my lab bitch had her first season at 7mnths and will therefore be due to be spayed before she is a year old. Her breeder says that her dogs dont usually stop growing until they are about 2, So does anyone have any information about spaying slowing or retarding growth? will she end up smaller without the hormones ? I know the risks of not spaying but would it be worth waiting until she has definatly stopped growing or does it not make any difference. 

I'm not sure about bitches but in dogs neutering early usually makes them grow BIGGER than they otherwise would have.

I know about the weight gain with spayed labs but do dogs really get bigger or just heavier. She is from working lines so is pretty skinny for a lab

Dogs grow TALLER. :)

The articles I ahve read state that neutering before puberty affects the time the growth plates close, and that they on average keep growing about 2 months longer than they would otherwise.

Removing the hormones causes a taller but less solid bone structure, this makes sence as womnen after the menopause without HRT are prone to Osteoporosis.  I suppose the effects are not as great in canines as they don't live that long.

For what its worth we had Kayla spayed when she was 14 months old and she is quite tall and chunky for the breed she is. Not sure if the 2 are related, her mother was a larger bitch. In that breed bitches should stop growing heightwise at about 10/11 months but continue to fill out for a few years.
HTH :)

I had Jazz speyed at 6 months, she is now 18mths nearly, she is still solid in bone, has not grown over height & is still smaller than some other bitches I know.
Have to admit, this is a new one on me, never heard it before & we have had lab's/berns & StBernards speyed..

I don't know about taller but labs can get very fat after thier spayed,all the spayed labs I have met in the past were quite over weight,Iam sure this can be prevented if your carefull.
My vet told me that dogs go grow taller when nutered cause thier body isnt having to concentrate alot of energy on hormone production and so the energy that would be used on hormones is used on growth,that may be the case for females as well,but Iam not sure.

thankyou all for your help i was concerned about her ending up shorter than her siblings as none  of them are being neutered and we see them all quite often. I dont want her looking like a short fat runt compared to them!. Hopefully weight wont be that much of an issue for us as she is a lab who isn't really interested in food

After spaying that is likely to change.  My anorexic now steals food, her brother was the same.

It seems that after neutering the body requires around 20% less food, but the appetite stays the same or increases so the dogs feel hungry or are overfed and get heavier gradully.  For those of us who are careful with their weight find that because they are hungrier they get more foody.