Well, our female puppy has gone into heat...

[Phentex]

the vet kept telling us that the time to spay and neuter would be between 8 and 12 months or after her first heat. And the pups just turned 7 months. I realize there will be variations in different dogs.

First, there was some panic. I was thinking we gotta get him fixed ASAP. But Sam did not show any interest in her the first few days.

Keeping them apart has been challenging. We ended up buying another large crate for sleeping and they actually seem to like it. Maybe they prefer more room. But they love to run and play together in the backyard and I can tell they miss that. After their walk this morning, we let them run and kept an eye on them both. Problem is the woods next to us. If they go in there, we can't tell what they might be up to. So we're basically letting them out for potty breaks separately. They are asleep on opposite sides of the couch as I type but I will have to crate one of them if I have to go upstairs. Yeesh.

Then I did a bunch of reading over the weekend and found mostly negative side affects for neutering a male rottweiler before a year old. Seems like females have fewer cancers if spayed early but males have greater chances of various cancers, growing improperly and earlier hip dysplasia if neutered too early. I had a male and female dog before but can't seem to remember how early they were fixed.

Anyone with any experience here? I want to do what's best for both of them. At this point it doesn't feel like we have to be in a hurry. Thanks for reading.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. My females were always spayed prior to first heat and males

neutered at 6 months.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. I heard of the same thing, about too early neutering for males.

If I had pups of opposite sex, I would get the female spayed now and wait till the male was older.
If they are 7 months now, it is only 5 months to wait for the male's turn.
Spaying female will put a stop to the preggers issue, so no harm in waiting on the male, I should think.

I do wish I had known of the too early neutering issue when we got our Golden. ( He is an old man now)

[shenmue]

6. Arf

I'm kidding.

[shenmue]

5. Spay and nooter, it's much cuter

[irisblue]

7. Princess Peanut was a greyhound-lab mix

Some large breed female dogs, as they age will lose muscle tone & skin elasticity. I got her, rescue, @ 5, her previous people got her already spayed age unknown. Starting@ 7 she started getting very frequent UTIs. D/2 the weakening muscle tone the skin of her vulva, where a female dogs very short urethra is (tube from bladder to outside) a few drops of urine would make her do a clean up lick. Her vulva would get very irradiated & sore; after multiple infections, we went to Ohio State Vet School & she had the loosened skin removed, in essence a labia lift. The professor vet said that issue was increasingly common as younger spays happened. Long story & if you want you can PM me, she had no follow up problems.

[Phentex]

6. I planned to get back to you but then the board disappeared...

I missed this group!

[Phentex]

7. UPDATE: I guess we're over the worst part...

we did our best to keep them apart. Let them outside one at a time and watched them like hawks in the house. For the most part. There was one time over the holiday that I saw both dogs outside together. I think one of the kids let them both out without realizing what we've been doing for the past three weeks. But by then she has stopped bleeding so I am hoping for the best.

The plan now is to have her fixed in February and wait till he's older to have him done.

On the plus side, they have stayed really clean because they haven't been wrestling together in the dirt outside.

And that was really nice for snuggling with them on the couch.

[TeamPooka]

8. I used to go into the woods to get laid too. nt