although just to add spayed bitches are still at risk of mammary tumours my dads old girl is spayed and currently has a few ...they have decided not to remove any more due to her heart condition

I am not in favour of spaying unless medically required

I am 110% for neuturing all dogs & bitches,cats, rabbits etc unless they are being used for breeding/studing (although thats a whole other issue for me !)

Whilst there are medical/health benefits for a dog to be neutured it also reduces the amounts of unwanted dogs/litters etc that come into rescue - 1000's and 1000's of dogs/cats/rabbits get pts or end up in the most awful situations every year and a lot of it could have been avoided if people netured their pets.

If it were a dog then unless we started having problems with him I would leave the dog entire. Personally I prefer to leave bitches until they have completely matured, I would go as far as 3 or 4.
The risk of pyometra etc is always at the back of my mind with older entire bitches. Also you have to be sure that you can supervise an in-season bitch, a friend of mine has a 10 year old collie cross who was unspayed, I ws always advising her to have her neutered to guard agaist pyo when approx 18 month ago on my friend was called away to a neighbours garden, she though she had left the dog secure in the yard ( she wasn't aware the bitch was in season) and when she came back about 20 mins later she found her bitch in a compromising situation with a neighbourhood stray.
The lady decided to see what happened as against my advice she didn't belive the dog could concieve at her age.
It became obvious the dog was pregnant and unfortunatley when the time came the bitch had to have a CS, she had two puppies and my friend kept one.

I think my friend was irresponsible especially as the CS had to be funded by the PDSA.

Just shows that accidents can happen and it's easier to deal with the possibility when it is still a possibility and not another litter of unplanned pups.

Although my Rosie was spayed for health reasons, I'm afraid I'm against it. It has changed her completely, she's hyper compared to before, her coat is thick and wooly, her weight is fine, she did gain a few extra pounds, but we managed to shed those.

I personally think spaying is fine for medical reasons, but not 'just in case'.......just my opinion though.

agree with cocker on this.
if the dog has a medical reason then fine thats what is needed for the dogs welfare but i don't see the need either.
if you have control over your dogs then there won't be any un planned mating because you stop it from happening.
both dogs can get the same health problems as they get older even if they have been done or not.
as for it stopping a dog from humping thats un true my mums dog has been done and he still humps if he gets excited.
i don't agree with getting a girl done because of the mess etc you got a girl and the seasons go with it.
each to their own but i only got my oldies done due to health, benson was 9 the reason ? testicular cancer which we found out he didn't have anyway on biopsy.
i don't plan to get the leo's done regardless of if we ever do breed or not.

I agree that a bitch should be spayed through medical reasons, I had two of my bitches spayed because of medical advice from my Vet

We had Keena (female) spayed three months after her first season...

Reason = because of the health problems which may arise if left intact when she is older. I had a dog while growing up who developed mammary tumours in later life which she ended up dying from and I know they all have to go some way or another but I didn't want to see that again when it could be prevented. I never had any idea as to the benefits of spaying back then as I was a child when she was a puppy it wasn't until she got really sick in my early 20's that I heard from the vet that if she had of been spayed she wouldn't have gotten the mammary tumours She was very fit and healthy and still moved just like a puppy when these tumours got the better of her and minus those she could have lived very well for a good while. They cut her life short The vet did not want to operate as even though she was otherwise fit and healthy she was over 10 and was a tiny little Yorkie and they said it would be to dangerous.

I vowed on that day my next female dog will be spayed. Later I learned of pyometra which was another good reason to go ahead.

I understand if you have your dog spayed before her first season there is almost no chance of mammary cancer, after the first season the chances begin to increase slightly and keep increasing the longer you leave it. I did want to have Keena spayed before her first season but information seemed to sway that although the chances of the cancer increase ever so slightly it is better to have them have their first season, so we did and had her done three months after it. It hasn't changed her behaviour either way and she didn't gain weight like alot of people's dogs do, infact she lost a few pounds and is still to gain that back.

My boy is still intact as I believe the health risks arn't nearly as high with leaving a male intact. We are lucky enough not to live near any females coming into season apparently, either that or if there has been he hasn't been affected by it. He shows no signs of ever trying to escape, we had a 4 foot rickety old fence around our garden up until he just over 1yr and could easily jump it if he wanted and he never once tried. He does have some kind of apprehension around other dogs which can lead to a bit of bolshy behaviour and can seem aggressive but as time goes on the more I watch him I think it's aggression masking his apprehension and in that case I don't think neutering would help and may make him alot worse as I have heard that if any signs of aggression are actually fear based you could escalate the problem by neutering.

He never tries to hump us, where as our female dog is always trying to leap on our backs...lol...He has only humped the other dog when he has been wrestling her and happens to end up in that position and then with bewilderment has a couple humps before being shaken off and left oblivious...lol...He does want to pee on every single post and as many blades of grass when out walking, to the extent he will get into position and aim even if he has none left...lol...But he does not do this in the house or back garden and even my spayed female likes to mark alot while out on a walk!

I'm not saying I have done the right thing in leaving him intact so far but that I have seen no reason to have him done either.

I would be interested to know if there is any correlation between spayed bitches and any increase in skeletal disorders, injuries etc. As we know there is a decrease in bone density in women after the menopause, osteoporosis etc.
By spaying a bitch you are creating a sudden change in the hormones in the dogs system which could be likened to the menopause in humans.

I have read some research in horses linking geldings to a higher risk of bony problems, splints, navicular etc, than mares or stallions. I wonder if there is something similar in dogs.

I have wondered about this to. That how come women experience all these changes in a menopause yet dogs apparently don't after their hormones are altered by spaying?

I would be interested in peoples ideas about that too

Interesting. Think I might have to e-mail a couple of vets I know about that. I have seen preliminary studies about Rotts and bone cancer, it showed increased risk of it in dogs (male and female) that had been spayed and neutered before a year old but the studies were limited (less than a thousand dogs involved) and inconclusive as other factors needed to be taken into consideration such as genetics/predisposition to cancer.

Ive heard it brought up in horses and ferrets but not really dogs.

I did do a search on the net for info on it but the only sites I could find that had any info were basically hard core animal rights sites that didnt have any reputable links or show were they got their information from.