New Puppy Questions (And of course pictures!)

[LydiaO]

Hey yall!
New to the board. I've owned labs my entire life (chocolates) but as I am about to graduate college in August I just got the first that is actually mine and now I have a couple questions! First, this dude has some killer paws (the first thing everyone notices about him) so im getting curious about how big he will be. He was 16 lbs at 8 weeks. He is about to be ten weeks tomorrow and I will weigh him again. Second, I know this isnt the health section but what age do people suggest you neuter? Ill ask my vet but it seems that people are rather divided on this topic (can cause cancer if done too early, or too late, can cause behavioral issues on either side, can cause developmental issues on either side) so I would love some opinions! Oh, also how long did it take your pups to potty train? Hes down to one accident a day, only if I dont pay attention... I have bells on the door now trying to teach him to use that to alert me, there seems to be some progress

[smartrock]

Hello to you and your adorable pup whose name we don't know unless his name is Lydia (and I don't think it is!) He's awfully cute! I think many of us who own males have waited to have them neutered until they are 18-24 months of age. Mine was neutered at 3 years old. We didn't have any trouble with behavioral issues related to him being intact but our contract with the breeder included that we had to have him neutered at some point. She wanted us to wait until he was at least 2 y.o. so we did.

There are legit reasons some people have to neuter younger, they can't find any kennels or day cares that accept intact dogs being a big one, if they have to use day care or kennel their dogs. There is a thread with a lot of articles regarding spay and neuter and deciding when the best time is. Many vets will advise a neuter at 4-6 months. One vet in the practice we use got a little pushy about it, too, but the main vet didn't opine one way or another. I thanked the first vet for her opinion and didn't schedule any further visits with her. So there!

Ours potty trained pretty quickly, too. Not everyone is as lucky. Sounds like you're doing a good job!

[LydiaO]

Ah, His name is Moose! And thanks for the info, my chocolate labs have all been females so its a little different this go round.

[Meeps83]

I love the pic with Moose by the water! I have two boys. Maverick just turned 3 and is NOT neutered. Bear is 11 months and is NOT neutered either. At this point, we do not have plans to neuter either of them. We too have done research on bone growth and physical development. Both boys, if neutered, had to be done at 24 months or later. Welcome to the board!

[LydiaO]

Thank you! He sure does love the water already, and sometimes makes me nervous swimming pretty far. Thanks for your input! Like I said I have only had females (and would love to have him neutered as soon as is healthy for him) so I am a bit out of the loop. We are planning a move from the east coast to the west in the end of August so I plan to wait until after that at least (he would be about 6 mo.) It just seems like there is so much debate with males about when is right! And I don't want to stunt his growth either. Tough choices!

[Snowshoe]

Moose is lovely. Look at him, out on a dock already, waiting to be big enough to dive in. Welcome to the board.

Have you seen the research articles we have links to here? Neuter/Spay - Pros, Cons, Risks, Benefits - Research Article Links

My boy is nine and a half, still intact. No word of a lie, the worst behavioural issue stemming from his being intact is OTHER dogs, neutered males. A few really don't like intact boys and the worst fight we ever had was launched by one of them. Puncture wounds all over Oban's ears and neck, small, not bad enough to Vet for. There's nothing in the link above about this, as far as I know no studies on it. But read and you'll find lots of us with intact boys encountering this problem.

[POPTOP]

Hello and Welcome Moose and family!

Not the best with puppy info as I home senior labs. I will jump in if there is info I've learned here.

Neutering, I've learned 18-24 months to allow full bone development. That does put a big responsibility on you to keep a close eye on your pup to prevent an "accident".

Keep the pictures coming, they grow so fast.

[MightyThor]

Welcome! Moose is adorable!

We just got Thor snipped at 3 years old and it was pretty much for the reason that Snowshoe stated. He wasn't having any behavioral issues that bothered us, but I could see other dogs reacting to him negatively. It has improved greatly since he was neutered. He also doesn't mark as much anymore - he goes on off-leash walks every day where I let him roam and sniff and pee, and the sniffing/peeing part has declined a bit.

[Jeff]

Welcome to you and Moose, I neutered Hemi at age 3. Kind of like other I noticed a lot of other dogs didn't like him much as he was a full intact boy. No fault of his and I really felt bad for him, he was like lets play let play and other dogs would growl at him and snap at him. Also I did have a lot of focus issue develop at age 3 where he was not listening and was nose to the ground and sniffing. This did resolve itself after a while once he was neutered and the hormones left his system.

[Shelley]

Thank you! He sure does love the water already, and sometimes makes me nervous swimming pretty far. Thanks for your input! Like I said I have only had females (and would love to have him neutered as soon as is healthy for him) so I am a bit out of the loop. We are planning a move from the east coast to the west in the end of August so I plan to wait until after that at least (he would be about 6 mo.) It just seems like there is so much debate with males about when is right! And I don't want to stunt his growth either. Tough choices!

If you neuter him before he is mature, you won't actually stunt his growth, his hormones won't get the correct signal to stop growing, and he will continue to grow (taller). Natural growth hormones, and maturity signal the growth plates at the end of the long bones to fuse, and they stop growing when they are mature (at least 18-24 months). If you take away the hormones early by neutering, they get the signal too late and they get taller than they are genetically programmed to. Most people are used to seeing long, leggy, tall, rangy Labradors, because they were neutered too young, even if they come from a pedigree that is heavier in bone.

I ask my families to wait at least 24 months for the boys and at least one heat cycle for the girls. I have a bunch of males in pet homes that are 7 or 8 years old that are still intact. As long as you manage them, it is usually a non issue, except in some cases where neutered dogs get confused by an intact male, like others said above.