Happy Harley at 5 months and some neutering questions

We've been seeing a lot more of his staffy smile since there's been a bit of sunshine! Harley's 5 months old now and doing really well, he's got a bunch of puppy pals and recently passed his first stage of puppy class!





It's coming to the time where we are thinking of when to have him neutered (as we always planned to do this) and a couple of people we spoke to adviced as soon as possible, we were going to go ahead when he reaches 6 months, but recently my boyfriend was told doing it early can stunt growth which I've been skeptical about (he wants him to be a big chunky man). I would rather do it sooner rather than later regardless!

Aw Harley you are gorgeous Hes looking great! I dont know a great deal about neuturing and hopefully someone will able to help you but we personaly wont do it until Harley is 18 months the vet advised us it was better for him to have his hormones first. I too have heard it stunts growth if its done early

i was told 18 months too, too early and they could have problems with their joints? i think thats what i was told

Aww well done Harley and yes what a smile!

What a brilliant smile Well done to you both on passing the first stage!

I had my boy neutered just before he turned 1. No problems what so ever. If I could turn back time I would have left it longer, probably until he was fully grown, not for any particular reason, just so I knew he grew up without any interference so to speak.

What a gorgeous little smile

Our vets urged us to get Bane done at 6 months but after reading a lot about it decided we would wait until at least 18 months so that he could grow up and mature. He is now coming up to 20 months.

Is there any reason you want to get him done as soon as possible?

Thanks for your replies guys! Well we kind of came to the decision when we first started speaking to our vets and to some other people on the park. Our vet was telling us about how its just easier early on? And also about problems with if he smelt a female nearby! I'm just worried about him legging it off from me or pulling me along behind on the lead at some point haha.

Having him neutered wont stop him smelling a female in heat and running off, he will still have instincts. Its purely to stop any accidents. My boy still mounts females on the odd occasion but at lest you can say it's okay, nothing will come of it!

I would wait until he's fully matured, until then, keep him under full control on a training lead, you can get 50ft + in length so he can still have a good run, it allows you to bring him back and practice recall in the meantime

Haha being pulled over by Bane is a weekly occurrence these days We were told the same and that if he smelt a bitch in heat within a few miles he'd be jumping the walls and fences to get to her...am yet to see it! I just keep picturing like on that Dreamies cat treat add Bane running through walls to get to this dog!

If you want to wait, it's just a case of being a responsible owner. Bane is 20 months and not neutered and we have had no problems or found it any more difficult to handle him. We have come across a few females in heat at the park and yes he was very interested but so was our neighbours dog who is neutered.
But if you want to be safe then at the end of the day the decision is up to you There are many pros and cons for both sides. Take a read around the net if you are still unsure!

I got Gizmo neutered at 6 months. 3 reasons.
1)He was one of 13 and I don't want to be responsible for 13 more puppies needing good homes
2)Where I live there's a lot of un-neutered dogs wandering around off-lead and on-season in the parks, so he could wind up populating south london with tigerpuppies.
3) The possibility of him being stolen for fighting (he's a big, stocky fella) and/or breeding so I just wanted to reduce his desireability to thieves.

Thanks for your inputs guys, Goblin that's really interesting about your third reason. Me and my boyfriend are terrified of Harley being stolen - there's been more and more reports of it locally and it's awful. Obviously it's a big issue all over the UK but there's been more reports in Leeds - there are men hiding in bushes in a park not far from us with dog graspers and people cutting leads with knives (why we got a chain lead). We avoid that park and just walk him in the park locally where there's always dog walkers and they walk as a group everyday at 5pm. But I never thought of neutering being something that helped with deterring dog thieves - obviously people steal for other reasons but anything that put them off would be good.