Is there any reason to wait another month to neuter? Will I be limiting any development of the dog by having the procedure done at 5 months?

For the average pet dog in a home that the owner may not be able to prevent accidental breeding, we recommend 6 months. Personally, I’d wait a longer than that. In my opinion (and I have more of a natural rearing/holistic way of thinking about dogs than most people) dogs need the hormones produced by their sexual organs for a variety of reasons. I want my dog to be physically and mentally mature, and I don’t believe that they develop to their potential by neutering before they all fully grown. I don’t neuter any of my dogs until they are 2 years of age (if I do neuter them at all).

Vets will push for early neutering, but unless accidental breeding is a big risk I don’t agree with it. It does nothing to curb dominance (although many vets will tell you it does).

I believe this topic is discussed at length on our forum, here is the link to the discussion forum http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/cfrm. There is a search box on the left side, if you type in your key words there you will find the information you are looking for.

Here is an article written by a vet, and even if your dog is not going to be an “athlete” it brings up things to think about. http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

Cindy