Well, the time has come to get my boy clipped. I wanted to wait till he fully matured, and I think he's there.

So the question... I'm taking Friday off to take him in and stay with him, will be home all day Sat, but have a wedding Sunday. He'll be alone for the day, but i'll be home in the afternoon, and we have Monday to hang out as well before I head back to work. Is he going to be OK on Sunday?

Definitely, so long as he doesn't have any complications. Boys are MUCH easier in fixing department. Their surgery isn't as evasive as girls, so their time to heal is much, much quicker. All of my boys have been sluggish that first day/night, but then the next day they are pretty much normal. The only thing you'll have to worry about is if he tries to get to his stitches or not.

What problems does your boy have that requires him to get neutered? Any?

I was where you are, and after waiting for Paw Paw to turn 2, I took him in to our Holistic vet, and the vet asked me the same question. He ran down a list of questions of the "usual" problems that in tact males might have. My answers were "NO" to all of the them, and then he asked me again: "So why are you here to neuter him?" And I was stumped. I thought I did my research in depth enough. I was sitting there about to pay $300-400 for the surgery, and the vet was honest enough to tell me there was no reason to neuter him (based on my answers). He didn't want my money. Now that's a quality vet! He also ran down a list of the health benefits to keeping the dog in tact with his hormones that help fight off a lot of the diseases and cancers, and I was sold!

It's 4 years later, I have 3 in tact males, and have never had any issues. My female is spayed, and we got her fixed right before her first heat at 11 months, so she could grow as large as naturally possible before the surgery.

Just hoping you've done all of your research on both sides of this "debate." Haha! There is a huge push to fix every pet unless you plan to show or breed, but there's so many more reasons to not fix if you dig deep enough, and are an ultra-responsible dog owner when it comes to roaming, marking, aggression, etc. I don't show my dogs, and I won't ever breed them either.

Kevin, it's possible David bought the dog from a breeder with a neuter contract, therefore he wouldn't have the choice to keep him intact. Most breeders require you to spay/neuter to prevent any unwanted litters and their lines unknowingly being spread.

I do agree that if you have no issues with an intact male dog and are responsible with them that you don't necessarily have to neuter them.

simplify wrote:

Kevin, it's possible David bought the dog from a breeder with a neuter contract, therefore he wouldn't have the choice to keep him intact. Most breeders require you to spay/neuter to prevent any unwanted litters and their lines unknowingly being spread.

I do agree that if you have no issues with an intact male dog and are responsible with them that you don't necessarily have to neuter them.

That's a possibility. I didn't think of it, because the OP has waited 1.5 years to neuter. Who's to say he couldn't wait 10 or 12 years to neuter then? Haha! But you're right, sometimes it's in the contract from the breeder. I'm not sure if they put a deadline for the neuter though. I know most breeders don't even keep in contact with the owners of their pups, and it's usually the other way around: most owners purposely lose touch with the breeder. Only the best breeders maintain contact, and that's probably 1% or less, so if you agree to neuter at purchase, and then lose touch and later decide NOT to neuter, how would the breeder ever know? Not that it's the right thing to do, but it's your dog now, and you have to do what YOU think is best. If you're not a responsible dog owner, then most certainly: SPAY or NEUTER so no more unwanted, innocent pups from oops litters have to get killed at shelters!

With our Nara, it was in her contract to spay her, and her AKC registration was a limited one due to the fact that we could not breed her. I had no plans of breeding her. I just wanted her to be as healthy as possible throughout her life, spayed or not. I got her spayed at 11 months, and a few years later the breeder contacted me after seeing Nara's adult pic (the one below, not the best pic of her, but her breeder LOVED it for some reason), and she was screaming (out of excitement, via online messages) "KEVIN, SHE'S BEAUTIFUL, DID YOU HAVE HER FIXED?!!??!!?" She was hoping I didn't fulfill my end of the contract agreement because it seemed like she was going to see if I was willing to use Nara in her breeding program. Sorry to say that Nara was already fixed, and even if she weren't I wouldn't have bred her. Oh well, it was best for Nara and for my arrangement with 3 in tact males.

Sorry for the delay, have been trying to keep Jax in good spirits and keeping him from opening up his wound.

To answer a couple questions, no he is not from a breeder who would make me neuter him, and yes I did do some homework. Mostly, it just came down to not knowing his lines history and worrying about cancer. I don't know how i'd cope knowing that he had a higher risk, and i could have spent a few hundred dollars on getting him fixed instead of losing him. He does have some food aggression that i'm trying to train out of him, some of the boarding places won't allow intact dogs, and he's usually segregated at his groomer/daycare so those are additional reasons.

The surgery went well, but now i'm trying to keep him away from the wound. The e-collars just aren't working. Off to make a new thread.

Thanks all!