# Help! When is the best timing to neuter the golden retriever?



## Edward1106 (Jul 20, 2016)

My dog is 3 months old now. When is the best time to neuter him?

I did research in past two weeks. Some vets said neuter the dog earlier is better, recovery sooner and not aggressive behavior. Some vets said according to study neuter the dog to earlier will make dog Hormone imbalance. will cause a lot of problem later on. the dog especially golden retriever should delay neuter. 

I would like to know what is your opinion?


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## Rkaymay (May 12, 2014)

You'll find lots of different opinions on that. Many people choose to wait until their dogs are 12-18 months old to neuter. Most people don't neuter before 6 months of age.


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## Edward1106 (Jul 20, 2016)

It is really confusing me. Some vets said neuter earlier. Some vets said delay to 1 year old.
One vets said my puppy looks very hyper, better to neuter earlier. I am afraid if I neuter him to earlier it will have bone and growth problem.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

It is a medical fact that hormones contribute to the proper growth, and full potential growth of the dog. Delaying the neuter until the growth plates are closed is the best option for the growth of the dog.

Some info here:

https://www.facebook.com/DogsFirstI...4235037973214/884042774992433/?type=3&theater


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## Parker16 (May 30, 2016)

Ideally I'd wait until he's at least a year or 2 old for the reasons mentioned above (health benefits) but that said, mine will be neutered in Nov when he turns 10 mos ONLY because we are going on vacation in December for a couple of weeks and most pet boarding places don't take dogs that aren't neutered and PetSmart hotels won't let unneutered dogs have play time together. They will just have to stay kenneled or only get 30 min play time with a pet specialist and 2 walks a day. Parker loves socializing with other dogs and we don't want to deny him that play opportunity especially since he'll be away from us for so long. If not for our out of country vacation, we'd wait until he was 18 mos.


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

There are positive and negative results of early neuter, according to research. From what I've read, it's definitely better to delay neuter for at least 2 years if at all. One thing that's for certain is that neutering will have absolutely no affect on behavior. So neutering to help the dog "calm down" is completely useless. I wouldn't be going back to the vet whom suggested neutering for your puppy just because he seemed hyper. All puppies are hyper.


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## Boondox (Sep 6, 2010)

Given data trends in current research on canine health, I am appalled at the number of vets who continue with the mantra of early spay and neuter. As an epidemiologist, I've waded through dozens of "studies," weeding out those with poor design (single case studies, findings based on anecdotes, low sample sizes, failure to control for key variables, etc). Some have good data, but the researcher's methodology shows inherent biases. If I look at their raw data as well as those of the more robust, well-designed studies, I see enough to tell me my dogs will never be neutered before age 2, or when epiphyseal fusion (fusion of the growth plate in long bones) takes place. 

In hindsight it makes me grieve for the dogs we (as a rescue) had sterilized early as I saw in them a number of orthopedic issues and sarcomas that the data tell me could very well have been related to our decision to neuter early. Yes, there are other variables that some of these data did not control for, but my own analyses of the numbers often show strong trends, if not correlations.

I donate, through the Barley Memorial Fund, to the Morris Foundation and would encourage others to do so as well. *That* is a well-designed, robust study!

Pete


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

My personal opinion is that unless an individual dog needs neutered for a medical reason it is better to keep them intact. I also think it is important to look at the dogs home life and activities and if the owner feels they can't provide a good life without the use of doggy day care then they do have to do the best they can for their dog.

" Some vets said neuter the dog earlier is better, recovery sooner"

There have been studies out there that suggest neutering a dog around the 6 month mark is easier on the dogs recovery from the surgery.

All surgeries put our dogs at risk. Putting a healthy dog at this risk without a good reason just doesn't sound right in my book.

"not aggressive behavior
One vets said my puppy looks very hyper"

That vet saw your puppy for about 10 minutes at most. He is seeing a very small snapshot of your pups life. Any dog that is put in an unknown possibly scary situation can look or act hyper at that time and be the most mellow dog at other time.

It is true that "testosterone acts as an accelerant making the dog more reactive" that means male dogs with testosterone may be triggered faster to different stimuli. This is a good thing it is there to help them to stay safe. All this means is that we need to train our dogs to follow our cues so they don't feel the need to take matters into their own paws. Testosterone also helps our dogs to be more confident taking it away especially if our dog has a tendency to be anxious and timid may not be the best protocol. If a dog is over reactive and getting a trainer to work with you is not helping it is then time to go to a vet behaviorist because there are some occasions when the dog should be neutered but there are others will it will make things worse.

Hormones are important in many ways for our dogs health. They have only touched on the information.

Our dogs growth plates aren't completely closed until sometime between 18 and 24 months. There is a higher rate of hypothyroidism in neutered goldens, cancers that are prominent in our goldens seem to be found higher in our neutered dogs.

Again, in my opinion the biggest reason that vets want us to neuter our goldens early is they have been told that owners are not capable of keeping their dogs from producing more dogs. It is jammed into their heads in school. They come out into the work force and see many owners for 10 minutes and they can't truly evaluate if you will be a responsible owner or not. 

Only you know your lifestyle and what you can provide for your dog so you can make the best decision for your own dog.
It's a hard decision and whatever one you make will be the right one for you and your pup.

* I own two healthy happy intact dogs. One will be 8 in October and one will be 3 in November.


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## CedarFurbaby (Jun 6, 2016)

My puppy is 5 months now and I recently called the vet and asked if he could be sexually mature (described some stuff) and the vet said he could be. He advised 12-18 months because large breed dog and the usual about hormones contributing to growth. Basically he said just watch him when he's at the dog park and off-leash, and don't let him hump anyone. When I went to another vet, she said she never heard of it (which is really weird) and said most dogs neuter at 6 months. I don't think I trust the second vet's opinion, because she didn't even hear of it. 

When I went to the dog park and asked several golden owners about when they were neutered, most people tried to wait as long as possible until they found it too hard to handle.


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## Anele (Dec 12, 2014)

My dog was very tough the first year. Some people (not here) said my only hope was to neuter him.

Instead, we did a lot of training and waited it out. He is intact. He is 21 months and has great manners now. Very appropriate with other dogs, no humping, no marking indoors.


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## CnCFusion (Feb 15, 2016)

We are planning to wait until he's at least 18 months as well... Mochi has been showing some signs of pee-marking, but he still squats like a girl so we don't know if he just needed to pee more because he's been drinking more at the park, or if it's "marking'.... but he only pees once when we go out potty at home...

I don't think you have to worry too much about him humping other dogs at the park (yes it's bad manners and he shouldn't do it) and Mochi never does it, but female dog owners shouldn't bring their dogs to a "dog park" if they are in heat and in "danger" of getting pregnant to start with in my opinion.

So far the only frustrated thing Mochi does is hump me when he's over-stimulated so I try to calm him down and push him back down to not promote the behavior... *sigh*


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## Anele (Dec 12, 2014)

Parker16 said:


> Ideally I'd wait until he's at least a year or 2 old for the reasons mentioned above (health benefits) but that said, mine will be neutered in Nov when he turns 10 mos ONLY because we are going on vacation in December for a couple of weeks and most pet boarding places don't take dogs that aren't neutered and PetSmart hotels won't let unneutered dogs have play time together. They will just have to stay kenneled or only get 30 min play time with a pet specialist and 2 walks a day. Parker loves socializing with other dogs and we don't want to deny him that play opportunity especially since he'll be away from us for so long. If not for our out of country vacation, we'd wait until he was 18 mos.


You might want to look at in-home boarding. The times we have boarded our dog, that's the route we chose. Once was with someone who is a trainer and took our guy to an (empty) dog park, on walks in the woods, etc. The other was a woman who boards one dog at a time but has her own resident golden, so our dog got tons of playtime. The fact that he wasn't neutered wasn't a concern.


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## Parker16 (May 30, 2016)

Thank you for sharing this information, Anele. Yes, I have been looking into in-home boarding. Saw a couple of them with really good reviews but they only take neutered dogs. Will keep looking. Has anyone heard of dogvacay.com? 




Anele said:


> Parker16 said:
> 
> 
> > Ideally I'd wait until he's at least a year or 2 old for the reasons mentioned above (health benefits) but that said, mine will be neutered in Nov when he turns 10 mos ONLY because we are going on vacation in December for a couple of weeks and most pet boarding places don't take dogs that aren't neutered and PetSmart hotels won't let unneutered dogs have play time together. They will just have to stay kenneled or only get 30 min play time with a pet specialist and 2 walks a day. Parker loves socializing with other dogs and we don't want to deny him that play opportunity especially since he'll be away from us for so long. If not for our out of country vacation, we'd wait until he was 18 mos.
> ...


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## Lambeau0609 (Aug 3, 2015)

I use home care from www.rover.com
The ones I've used so far understand why my dog at 1 yr old is not neutered yet and don't require the dog to be neutered.


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