Appreciate all this information. I have a 2.5yr old miniature dachshund and he is quite literally the sweetest with no mounting issues and a great temperament. I would love to leave him intact but do fear the benign prosthetic hyperplasia, and would not want to run the risk of having to neuter him later on in life. Can you give your opinion on that?

Thank you 🙏I’m so excited for this series this is my biggest dilemma

Dove hunting in Florida where I live cost me my seven year year-old lab in 1995 from heat stroke. She was acting normal and retrieving, and then just started to wobble and lose her Balance. Start the cooler down half hour ride to the vet on fluids and still did not make it. I’ve learned my lesson and very observant of my dogs now thanks for the information and the one tip about monitoring their temperature was a good one.

Thanks for sharing this 😊

Thank you for another great video

Thank you for a very comprehensive overview of this topic. I have a Flatcoat retriever and wondered if you have any specific recommendations for this breed? My girl is now over 7 and I had her lap-spayed at about 6 1/2 years. I don’t know if any vets in New Zealand that are doing ovary saving spaying but I am now wondering if this would have been a better option for her given the high incidence of cancer in the breed.

once Science may discover that altering the natural balance doesn't create better results, than those of thousands of years of evolutionary precision

I am a former rescue/shelter volunteer, who has an 2.5 yo intact female labradoodle (the pumpkin spice latte of dogs!) and has been debating spay for over a year. I can still hear Bob Barker too lol. I would LOVE to get her tubes cut, but my looking indicates the cost is ~10 times a routine spay. : (

Love this series! Great timing! Would love a series on best food/nutrition for hunting breeds!

Thanks for this!

That was a great presentation and a topic that I have a great interest in. I am old enough to remember when veterinarians only spayed or neutered dogs at the request of the owner. Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, there was only the municipal animal shelter (aka the Pound) and people were responsible for their pets. In 1972, I was in college majoring in Pre-Veterinary medicine and was breeding and showing Cocker Spaniels but, had a mongrel female that I thought might be a problem with a male that I’d kept to show. The vet that I worked for decided to only remove her uterine horn, leaving her ovaries intact. Problem solved! She lived to be over 16 years old. Back then, I kept the registration papers, for all my pet quality puppies until they were spayed or neutered. I owned a show bred intact Golden Retriever for 14 and a half years, with no heath issues until 6 months before he died of a brain tumor. We know that selective breeding, after multiple screenings for known defects, can make a huge difference in health and longevity. After having a complete hysterectomy, at 50, and realizing that even a minimal amount of hormones, in old age, makes a tremendous difference, I would never spay or neuter an animal unless medically necessary. I now, own a 9 year old Welsh Springer Spaniel boy who is and will remain intact although, I am constantly harassed by vets to neuter him.

great presentation style

My dog was neutered at 3 months by the rescue I got him from. He is mainly Great Pyrenees and some Anatolian Shepard (90lbs). Would getting him joint supplements help prevent joint issues?

Fantastic summary thanks

Thank you for this series, very informative!

Interesting. Wish i hadn’t neutered my Great Pyrenees Wont neuter my Mal

My dog says: look, if I'll get neutered, so will you. I won't. It's that simple😂.

We may have unlearned to accept arguments that proove our own opinion wrong. However science means to know until proven otherwise. So, these new results shouldn't really surprise us too much.

These studies need to be redone with all dogs fed a raw food diet or a natural fresh cooked food diet. Also, spaying/neutering technique should be minimized to just severing the fallopian tube(s) or sperm tube.

Everyone told me to get a lab or a golden for service work. The hip history and too goofy attitude turned me off. I chose a german shorthair( European lines) and his size and serious looking face keeps people at safe distances, his smarts made training easy, his coat is easy cleaning, he loves other animals but is people selective. Hes perfect and gorgeous. And loves to work. Life is easier with him in it!❤

My gsp looks just like the blk and wht in the cover pic!!😮❤❤❤

With my german shorthaired pointer, i was only able to wait til he was 7mths, he was in service training and his dominate guard instincts was ruining his training to qualify for the strict guidelines. At adulthood he is 87lbs, an aggressive attitude would have been dangerous for HIS well being. I watch his hips closely but at 8yrs theres no issues. ❤

Another question comes to mind; is the any data that separates out cryptorchid males?

Where could I find this information for other working (police type) breeds? Also, are there any studies that look at changes in working ability resulting from neuter/spaying?

My dog was born with his balls and he'll die with his balls regardless of the research.

This is a great summary. I’ve read this study but it’s very helpful to have your insight as well…..10 month old vizsla owner holding off on neutering for awhile. Is it more difficult on a dog if it’s neutered at 14-16 months versus 2-3 years or older (more bleeding, side effects etc.)?

Good work doctor.Hope mutts are more disease resistant.

Super interesting study. Thank you. I'm curious about herding breeds too.

Interesting material, I own a Flatcoated Retriever who is 3 years old and still intact since I am not convinced neutering him will help him health wise on the long run. It is difficult though sometimes since he can be very distracted by bitches in season which makes it hard for us to work together at training. But since the breed is prone to some sorts of cancer it still hasn't felt right to neuter him, chemically maybe at first, to see if his distraction level will go down only so we can train better together. I hope there will be more data available for his breed so I can take that into consideration when deciding once and for all what I should do. Till then he will remain entire.

60+ yrs owning German Shepherds. Reproductive organs are NOT a disease. Hormones are essential for lifelong health. It is ridiculously easy to manage an intact dog IF you are responsible w a bit of common sense. In 60 years never had an oops litter. I have owned both bitches & males. The other issue wh does affect health I would like to see you comment on is overvaccination and the current lack of single vaccines to allow us to space out vaccinations and the possible affects of hitting the immune system at one time w a shot that contains 6-8 vaccinations.

Interesting information.

Thank you very much for this information. Could you do a video on behavioral issues or aggression both Being neutered at a early age and also being neutered or spayed after three or four years old thank you I’m in a little dilemma right now. I have a 3 1/2 year-old intact male which I believe to keep them intact forever because I am Irresponsible owner, but he seems to be getting a little testy with male dogs. Thanks.

Hi Gundogdoc, Do they also provide when to spay an female Basset Artesien Normand?

Even though these date sets are full of noise, I’m sure we can do something with the signal. Thanks for sharing!

We have male Weimaraner that just turned 2 this week. He is intact. We are senior citizens. He is our third Weimaraner. My only concern is if it will change his personality or his demeanor. He is the most difficult dog I've ever trained. Have shown in obedience an conformation. Boxers and Weimaraners. This guy could care less about recall. Overly excitable and frustrating. Heels pretty well unless he's distracted. ❤

Physiology would argue with, at least grow and go into adulthood. An animal should be allowed to grow up-develop, it needs specific sequenced hormones to accomplish this. I don’t care if you are male or female. Many countries are denying spaying, pushing owners to be more responsible. At no point did you address diet hmmmm. Processed foods/chemicals and the nonsense foods owners feed. Diet diet diet, food is instruction for the body. PS cancer is a metabolic disease. Period.

How can one access the full study? I'm interested in several breeds to consider for my next dog, hunting and non-hunting breeds, and have been very interested in this issue for decades. One breeder friend (collies) was having her vet do ovary-sparing spays twenty-plus years ago, so it's certainly not a new technique, just one that apparently veterinarians are not interested in pursuing.. mine laughed at me when I mentioned it. Not one of these girls (pet placements usually of mature or nearly mature bitches) ever had a problem, including incontinence, and lived long and healthy lives.

It should be just like humans: vasectomy for males and tubal ligations for females. I don’t know a single vet that is able to do this. So of course primitive spaying does a lot of damage.

Just a thought (I don't claim to have any expertise or knowledge of the subject whatsoever) but perhaps Great Danes and Irish Wolfhounds are outliers and don't appear to be affected as their very limited lifespan means they pass away before the conditions are observed.

Recent? The "fringe vet" Karen Becker spoke in depth about this 10+ years ago. Why are other vets just catching up now?

Great info

Thanks for taking the time to deep dive into this study!

Unfortunately people like me that get rescue dogs they are always "fixed" it does not matter the age of the animal.

That's a lot of great info! timely in that i just got a 2 year old, intact Drahthaar and am trying to decide if/when I get him cut. Thanks for presenting all that!

Why are you generally against partial hysterectomies (ovary-sparing spays)? They are great for keeping dogs healthy for their entire lives, while avoiding unwanted pregnancies. When my wife at age 40 was diagnosed with polyps in her uterus, the doctor listed many reasons to keep her ovaries and avoid menopause, including to stave off bone weakening, weight gain, depression, and cancer. It seems that while spaying may have especially bad effects at a younger age, the effects don't completely go away with age.

Great information. Wonder if altering increases epilepsy in Labs.

have owned mostly female Dobermann's but have had 2 very wonderful female Weimaraner's. As with most (breeders included, since it was not my intent to breed any of my dogs), they recommended that we spay prior to the female getting it's 2nd heat-cycle. which I have done for all but my last 2 girls. The last girl we spayed at that time (prior to getting it's 2nd heat cycle) she (female Weimaraner) developed constant joint disorders mainly with her knees and hips of her back legs (mostly the left rear) and then before she was 8 could barely walk up (or down stairs) and then due to not having the strength to raise herself up out of her bed unassisted, began having bed wetting issues. Other wise she was healthy and loved life dearly. My wife was so upset and heart broken to see a dog she loved so dearly, struggle so much, for the last years of her life, and she attributed it to early spaying. So with our next dog (female also), she refused to listen to the breeder or the Vets, and we did not spay her. She was the sweetest girl you will ever meet, born June 9, 2003 and passed on September 12, 2019. Yes, she lived 16 years 3 months and was still acting as if a puppy well into her teen years. It was only into the last year of her life that she started to slow down. Do not know what this proves as to the "spay or not spay, neuter or not neuter" but from our small sample size, we both (my wife especially) are in the "not spay/neuter" unless for health issues. I now think back at issues or other dogs had, and wonder if early spaying contributed or not? Obviously, I will never know. But I now look at dogs in much the same as with humans - if we are not spaying and neutering ourselves (humans), then why (If healthy) are we doing it so early with dogs. I know the biggest reason is population control, and in poorer countries feral dogs are a problem. But this should not be the main reason to recommend it to every "responsible" dog owner.

I'm not a hunter. I don't own a gun dog. I will probably never own a gun dog. Nevertheless, I found your video fascinating. The data was well-presented, and your humor was as dry as the Sahara. Thanks!

Reasonable Size Studies. Well Presented. Nice Job 🐾👍✔️

Thank you for breaking down the study! This was super helpful!