Nala is 2 years and 3 months old we have yet to get her spayed and we are planning to very soon by the end of the summer but I'm curious by the comments I get, is it wrong to have waited this long? I'll admit when Nala was a puppy we did plan to breed her but did not realize all of the consequences so that is no longer an option, but anyway am I wrong for waiting this long to get her spayed?

Personally, I don't think so. The biggest risk is pyometra, which can be life threatening, and apparently can go unnoticed. Otherwise though, as long as you are responsible enough to keep her away from the boys while she is in season, it's not irresponsible to keep her whole. I would have kept Diz whole if he didn't have the retained testicle, not to mention the fact that he kept getting attacked by neutered males that had never been socialized with intact males. My first girl was over two when I got her spayed. I prefer waiting until they are mature to get them altered if I plan on doing it at all.

Okay good that give me a little piece at mind I would keep her intact but shes very aggressive and from what I was told is that she will calm down after the spaying.

Well, that all depends on what the root of her aggression is. You may or may not see a change...

I would say more "possessive"

I agree with Jen, I so wished we would have waited to spay Miya. She was 6 months and every dog that played with Miya wasn't neutered, we worried about babies having babies. Plus for the last 18 years we only had cats, got them spayed at 6 months no problem. I really believe dogs mature way slower than cats. When Miya got spayed she only had one ovary that "appeared", and vet told us that she may go into heat if the other ovary developed, but she couldn't have puppies. This is an ordeal for us, because heat symptoms are similar to infection symptoms. also agree with Jen on possessiveness, it's behavioral.

As others have said, I don't think aggression/possessiveness has anything to do with her being intact. It's just a part of her personality, but its something you can work on with some good training and socialization.

I kept Anya intact until she was 13 months old, and she never had any behavior problems before or after the spay. She also didn't change a bit after I spayed her, although she still has her ovaries. There were no issues with her recovery because I was super diligent about keeping her calm for the 2 week healing period. I had to resort to using rescue remedy then eventually benedryl to keep her from trying to run and and jump! Just keep a close eye on her post-op and she should be fine. Ask for pain meds!

Alright thank you all for the advice! I dont know what it is with her but she is so possessive of whats "her" spoiled brat lol! but I try to work on it but I just dont know how to really with out getting my fingers cut off, shes so sweet one second and then a wildabeast the next!

Has she always been like that? How did you react and deal with it when she was a puppy?

Shes always been like that since a puppy, when she was younger it was a little easier since she didnt bite as hard when she would show teeth i would just take the toy and when she calmed down she would get the toy back, but i try to do that now and i would loose a finger!

Does she know a release word? Like, out, or off? I can suggest a few things that you could work on with her, if you're interested.

YES anything helps! she knows drop it and leave it, when she's on walks and she pick's something up I'll tell her to drop it and she does or if she's smelling or sniffing something she leave's it when I tell her too and she knows off she used to be bad standing on counters she doesn't do that anymore

There are risks to waiting, but there are serious risks to not waiting as well.  A little bit of research should help you make up your mind for sure.  Last time I checked it was recommended that a bitch in heat whose going to be bred...be bred every heat cycle until she's done breeding, then fixed immediately.  I can't find the paper on it that I thought I'd book marked.

Females in our home are spayed as soon as they can be.  Males we wait (because they're different) until they're adults generally (again do your research and make the best choice for your dogs).  

You may also want to take into consideration the risk other dogs smelling her can present. A bitch in heat does affect the dogs around her within a mile at least...here are our unaltered males when one of my girls came into heat almost 2 months early (recent addition to our home). This would go on for hours.

The Boys when Wonder Woman was in Heat

I mean no disrespect, but I do not believe that a bitch should be rebred every heat cycle. There are moments when back-to-back may be appropriate, but certainly not every heat cycle.

Not to mention, most genetic diseases don't crop up until 4 or later and by then if you already bred the bitch to hell, you would be screwed. You would have bred a dog with known issues a minimum of 4 times (assuming you bred a dog twice a year from the age of two) and would have tons of puppies who may be carries or infected.

I can't speak for everyone, but I think careful breeding, that is planned out ahead of time and not done every heat, just for the heck of it, is the way to go.

No offense taken.

I didn't write the paper, but I shall have to find it. Its not every heat, but once you start you shouldn't stop. It was Dr. Claudia Orlandi Ph.D, who is AKC's breeder of the year, and far more educated on the subject than I am as a non Ph.D having individual who isn't going to be breeding her dogs.

I personally have no interest in breeding. Its way more responsibility and research than I'm up for to be certain.

No, I don't plan on breeding her.

Is this the article you are referring to?

http://dachshundaustralia.com/revisiting-back-to-back-breeding/242

I didn't have a chance to actually read the studies posted at the bottom, but it is my understanding that mammary tumors are an increased risk for all unspayed females and the longer they are not spayed, the more the risk increases. So I guess theoretically, that if you do all the breeding in a couple years, then spay them by age 4 they might statistically reduce the risk, but only because risk increases with age. With all other the other downsides of back-to-back breeding, I don't think a reduced risk of a mostly benign tumor is worth the trade off.

Also note that the article was written by a woman claiming to be a "professional labradoodle breeder." If that's not an oxymoron, I don't know what is...

I think the philosophy of 'breed early and often' comes from Dr Hutchinson, a well known canine reproduction expert. This article explains the idea behind it. http://www.everythinggolden.com/new_page_195.htm
I'm no breeder and certainly not schooled in canine reproductive physiology, so I'll reserve judgement on the heath related pros and cons other than to say I would hope 'early' doesn't mean before health clearances are done.