Thanks for your responses. The vet said that if a dog doesn't need surgery for anything else, the usual recommendation is to watch it and do nothing, unless it becomes worse and causes problems. But since we'll be spaying our dog around May, it can be repaired during that surgery, if she still has it. At least doing it at the same time avoids having two seperate operations. I was just curious if anyone's dog had one that spontaneously disappeared, as the vet says that sometimes happens.

Actually feed a large breed growth formula, not regular puppy food. These are formulated for optimal bone health. As long as you spay her before the first heat cycle, you are still greatly reducing the chances of mammary tumors later in life. In large breed dogs, the first heat cycle can occur anywhere between 6 and 18 months of age. There is no definitive proof that spay/neuter at a certain age increases risk of bone problems later in life. However there is no denying that sex hormones affect growth. We just don't know exactly what, if any, the effect of early spay/neuter is on dogs who are at high risk for joint problems anyway. All giant breed dogs are genetically predisposed to all kinds of orthopedic problems. I personally believe that optimal nutrition throughout life, never allowing the dog to become overweight, and lots of moderate exercise have much more effect on orthopedic health than when the animal is spayed/neutered. The larger the dog, the more difficult the spay. Younger dogs tend to wake up faster and do much better under anesthesia than larger and older dogs. At the shelter, we routinely spay and neuter at 8 weeks, so every animal leaving the shelter is already spayed/neutered.

we adopted two puppies back in July. One came from a litter that had been found in a dumpster, the other from an unwanted pregnancy where the litter was left with a friend! The younger dog is now nearly 6 months old and we thought it was a lab. Well she is now all of 28lbs so she is mixed with something a little smaller than a lab! Her name is Scout and she is very sweet. Emma is about three weeks older than Scout, and is, we think lab, boxer, pointer and is now 44lbs. They have been together since we had them. We managed to scrape the money together to get them spade last week (my husband had been laid off and so we are both now looking for work). Since the operation they have been extra frisky - we have them crated separately so that they can be quiet and heal. We are taking them out one at a time to potty and short walks round the garden. I had expected them to be quieter than normal, but not so! They just want to run and jump and play more than ever! So, I guess my question was really two questions, first are dogs normally quiet after the operation and second to they settle down over a period of months. We don't really have any issues with barking - if they see something moving around in the garden, they bark and that's normal. Very rarely do they bark for no reason.

I am not sure why this is such an emotionally charged and controversial topic... I guess it has to do with people's not liking others telling them what to do, no matter the risks. It is also amazing how many 'facts' there are stating exactly the opposite things. If one searches hard enough one can find the facts to support their position, even if its completely the opposite of the other side of the argument. It's as bad as politics. It basically comes down to there being no perfect answer no matter which argument you side with. All you can do is what makes the most sense to you once you have 'learned' as much as you can and have some or lots of actual hands-on experience, either raising dogs or helping them with their illnesses. I am not a researcher or in a position to spew facts based on my own research, but I can at least make conclusions from years of working under various situations (shelter, rescue groups, large practices and small, individual practices) of 27 years as a veterinarian. The opinions I have formulated are not necessarily strictly scientific nor are they based on statistics... they are strictly opinions based on observations... no hard facts or numbers. However, coming from that background, most politically active dog breeders and others with other less clear agendas will automatically disregard anything I say as highly biased (and theirs aren't?) and self serving. I have never worked for myself and my earnings have never been based on the amount of revenue I bring in (as much as some employers have tried to make it so) and I gain nothing from either spaying or neutering dogs, or from removing their mammary tumors later in life, other than the satisfaction of having saved a pet here and there and relieved some of their pain and discomfort. It is part of the job, one which I have grown to like just because I am good at it... but I get no satisfaction at seeing old dogs that have been spayed have urinary incontinence issues any more than I have at seeing old intact females with malignant mammary cancer. I feel for all these pets that have problems and do my best to take care of their problems as they arise. As for the down sides of spaying dogs, I cannot add much to either argument except for the mammary tumor one. Having worked at rescue practice for over 6 years and seen thousands of old dogs that desperately needed homes, it was striking to see how many unsprayed ones indeed had mammary tumors (unfortunately we were not in a position financially to biopsy any of these tumors so I have little feeling for how many were malignant or benign unless they happened to grow right back or the dogs subsequently died of metastatic disease). But in my opinion any tumor is best not to have if it were a choice of having one or not. I did end up removing most of these dog's tumors and spaying them at the same time. Though I cannot say exactly since I did not count, at least a third of these unsprayed older dogs had one form of mammary cancer or another. I did not see a single spayed dog with a mammary tumor on the other hand. So I can at least say with some confidence that if you want your pet dog to not develop mammary cancer, it would be best to spay it. The earlier dogs are spayed the less likely they will be to develop these tumors, too, though I could not say from my personal experience at what age you wait until, that the odds get as high as one out of three. My 'feeling' is that is is somewhere in middle age, but I cannot back that up with numbers or facts. As to other problems associated with not spaying dogs (nothing to do with what age one spays them) I did a LOT of pyometra surgeries at this practice as well as the practice I work at now which is a community that is not exactly swimming in money, so many people do not get their dogs spayed. Pyometra, or infected uterus, is a commonly fatal disease that sometimes will kill pets even if you get the surgery done (just too late sometimes- the infection has gone too far). I would say that pyometras are a lot less common than mammary tumors, but their occurrence is more tragic as without immediate treatment, most dogs die (over 95%)... while mammary tumors that are not removed can often be ignored and may never end up killing the dog as long as they don't get too large or spread. So there is less a need of urgency with those. Still, those are two relatively common diseases that are nearly 100% preventable from spaying. On top of these are the dystocia emergencies I see all the time now in my emergency practice. Most of these pregnant dogs that are now in crisis are results of 'accidental' breeding (at least that is the most common situation presented by their owners and I have no specific reason not to believe them all, though I seriously doubt all of them are telling the truth). This is another avoidable situation that often ends tragically (if not for the mother, who can at least be spayed then) often for the puppies who have died in the process of not being able to be born properly. It gets very sad sometimes to work emergency. As far as the down sides to spaying and neutering dogs, I have seen plenty of female dogs with mild to moderate cases of urinary incontinence. This is an 'annoying' disease, and often uncomfortable if not treated (for both dog and owner) and I certainly would not wish it on any dog (or person). But I have yet to see a single dog die of this condition, nor one not respond to rather inexpensive medication. Sure I would like it for these pets to not have this problem, but I would gladly chose this over any of the above situations. As for all the other reasons for not spaying dogs, I have seen very few of these 'problems' in private practice. I have never seen a 'stunted' dog from a spay or neuter... though I have seen pit bulls and rotweillers that were neutered before a year of age have more slender builds (normal size and normal health)- most notable is these male dogs do not have the massive skulls and facial musculature of their unneutered counterparts. Though a massive head on some of these dogs is 'cool' sometimes, I do not know if that is enough of advantage to not neuter them. However, when it comes to neutering males, I do see few medical advantages... some behavioral advantages come to mind, but not too many medical ones (prostatitis is the major one I can think of right off, but this is not a super common condition anyway- not at least like mammary tumors or pyometras are in female dogs). Back to the original question on this old thread- when is the right time to spay a dog? Since in my practices I do not get to follow too many dogs their entire lives, I cannot make too many conclusions about what early spay and neuter do to dogs. I have done my share of these, though I personally don't like to do these surgeries before 6 months, but no other reason than I find them easier surgeries at that age. I have not seen any long term problems in the few dogs that I have been able to keep up with, other than urinary incontinence in some female dogs (in my unscientific observations, I would say about 1 out of 30 female spayed dogs develop this problem and age of spay seems to make no difference, at least when done early. I have not seen an older spayed dog (over 5) develop this problem after a spay... but by that age I do see lots of other problems from NOT being spayed showing up... When I see unspayed dogs in practice I do mention the above observations of mine... once... if the owners are not receptive to these comments I do not mention it again. Changing some people's minds about potential sensitive issues like this is like trying to change their political or religious views and that is certainly not my job or business. I still do my best to treat all the dogs and cats I see no matter what choices their owners have made ,and try as much as possible not to make owners feel bad about their choices, unless they border on negligence or cruelty (thankfully these are rare situations). Just an opinion... and only based on personal experience. Feel free to rail on me all you like. I just felt I had to say something.