I can't say I have a strong opinion but we did let Lark go through one heat cycle and for us it was no biggie. She did not have a recessed vulva. She didn't have her first cycle until she was 15 months old. I don't work full time, she wore those lovely pants when she wasn't in her crate. She was crated when I wasn't at home. I have an older boy who is neutered and there are many other dogs in our neighborhood of unknown neuter status but generally none just roaming freely. No other dogs came into our yard. She did not try to escape our yard. I did not take her on walks outside our yard during her estrus but there's enough room for her to run around and chase balls or frisbees, so she got exercise. Chase didn't try to hump her. There wasn't that much blood, although if she hadn't had her panties on there would have been some drips around the place. For us, the tales of horror with strange dogs trying to get to our poor little girl or her out looking for love did not materialize. One of my neighbors had her pup spayed early because they hadn't caught the fact of her recessed vulva and she's had to have several surgeries to try to correct that, when going through a heat cycle might have fixed it and avoided those surgeries. Do what seems right for your situation, but I will say that if I had a pup with a recessed vulva, I'd try my best to get through one heat cycle. For us it wasn't a difficult experience.