Nora, as Ed stated spaying to reduce/attempt to prevent aggression needs to be done early, before any aggressive behaviors are present.

Healthwise it is still really up to you. There are pros and cons to spaying and leaving them intact though I personally lean towards keeping them intact if they are my dogs. Regarding door scratching and trying to get out - if a dog is tethered to you or on a drag line, unless you are at the door they cannot scratch it Washable crate pads or towels or bed covers etc, just don't allow the dog on the bed or other furniture, have the diaper on them, etc. If this would bother you too much twice a year then you have to weight that against the other odds and facts of spaying.

The pros and cons have been outlined here and in the other links given for info regarding spay/neuter. If it is to be done with a pet that has a responsible owner that will take all necessary precautions to prevent a litter, it is my opinion that the dog will be better off spayed after physically and mentally mature. For many dogs they are mostly mature physically at 2 years though some dogs take longer to mature mentally.

Some say the opposite, that IF they are going to be spayed to do it early. Lots of opinions on this one.

Pros: possible reduction in malignant tumors/cancers(mammory, uterine etc), no chance of female having pups
Cons: possible mental/behavioral immaturity or increase of aggression, it is said that older female dogs have an increased risk/problem with incontinence, increased risk of other types of cancers(bone cancer/osteocarcoma, vascular tumors) etc

I'm not a vet and that is not a complete list of pros and cons, those are just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head at the moment. If anyone has any other pros or cons to add feel free.

This is a decision best left to your preferences and opinions, Nora A lot of us here, me included all have personal preferences and ideas regarding spaying/neutering as you will have noticed in this thread it can be a mixed debate. I didn't list more cons than pros on purpose to try and sway you I just can't think of any other pros right now.

Thanks, again, Jennifer for the input. I have been reading all these posts and it, obviouly, is a passionate position.

I guess I was hoping for a one size fits all answer.

After your comments, I do recall previous females having some incontinence problems as they got older.

I wonder Ed's reasoning for spaying his pets. Do you know of another link to that?

Hi Jenn,

I've always been curious about the whole "spay early to reduce/prevent aggression" theory. Ed(and others)has mentioned this with females but I seem to recall reading that late neutering does not have this same effect on males...is this correct?

I know different hormones come into play and you can't make generalizations about dogs but why does late spaying = possible aggression in females?

***I did not re-read all 6 pages of this thread (once was enough! ) so if the answer is here just let me know and I'll wade back through it.***

Sarah - in my basic understanding of it, spaying would not reduce aggression already present in the female, it would reduce the risk of aggressive behavior later in life if the dog is spayed quite young (before maturity) But spaying after aggressive behavior has already begun to show increases the aggressive tendencies. For me the reason is that the hormones a female has become imbalanced. Animal and human females have both estrogen and testosterone. Remove the estrogen you are left with testosterone and no counter to it.
Here is a link explaining testosterone and estrogen in the dog:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-aAhFDeAHrkC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=dog+estrogen+testosterone&source=web&ots=3oSA10lIYc&sig=_kxGZ7qE2kMqIK7yn4MCDl0Bj2Q#PPA182,M1
VERY informative

This is something that will proper handling and training can be worked through but for the average owner that cannot handle aggressive behavior it is a concern.

Male dogs, the effects vary IMO. If neutered after physical maturity neutering really doesn't do a whole lot but perhaps reduce drive a little bit but I would not consider the reduction to be significant. If neutered after maturity the male already has behaviors set in that were developed/increased/brought on by the hormones and physical maturity that just because the hormones are not there anymore doesn't mean the behaviors suddenly disappear. Neutered males still mark, neutered males can still be aggressive, neutered males can still roam.

I don't follow spaying/neutering and behavior modification. If you want to change a behavior, train the dog, don't remove its body parts.

For me the only real benefit or plus of spaying/neutering is that the dog cannot contribute to the overpopulation of pets. This is why most people spay/neuter - to prevent the dogs from being bred.

Partial Spay was brought up in a previous thread. It sounds like an excellent idea to me.
http://www.belfield.com/pdfs/Partial_Spay.pdf