may not feel right. I'd be taking him home and snuggling him up somewhere quiet to sleep it off.

M.

I called my Vet to be sure.
She said that aslong as he's normally fine when travelling then he should be ok. He'll still be quite sleepy from his operation and pain killers so will most probably just sleep the whole time. Which is what he does normally. I'll put down all his bedding in the back so he's comfy etc.

My dog who removed her bandage had been under GA as well, still didn't stop her. :)

Looking at your other thread your boy is only 7 months old -you really would be far better off neutering him later, when 18 months or so, 7 months is very young and it's not a good idea.

We've been umming and arghing about when to get him castrated for months.
We've thought about all the pro's and cons to both sides. Eventually we've decided that now is the right time for our pup.
He's a very big dog for his breed and age already too.

You know he'll grow BIGGER than otherwise when neutered early?

Yes. His size isn't really a problem to be honest. We've gotten used to the fact he's bigger than the adverage Lab and he wouldn't be 'Chunk' if he wasn't a big boy. ha ha

Goodness me it is far too early to think of castration particularly if he is a big dog. And no, I would not think of travelling with him so soon after a major operation, supposing something goes wrong and you have to travel 2 hours back with a dog in pain, bleeding or both. IMO I would postpone the castration for at least 18 months and defiantly not dream of making a journey with him straight after.

You say it is the right time, why? I can't think of any reason why you have come to this conclusion but would like to know your reasoning particularly as it seems to be an inconvenient time for you anyway.

He is a very hyper and 'Nippy' dog. We also see another family lab which is female and hasn't been neautered.
Our boy is always VERY VERY hyper and will not let her rest at all when we see her and continually tries to 'hump' her every time we visit.
He gets so excited that the whole expierence is very stressful for all involved and the other lab just doesn't know what to do when ours is around. This is something that we've tried to find a way to cope with or discourage it and nothing works.
The vet suggested that we castrate him and didn't see any cons with doing it at this age.

>Our boy is always VERY VERY hyper

This over-exuberance is likely to continue for longer, because of the lack of 'maturing' hormones ...

Unless you have tried chemical castration there is nothing to say that castration will work, it may or it may make matters worse because he will not have the chance to grow up and learn how to behave with people and around other dogs. When you bought this dog you must have known that Labs will not mature till they are at least 2 years old so why are you trying to rush matters. The behaviour you describe is normal puppy behaviour and I am surprised you are trying to use castration when all that is needed is training until he is mature.

We  understand the age that Labs mature. We're getting him castrated at this age after us thinking long and hard about it.... getting advice from all sides and talking over and over with our vet. She see's no real problem, only benefits, to castrating him now and it was partly her advice that has made us go in this direction.

Personally I do not think vets are the best people to offer this sort of advice very few of them live with dogs. What were the down sides she told you? And what were the up?

When I had my boy neutered he didnt even know he had it done really.  The only time he bothered with the stitches was when it was healing and they tightened.   Our vet uses a special anesetic which meant he was up and round and home within a hour.  No pain that we noticed just a much nicer dog afterwards.

I always believed it was better to get a dog neutered early to calm them down however I suppose like everything it is a area where everyone has an opinion.  :)

So confused now. Oh dear.

Bad points ....

May put on weight.

Good points ....

Less illness like cancer etc
Calm down
Less 'nippy'
Will calm down around the female lab

I cant remember the other points off of the top of my head.

>Calm down
>Less 'nippy'
>Will calm down around the female lab

None of those are guaranteed. Even castrated dogs can mate and tie with bitches. The only sure-fire guarantee is that he won't get testicular cancer (which isn't very common anyway). It's no guarantee against prostate cancer.

Bad points to consider:
More likely to develop cruciate problems
May become attractive to other male dogs

> May become attractive to other male dogs

This is something I thought only may happen for a short while after castration.

There are unfortunately many more unpleasant side effects than advantages, if, apart from not being unable to procreate, there are any. Some dogs are fine but some are not and the earlier you have it done the more chance you have of having problem in later life. However the dog you own is yours to do with as you wish, I am just interested to hear why people think it a good idea.

Some dogs will remove their stitches before they are even fully awake so it is fine to travel your dog if you know he will not be sick, not bleed, not swell up, not lick or chew, not need a buster collar and not be in pain otherwise it is cruel to attempt a long journey.

He is a very hyper and 'Nippy' dog. We also see another family lab which is female and hasn't been neautered.
Our boy is always VERY VERY hyper and will not let her rest at all when we see her and continually tries to 'hump' her every time we visit.

The only thing castration CAN help is a) not being able to sire puppies, and b) male dog to dog aggression in SOME cases -not all.

I have a male dog that was neutered young (which I will never do again), he even mates and ties with bitches in season, has the exact same issues an entire male dog, cocks his leg (although it took 3 years before he started) etc.

I have 6 male dogs, 4 of which are neutered. We always say that the neutered ones haven't got a clue they are neutered as it hasn't changed anything in their male behaviour. I've even had to worry about my 13 year old cavalier this week as I have a bitch in season and he has been trying to mate her despite having been neutered for over 10 years now. Which isn't good for his bad heart.

I am sorry to confuse you but to try and put things straight, yes, you are right you can't get a tumour in a part of your body that is in the insinuator. However most tumour in the testis are not cancerous and it is easy to keep a check. It is however more likely that a dog will get a cancerous tumour in the prostate if he is castrated.

The only changes it will make to his behaviour are those that are sex related and at 7 months he is too young to know this. The puppy sex behaviour may well continue when castrated where as left intact with maturity it would stop.

Some castrated dog become quite and flat after castration other remain pups for ever.

Castrated dogs cannot procreate. 
Castrated dogs may grow far too big causing joint problems. (don't mean weight)
Castrated dogs may suffer early onset arthritis
Castrated dogs may suffer immunity problems causing, in particular, skin problems that seem to have no cause.
Castrated dogs may become sexually attractive to other dogs causing males to continually try to mate with them and bitches to become aggressive.

I wont go on but would be interested if someone can give me real positive reasons for castrating a dog before maturity.

My boy who was castrated before maturity is always picked on by other dogs. He's a great big puppy (and he grew four inches taller than his litterbrothers who were done later) and he's very, very insecure. It's the exact same with his sister who were spayed at the same time. Again big mistake. I have regretted it a million times.

> The only thing castration CAN help is a) not being able to sire puppies, and b) male dog to dog aggression in SOME cases -not all.
>

I've found it stopped my dog from actively looking for bitches (he would cry & try to escape when he smelt a bitch before being castrated at the age of 4yrs).
It didn't change his personality, he was still a bossy git and liked to think he ruled the roost - even with his man hood gone!!! Being castrated didn't have much of an effect on him doing the 'humpy humpy' on everything that moved and everything that didn't move :(

My sisters bitch used to hump a lot, and she was spayed, humping (especially in youg dogs/puppies) can be just exitement (I've read somewhere it is also a bonding ritual?).

To the OP, it's your decision when/if you have your dog castrated, but please don't be under the illusion it will change his behavior.

I hope all goes well with the op and he doesn't feel to sorry for himself :)

Its all so confusing. Although I do still feel this is the right choice for our boy and family.

Mastifflover .... my partner would love a mastiff and if they didn't 'dribble' so much I would allow him to have one. haha

Having said that though ... I am thinking of postponing it.

Bouncya, the choice is yours, of course, I would just like you to be sure why you have made that choice. Delay would be a good first move particularly if you can't postpone you travel arrangements.

> You know he'll grow BIGGER than otherwise when neutered early?

and his bones will be thinner, and chest stay narrower, not a good combination

I would not travel, when Jake come back he was so shakey on his legs and "spaced out" when he fully came around he was very uncomfortable and we had diffeculty getting him to drink, we just kept everyone away from him and kept him quiet for about 3 to 4 days. He was poorly.

We were advised that with only one testical down he would possibly get cancer as its quite common in borders, so we had him done around 10 months old.

I know I have posted this before, but here is an article that outlines the pros and cons for both sexes, but it shows there are more cons than pros for most male dogs.

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf

OMG ... I really dont know any more.

When I got my pup I was very unsure about weather to get him 'done' or not. After a lot of thought & research I decided it would be best to wait untill he has grown (fully matured) and will only get him done if there is a need (medical or testosterone driven behaviour).
Afterall, if they have the op early in life, there is no changing your mind and any growth damage/disruption is irreversable, but if you don't get it done it is always there as an option :)

Hi Bouncya.  I really don't want to persuade you one way or the other as to when or if you should castrate your pooch.  But may I urge you to investigate a little further?  My Lab puppyboy is also 7 months.  I also asked my Vet about neutering him, and was also given ONLY the good points.  Not even the risk (small) of anaesthetic and the actual surgery was mentionned.  Off he was going for the big snip at 6 months, as is recommended here, till I encountered the link Brainless has posted, as well as some others.  In retrospect I could kick myself because very little in life is black and white and how could there possibly be not one single detriment to the procedure?  After much reading and confusing and sometimes contradictory research I went back to my Vet and discussed this further with her.  She now says she sees no compelling reason for me to neuter my boy till much later, possibly around 18 months.  Whether I will neuter him at all I have not decided but it will be be later rather than sooner if I do.

The simple fact in dogs testosterone is linked to the closure of the growth plates & if you remove the testosterone  before the dog has stopped growing & the growth plates closed, the dog may(& usually does)go on to grow taller than normal & also may have leg/joint problems all his life. The link is proven, but most vets do not mention this at all

"Good points ....

Less illness like cancer etc
Calm down
Less 'nippy'
Will calm down around the female lab"

All of these, bar the "less illness like cancer" (and that can only mean testicular cancer) should be improved by age and maturity anyway.  I, too, would be very reluctant to rush into castrating a puppy.

I really wouldnt neuter at this age, its far too young your dog is only a baby and will be bouncy! he's a lab and a puppy!  YOu should let him mature first before you decided whether to neuter at all.

Why are vets telling every client to neuter neuter neuter at such an early age!! I was shocked when a chap at work came in the other day and announced his 6mnth large breed had gone in for the snip!  its ridiculous

half of these dogs dont need neutering anyhow. 

I have found that if people wait till the dog matures then, as if by magic, the problems disappear because in most cases they did not exist in the first place, it was just a puppy being a puppy.

I would definately listen to others that discourage castration at an early age, it probably wont stop the humping, as he is only 7 months its as previously said it will be puppy behaviour. Vets encourage it because they know there are too many dogs in kennels etc etc. Without fully considering whether its best for the dog. Money would be better spent on a training classes to kurb those behaviours your unkeen on, plus constant meetings with other dogs may reduce excitement therefore reduce humping. Let him keep his knackers until hes at least 2 if you still want rid of them then go ahead, but personally i would only get rid of them for medical reasons undescended. Bad behaviour can be irradicated with training, many people think its the easy route with castration and are very wrong.

Hope this helps

Louise

Interesting your vet says 7 months is okay.
My vet here will not consider it before 9 months at the earliest and over 12 months for larger breeds!
I personally would wait until he is at least 12 months (pref:18 months +) With his behaviour just keep up the training !! One 'sex mad teenage dog' owner to another!!!!