At what age does Ed typically recommend to spay his female shepherds?

It really depends. We don’t like to spay our females until they are physically and mentally mature (which is usually after 2 years of age). Since we often choose to breed our females, I would say the average age for our females to be spayed is between 5-8 years old. Vets push for early spay/neuter but we believe in allowing dogs to develop naturally with all the hormones intact. There are also health risks associated with spaying and neutering that vets either don’t know about or choose not to inform their clients of.

Here are some links of info.

http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf
http://www.caninesports.com/SNBehaviorBoneDataSnapShot.pdf

If you can’t prevent an unwanted pregnancy, then I would recommend spaying your female when she’s fully mature. I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes