Chimera Kennels

For those of you that have neautered some of your females, can you please help me out in understanding the following.

What age is the best age to do so?

Does it change their drive, temperament, confidence, instinct to naturally guard their family?

Does it make them gain weight for sure, or is their a way to avoid that beside the obvious exercising and diet?

Thanks

I feel that waiting until the normal growth phase regarding height is beneficial as hormones play a very large aspect in the growth phase.

One problem that some people experience after having a bitch spayed is that of urinary leakage when sleeping.  Don't know why but it is a known side effect of the surgery.

Diet and exercise play the biggest role in keeping any dog fit as you mentioned and especially once the hormone balance changes due to surgery.

Hope this helps.

It is pretty well accepted that weight gain is a side affect as well. Nutrition and exercise certainly can reduce it, but if the same nutrition and exercise was given to an intact dog then I suspect the intact dog would be more fit. Steroid hormones influence both muscle growth and recovery time.

That is a very good question..we were just talking to our vet about the same topic last week.  He was saying that not all, but some females if you spay them before full growth (Ht/Wt development), they will never develop to be their full potential.  He stated that some remain young and lanky looking their entire life because they are spayed too early.  He suggested for our American Sentinel that we wait until she is fully grown.

Lisa at November 9, 2010 at 12:20 PM

That is a very good question..we were just talking to our vet about the same topic last week.  He was saying that not all, but some females if you spay them before full growth (Ht/Wt development), they will never develop to be their full potential.  He stated that some remain young and lanky looking their entire life because they are spayed too early.  He suggested for our swinford that we wait until she is fully grown.

Thank you all for the input. Lisa, will you wait until she is fully grown like 2 years old, or spay her before that? Thanks

Nico at November 9, 2010 at 2:40 PM

Lisa at November 9, 2010 at 12:20 PM

That is a very good question..we were just talking to our vet about the same topic last week.  He was saying that not all, but some females if you spay them before full growth (Ht/Wt development), they will never develop to be their full potential.  He stated that some remain young and lanky looking their entire life because they are spayed too early.  He suggested for our swinford that we wait until she is fully grown.

Thank you all for the input. Lisa, will you wait until she is fully grown like 2 years old, or spay her before that? Thanks

Well we will try and wait..although we have an intact male bandog so I'm sure we'll have our hands full!

Lisa at November 9, 2010 at 10:11 PM

Nico at November 9, 2010 at 2:40 PM

Lisa at November 9, 2010 at 12:20 PM

That is a very good question..we were just talking to our vet about the same topic last week.  He was saying that not all, but some females if you spay them before full growth (Ht/Wt development), they will never develop to be their full potential.  He stated that some remain young and lanky looking their entire life because they are spayed too early.  He suggested for our swinford that we wait until she is fully grown.

Thank you all for the input. Lisa, will you wait until she is fully grown like 2 years old, or spay her before that? Thanks

Well we will try and wait..although we have an intact male bandog so I'm sure we'll have our hands full!

... sounds like trouble...lol Good luck with both of them, and it's always nice to see new pictures.

Hey Nico sorry for the later reply, and although I have no personal experience with spaying a female all of the "working type breeders" that I have spoken with over the years have advised me to wait until a dog (whether male or female) is both physically and mentally mature.  Once a dog is mature however, the same breeders said that in their opinion, it would make little difference whether or not a dog was spayed or neutered in reference to working ability.  In reference to the issue of weight gain, I would definitely have to agree with Lee.

Thanks. Yeah, I think I'll wait until she is 18 months or so. Hey, I may not even spay her if I see that we can live ok with her heat cicles. It's just that I don't know how good or bad it is to have a female remain intact if she is not going to be bred? 

Nico at November 16, 2010 at 2:21 PM

Thanks. Yeah, I think I'll wait until she is 18 months or so. Hey, I may not even spay her if I see that we can live ok with her heat cicles. It's just that I don't know how good or bad it is to have a female remain intact if she is not going to be bred? 

I wouldnt do it nico, its not to bad, i keep my females outdoors/garage during there cycles, you live in la, i dont imagine it gets to hot or cold for a dog there =), when its to hot, i run the swamp cooler in the garage, when its to cold, i run the dryer and dry some clothes for them, 

penngomifan at November 16, 2010 at 5:17 PM

Nico at November 16, 2010 at 2:21 PM

Thanks. Yeah, I think I'll wait until she is 18 months or so. Hey, I may not even spay her if I see that we can live ok with her heat cicles. It's just that I don't know how good or bad it is to have a female remain intact if she is not going to be bred? 

I wouldnt do it nico, its not to bad, i keep my females outdoars/garage during there cycles, you live in la, i dont imagine it gets to hot or cold for a dog there =), when its to hot, i run the swamp cooler in the garage, when its to cold, i run the dryer and dry some clothes for them, 

Thanks but it'll depend on my living situation. We are planning to move to a bigger place witha huge outdoor patio, so if we do, I might just not do it.

Definitely wait until she has fully matured and her growth plates have closed.  Other than that there really are no drawbacks to spaying or neutering.  It is absolutely not going to affect any drive and the additional weight gain will be non existent assuming they lead an active lifestyle. 

Unless you plan on breeding or showing a dog (which wouldn't be the case with her) there is no reason to not spay her.

Matt A. at November 17, 2010 at 2:17 PM

Definitely wait until she has fully matured and her growth plates have closed.  Other than that there really are no drawbacks to spaying or neutering.  It is absolutely not going to affect any drive and the additional weight gain will be non existent assuming they lead an active lifestyle. 

Unless you plan on breeding or showing a dog (which wouldn't be the case with her) there is no reason to not spay her.

Then why does LAPD not neuter there police dogs when its a law for civilians to have them neutered in parts of L.A. County? One of the arguments used for people to pass a mandatory spay and neuter law is it makes dogs less dog aggressive and 4 or 3 i forget which times less likely to bite someone not something i want out of a guard dog.  Correct me if i am wrong but isn't testosterone produced by the dogs testicles? i know in humans testosterone is an important element  for allot of different things in the human body, one being someones drive to do physical activity, i assume it would be the same for a dog to a certain degree..........  then again were talking about a female dog here

penngomifan at November 21, 2010 at 11:55 PM

Matt A. at November 17, 2010 at 2:17 PM

Definitely wait until she has fully matured and her growth plates have closed.  Other than that there really are no drawbacks to spaying or neutering.  It is absolutely not going to affect any drive and the additional weight gain will be non existent assuming they lead an active lifestyle. 

Unless you plan on breeding or showing a dog (which wouldn't be the case with her) there is no reason to not spay her.

Then why does LAPD not neuter there police dogs when its a law for civilians to have them neutered in parts of L.A. County? One of the arguments used for people to pass a mandatory spay and neuter law is it makes dogs less dog aggressive and 4 or 3 i forget which times less likely to bite someone not something i want out of a guard dog.  Correct me if i am wrong but isn't testosterone produced by the dogs testicles? i know in humans testosterone is an important element  for allot of different things in the human body, one being someones drive to do physical activity, i assume it would be the same for a dog to a certain degree..........  then again were talking about a female dog here

Sorry, I must have missed your reponse.

I can't comment on why the LAPD chooses not to spay or neuter their dogs but many departments do.  Castration does play a role in the modulation of certain behaviors (roaming, urine marking, aggression towards other dogs, etc...) and does reduce testosterone levels but there are studies out there showing that it has little affect on aggression towards humans.

If a dog is fully matured and has drive, spay/neutering that dog is in no way going to squash that drive.  I have a friend who worked her first dog in PSA 3 and he was indeed neutered

I would generally agree that AFTER a behavior is learned, spaying or neutering isn't likely to alter that behavior. At most, it will generally only retard the development of SOME new behaviors.