# Curious as to when the best time to neuter my puppy is?



## Christos0320 (Aug 19, 2010)

Zeus is now 3 months old and my vet has scheduled his neutering for mid october which he will then be about 5 months old. I am ok with this but I have heard that once neutered they don't gain their muscle as easily. I just want to make sure 5 months old is not too early. I want my pup nice and strong and of course healthy. So should I wait till he's around 8 or 9 months old? Please give any suggestions.


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## Christos0320 (Aug 19, 2010)

I have heard that neutering at a young age decreases testosterone and in turn reduces muscle gain and definition.


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## Aireal (Jul 2, 2010)

NO not yet dude, wait till he is at least 9 months old 1 maybe even 2 years old if you can wait that long, he may have a saggy kinda sack but still, it not healthy to do it that young they don't develop right


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## jayandlacy (Sep 21, 2009)

I have heard it is best to wait until they are older, like 2 years old. This would allow him to get his mature adult body first. My vet tried to get me to do it at 5mths too, I said no thanks.


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## aus_staffy (Nov 10, 2009)

I'd wait until he's at least a year old. If he's your only dog and you don't have him running loose there isn't really any reason to neuter him that early.


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## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

I had my female spayed at about 5 and a half months. She's on the smaller end but .. thats not to say thats not just how god made her.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I would not reccomend doing it before he has time to mature. at least 12-18 months but that is JMO. If you want to ddo it earlier wait till at least 9-10 months


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## NesOne (Feb 7, 2008)

performanceknls said:


> I would not reccomend doing it before he has time to mature. at least 12-18 months but that is JMO. If you want to ddo it earlier wait till at least 9-10 months


:goodpost: I concur.


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## Christos0320 (Aug 19, 2010)

Thanks for all the great advice. I think I'm gonna go ahead wait till the end of february that way he'll be about 9 months old. My vet says that he'll start marking his territory if I wait that long. Do u think that's correct?


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## Aireal (Jul 2, 2010)

no i do not think that is correct, you don't own any intact females do you? If not then i think you should be fine


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

Christos0320 said:


> Thanks for all the great advice. I think I'm gonna go ahead wait till the end of february that way he'll be about 9 months old. My vet says that he'll start marking his territory if I wait that long. Do u think that's correct?


well that is the problem with waiting, many males will leg lift and mark if you do not do it early. Some males still will mark when they get nutered early so that is not a guarnetee. IMO Part of having a male is they lift thier legs and mark and I have no problem with that and if I did then I would just have a female. I do have females that will leg lift are mark too so there you go! lol

Are you concerns about marking in the house? That is just training I have had many intact males and only once did they ever mark in the house. When they did it is because I had females in season and one male peed on my trash can and then my other two males marked over it. That was it and I learned not to have them lose in the house when bitches were in season, they stayed outside in the kennels.

If you want to do it at 9 months then that is your right I just hate to see a growing dog get neutered before they can mature.

Oh and FYI one of my puppies I just bred was humping his sisters and leg lifting at 8 weeks old, he is a show dog and will not be neutered but if he was now I would suspect nothing would change. (Barca is such a stud muffin!) lol


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## 00 S/C Lightning (Apr 7, 2010)

lisa knows from all her experience. take what she said into consideration, its the law!!


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## AmberS (Aug 22, 2010)

what about a spay? does that age matter?


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## davidfitness83 (Jul 7, 2009)

your intact dog will not mark the house if he is house trained. Bernie is a year an a month and he has never peed in the house and he is intact, outside it is fair game =)


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I fell the same way about spays, wait till later 12-18 months at least


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## AmberS (Aug 22, 2010)

can i ask what the reasoning behind it is? only because here, we have mandatory spay. i ll get a license if i have to, if theres a legitimate reason, yanno?


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## Christos0320 (Aug 19, 2010)

Performance kennels. You seem to have a lot of knowledge. Are you a vet or a breeder? I am just new to the site and am wondering where you are getting your resources to back all of your great knowledge


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## Christos0320 (Aug 19, 2010)

Performance kennels. You seem to have a lot of knowledge and I am very new to the site and I am just wondering where you get the knowledge to back up everything you say. Because it seems like you are highly respected amongst these forums.  thanks for all the advice by the way


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## Aireal (Jul 2, 2010)

Pk is a breeder, trainer, vet tech, i agree with the post above take her word, she has not let me down nor have i ever found fault in one of her post!!!


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## Christos0320 (Aug 19, 2010)

Thanks aireal.


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## Aireal (Jul 2, 2010)

No problem, and I can tell you I don't pass judgment lightly, I am pretty critical lol but this girl here, ya she has my respect


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## bahamutt99 (May 14, 2008)

I would give him his 18 months. As to whether or not he starts marking, only time will tell. Some dogs start marking as young as your dog is now. I had a male that still didn't mark at 22 months old.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

AmberS said:


> can i ask what the reasoning behind it is? only because here, we have mandatory spay. i ll get a license if i have to, if theres a legitimate reason, yanno?


If you read the beginning of this thread we talk about why it is better to wait. If you have mandatory S/N yo should still be able to get a intact license it will just cost more. I would just not register my dog till I was ready to get them fixed. you can wait till she is at least 12 months old.



Christos0320 said:


> Performance kennels. You seem to have a lot of knowledge and I am very new to the site and I am just wondering where you get the knowledge to back up everything you say. Because it seems like you are highly respected amongst these forums.  thanks for all the advice by the way





Aireal said:


> Pk is a breeder, trainer, vet tech, i agree with the post above take her word, she has not let me down nor have i ever found fault in one of her post!!!


I don't really consider myself a breeder I have had only 4 litters in the last 16 years and have just bred other bloodlines nothing really my own, But thank you

I have been in the dogs for about 16 years and I now own my own dog training business for all breeds. I was also a vet tech for several years when I was younger and how I met my husband  I have performance dogs and work them in various sports and currently have about 13-16 dogs in our kennel and most are APBT's, I do have a Boston Terrier, Dutch Shepherd, and Aussie. If you want to see more about what I do and who I am my website in on my signature below.

I have done a lot of research on dogs and our breed and I am still learning everyday! I use to think S/N at an early age was ok till I started to learn more and now I am a firm believer in waiting if you can.
If someone is having big normal problems with a dominate male then I will suggest neutering right away, but a normal dog I say wait!


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## aus_staffy (Nov 10, 2009)

Christos0320 said:


> Thanks for all the great advice. I think I'm gonna go ahead wait till the end of february that way he'll be about 9 months old. My vet says that he'll start marking his territory if I wait that long. Do u think that's correct?


They start marking anyway. As davidfitness says, if he's house trained it shouldn't be an issue. When Nitro was first learning to lift his leg, I caught him trying to do it in the house and that was the first and last time he's done it. It's just part of them growing up.


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## k8nkane (Jul 9, 2010)

If you do happen to get your dog spayed/neutered earlier, say around 6 mths or so, your dog will still be your dog.

I got Kane and Roxie spayed/neutered at 7 months and they still have the muscular physique of a pit. Are they going to be a little smaller than they might otherwise be? Maybe, probably. But if your dogs are going to be pets, like mine are, and you aren't really going to do anything with them (weight pulling/showing/breeding obvs., etc), then I don't think it really matters in the end.

Your dog will still have a happy healthy life.


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