Should I get him fixed?
 

So, I was really firm in believing I should get my puppy fixed as soon as he can
to try and avoid any aggression problems, or even him marking his territory plus I'm pro spay and neuter,
but what are the pro's and con's of getting my male bully mix fixed?
I have heard if he will be will me 24/7 and not around other females to just let him keep his manhood, but
I've also heard that you shouldn't get them fixed until after 2 years old
because his head and body won't be fully mature and it could cause him to not
grow as large as he can potentially get.
This information is more likely wrong, but I know
by asking this question on here most of you will give me straight answers and not dance around the facts.
Please know, I will NOT be breeding him. He is not papered he was a rescue and is still only 7 weeks old so it wont be for a while that he is getting fixed if ever haha.
http://www.pitbull-chat.com/attachme...142232&thumb=1http://www.pitbull-chat.com/attachme...314091&thumb=1http://www.pitbull-chat.com/attachme...166435&thumb=1http://www.pitbull-chat.com/attachme...150299&thumb=1

Im pro neuter.. Im not positive on the age you should do it at, but definitely wait til hes at his sexual maturity. In my opinion even with the most responsible owners accidents happen.. If he smells a female in heat, you might not even expect it and he coukd bolt out the door and get hit by a car or suceed in knocking her up etc. I mean Im very responsible about Sam but one time my brother in law left HIS door open, Sam JUMPED over the baby gate a flew out the door.. And shes FASt. Luckily she only 7 months old cuz my neighbors let their in tact male roam freely -_-.. Also for male dogs it sucks to have all those hormones and puppy balls never be able to use them.. He'd probably feel less um.. Frustrated without those hormones and feelings!

I like to wait till they are mature myself. BUT you may end up with a marker and a neuter later may not stop this.

No accidents don't happen, there steroids and crates the only reason 2 dogs would come in contact is if someone is being irresponsible just the same as crate/rotate.

If you do a search on here there are a few threads regarding this stating the pros/cons probably better to do a search then everyone repeating the same old.

If you can't be responsible and keep him intact then yes wait till at least a year to get him fixed. It's a lot less to do with head size more to do with his body growing at the right speed and his bones growing properly.

---------- Post added at 12:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 PM ----------

Doors not steroids stupid phone doing auto correct

neutering him will not make him "less aggressive" that is a genetic trait. (DA that is) I would wait till he is at least 10mo. I feel that the hormones are needed for proper growth. The head size thing is retarded. IMO.... I have 2 spayed females with well developed muscle in their heads. lol They are fed a raw diet and use those muscles constantly. I actually had some jackhole at petsmart chase me out of the store to ask me how I had gotten Crickets head so big. I feed her babies. DUH.... http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.png However, if you feel that you cannot contain him properly and don't feel that he would be kept away from intact females then I would get him neutered as soon as possible.

This is what I am most nervous about. I don't want him getting angry because he can't...let go of those frustrations.... haha.

Not everybody is a pro at the dog game.. Thats why our shelters are filled with dogs that people dont want. They THINK theyre responsiboe but just one time something goes wrong and youve got a pregnant bitch. But Ali is right, there are TONS of threads on here about this topic.. Its just MY personal opinion that its safer and less "sexually frustrating" for the dog to get them fixed

---------- Post added at 01:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

Exactly. Hell id go crazy if I had all my hormones saying "gotta fuck, gotta fuck, gotta fuck" but I could never be near a mate lol

ahahahahhah!! He's already humping me and my boyfriend so were nervous he will be EXTREMELY dominant and well for lack of a better word, horny.

No.... it won't be that bad if you keep him well exercised and engaged in activities. I know A LOT of intact male dogs that are well behaved, not frustrated, and actually handle themselves well around females. Now if you keep him around intact females in heat all the time then yes, you will have a problem.
He is not horny, he is acting out, seeing if he can get away with dominant behavior. Swat him.....

We spank his bottom and give him his bone to chew on so were trying to stop it, but ya we don't even know anyone with an intact female and I keep his crate with me 24/7 so if we don't want him out we just put him in there and he's happy as can be. Plus, he's still only 7 weeks old so we don't have to worry about him mounting and knocking up a bitch yet haha.

Youre going to hear strong debates for both sides.. And both sides do have pros and cons. But the decision is yours. Make the choice based on what is best for YOUR lifestyle. If you can be 150 percent sure he wont get lose or come in contact with an in tact female AND you have the time to keep him busy with work outs then you should be ok with him being in tact.. But for me and MY lifestlye Ill have to fix my dog. Ultimately its whats best for YOU and your little guy..

At 7wks. old, he is not horny LOL. He has no clue what he's doing when he's humping you; it's more of a dominant or "Ooh.. this is interesting!" kind of thing when they're that young. Redirect with something when he does that, and give a firm "NO". I have never had "humpers", to people, anyway, I don't tolerate it when they try to hump each other either though. I run a tight ship here, and the dogs know it.

As for neutering, yes, I would. I'd wait until he was at least 6 months to do so though, preferably longer as long as you can keep him away from intact females. I had Wilson neutered at around 8 months, wish I would've waited til he was around a year but oh well.

I was saying we don't want him to become dominate or excessively horny lol, we know right now he's just doing it because he is a puppy, and when we does it we say "no" and give him a spank on the butt and put his chew toy or bone in front of him and he goes right for it.

Shoot, my neutered male humps (or tries to anyway) more than my intact male. So even if you got him neutered super young, the humping won't necessarily stop.

My boy was nuetered and it hasn't changed him at all, which i'm glad of.

As far as DA, it won't change him it's in the genes.

It's unhealthy to neuter a male. If you want to neuter, do it. But wait until he's at least a year old to prevent problems like osteosarcoma.

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongT...uterInDogs.pdf
Notice that for both males AND females the "con" side is a lot longer... but for males the choice is a lot more definite IMO!

Interesting link, I bookmarked it for future reference. My vet had told me that now with years of fixing shelter dogs at very young ages there has been no documentation of any long lasting side effects and that is is perfectly safe to get it done at a young age. I got Chassis spayed very young - at about 4.5 months old. (she's now 12 months old - you can't even see her scar and I love that she doesn't have big teats) My other dog Jiggs also got neutered young - at 5.5 months old. (he's now 5 years old). Neither have had any side effects whatsoever (knock on wood). Hopefully I didn't do either of them wrong for fixing them so young.

Oh please. Do you know how many neutered males live long, healthy lives? A lot more than the ones that end up with some type of disease, which may or may not be directly related to being neutered.

Telling people it's unhealthy to neuter males is just silly. Why? Well one reason is because the vast majority of the public can't be bothered to properly contain an intact male. Should you wait til your dog is full matured to neuter it? Sure, in a world where everyone is 110% responsible. But we don't live in that world.

I let the study above ^ speak for itself, no need to defend it. If you think you're at risk of letting your dog reproduce my accident (not uncommon) neutering is the responsible way to go. Hell, go on and neuter the dog if you think it's balls are ugly. (That's one reason you do it isn't it Kady? Totally reasonable. I'm pro-cropping so it'd be hypocritical of me to say otherwise.) But don't lie and say you're doing your dog any favors, it's an owner benefit thing. Which there's nothing wrong with that... you get a dog to enjoy it so if you can make your life more enjoyable/easy... your call. I personally prefer not to neuter for health reasons.

---------- Post added at 04:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------

But I'm not gonna lie and say it's not unhealthy to neuter because people are irresponsible. WTF.

I agree with Cliffdog, I've found that study before, but lost the link, there is another good one out there too, linking hip dysplasia to spay/neutering, and not necessarily genetics. Honestly, it is worth it to do a lot of research, and as long as the OP is a responsible dog owner that can properly contain their dog, I see no reason for neutering unless they really want to. In all honestly, my male dogs will not be neutered, unless a health condition does pup up that requires it. My females, however, will be spayed if I have no reason to keep them intact, as, IMO, the risk for Pyometria is much too high.