Hi Everyone!

Im not sure if Im posting this in the right forum, but I have a husky puppy thats turning 6 months old in a couple of weeks. The vet is HIGHLY recommending to spay her at 8 months to help reduce urinary incontinence especially when she becomes older. However the breeder is saying she will go through her first heat if I wait that long, and that it will change her temperament for life and permanently make her more aggressive and territorial.

She has a very sweet and submissive, endearing, and laid back personality for a husky, and I really dont want that to change. If the breeder is right then I'm not sure if I want to let her first heat happen. However my 8 yr old husky has had urinary incontinence since she was 4 years old from being spayed at 6 months, and I would really like to avoid that happening with the puppy since the cost of managing that has been adding up and getting expensive.

Does anyone have experience letting their female husky go through first heat prior to spaying, and did it alter their personality or make them permanently aggressive and territorial? I'm okay if it's just a temporary issue during the cycle as long as she goes back to normal afterwards, but Im worried about it being permanent like the breeder is saying.

Thanks!

I'll take a stab at this, but I have really mixed emotions regarding neutering dogs.  (( Neutering can refer to either spaying or castrating so I use it in that sense. ))

Note this is *MY* personal preference: I'd rather allow the dog to reach its mature status before neutering them. I have one Alaskan Husky who was neutered at about 4 months and still displays characteristics of an immature dog. My Siberian was neutered at a little over a year and her physique is that of an adult, mature dog.

I've seen and read the articles that neutering a female early relieves, as you said, a plethora of possible situations. I've also read articles which say that waiting till they're mature allows their hormones to develop properly. And I presume you've read many of the same articles. We want to be able to trust those who we think should know better than we do ... but it seems as if all of them have their own reasons. Our breeder wants to keep the females intact because he has intact breeding stock ... not that he'll ever ask to breed yours, he just wants the females intact. The vet on the other hand has a much simpler operation if the animal is neutered early (or so says my vet.)

I'm sorry, but it's a case of making up your own mind on the available advice and literature you find available.

Note that I did have one girl that I had neutered as an adult, I almost literally picked he up off the streets - she had no history. The only difference I noticed after having her spayed was that I couldn't keep the weight off her. She went from 50 pounds to over 70 and we had to really work to get her back to 55-60. And as long as I didn't mess with her food, she was one of the sweetest dogs I've had before and after spaying.

There's so much contradictory information out there it's quite frustrating especially when considering underlying motivation like you said! I have even spoken with multiple vets and they have different opinions on the matter. Your experience with your pups is really helpful I appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback!

I've had multiple female dogs, though not all huskies, and I have not noticed an alteration in personality after going through a heat cycle. Definitely one during a cycle though. We had one hunting dog that was altered pre-heat and had zero issues personality-wise. I have had some hunting dogs that were never altered and had no issues (though the likelihood of other issues with unaltered females is very high and wouldn't recommend forgoing spaying altogether). I have had females spayed later in life (3+ years old) with no issues). My current female though was spayed around the age of 3 and while I wouldn't say it altered her personality they botched her spay so that she still partially cycles and has false pregnancies which means I spend a much longer time dealing with a dog that behaves like she is in heat, so in a way she has an altered personality for longer chunks of the year than she would if she just had short normal cycles. Botching is not common though the risk of botching is higher in dogs that are spayed very young because parts are still growing and can be missed more easily.

Personally, if I have the option (mine are usually adult rescues so I don't often have the option) I won't spay before a year old. Hormones do many valuable things that will play into the long-term health of your dog. The threat of a female being a little more assertive as she matures is less concerning for me than the plethora of other things that can crop up because they themselves didn't get the proper opportunity to develop.

With the 2 i have now squirt did have a major personality change after being spayed (at 2 ) spider i wasnt going to spay but at 6 she had a mammary tumor. I never really noticed with my other dogs though, just squirt.

Thank you! Your replies are extremely helpful!!!!! The breeder agreed to her being spayed at 8 months instead of 6 months and I am comfortable with pushing for that now due to your help. Thank you again!

My partner and I got our first girl a few years ago, the breeder had in the contract to spay after first heat but before 18 months old.
We followed this, she ended up having 2 heats and a phantom pregnancy. After spaying she returned to normal after about 2-3 weeks.
The breeders reasoning was that mentioned above, it gives them the hormones to grow correctly, and apparently there is research available that it reduces other health risks.
We'll be doing the same with our new girl, though once she comes into heat we'll be booking her straight in at 3.5 months from then. We waited for our girl who had 6 months, phantom at 9 months and then another heat at 1 year. So by the time she was eligable (2.5-3 months after last heat) she was almost at that 1.5yo mark. Not that our breeder would have minded though.
My boy is now 10yo and I wish I had waited for him to mature abit but followed what the vet said. When you think about it, depriving them of natural bodily chemicals really doesn't seem like the smartest idea Unless there are other issues.

I have let all dogs we have gotten go through a heat cycle since my first akita after I moved out of my mom's house 15years ago.  Ideally you'd want to take x rays to see that the bones are done growing but reproductive hormones are what signal growth rates and closing of growth plates so if a breed is not prone to joint or ligament issues and the dog is not going to be doing a very demanding job or physical competition the extra precaution is not usually worth the cost and time.

A few studies done on litters being raised for service dogs actually showed reduced aggression in those spayed after fully mature and a higher rate of passing behavior and personality testing.  Dogs spayed earlier had higher odds of aggression, urinary incontinence, and in both that study and others on working dogs higher rates of tendon and ligament injuries.  Those studies appeared prior to getting my first dog where all decisions were mine so around 20 years ago it was already shown to improve odds of reduced aggression or reactivity along with health benefits. With the push to spay/neuter early by rescues and shelters the info has been really slow to trickle down to vets and breeders.  Especially accurate info instead of people remembering what they heard or read wrong and then repeating it.

The only downsides to waiting are you have to deal with them dripping some blood and make sure they have absolutely no unsupervised outdoor time or possibility of encountering an intact male dog during that time.  They will show up at your house and potentially jump or dig your fence if there are some in the area.  Supervision is a requirement for a few weeks.

Yeah... That supervision part: when I was a pre teen (oh so many, many years ago) my family had an Irish setter. I was the oldest of 7, that dog would go into heat, my mom would say "don't let the dog out!!!"

Yeah. Right. 7 kids under 11, in an out the back door all. Day. Long. Mom wanted to have a litter of Irish setter pups . What she got was multiple, very large(12 or more) litters, some tan, some black puppies. Mom was not a happy camper. Neither were the neighbors repeatedly witnessing canine copulation on their front lawns

My opinion only, I think waiting until growth plates are closed is important. Not one vet I’ve used has agreed however more and more breeders I talked to were in agreement. I’ve had dogs altered at young ages in the past due to vet recommendation. I feel it played a part in two of our dogs that needed TPLO surgery. Of course there is no proof that was the cause. To me it made sense to wait. Everyone has an opinion. Feel empowered to do what your heart says is right.

We WERE going to breed spider. It was one of the reasons i didnt spay her until 6. Then i started looking at stats involving wolfdogs especially when they are sibe/wolf mixes and decided i didnt need to contribute to the wolfdog problem and i didnt want to keep a whole litter of puppies.