Recently I have had quite a few large breed puppies in my classes. I am happy to say that ALL the owners I have had in at least the last 6 months, have been responsible and spayed/neutered their dog. I am sad to say that not a single one (where applicable) took me seriously about choosing the appropriate time to alter their dog.
In the blog archives, I have a post titled "Altering your pet." I do strongly believe those not interested in breeding for the RIGHT reasons, get their pet altered. No one seems to be educating themselves on the proper time to alter their pet or the different variations of surgery and anesthesia offered. I don't know if it is due to the pet over-population that vets and other dog-professionals just push to have it done ASAP in fear that if an owner doesn't schedule it when they are actually talking to them that it won't ever happen, or what exactly is going on. Perhaps the vets here (in California) don't know about risks and considerations with early spay/neuter? Whatever the case, owners need to be educated about this.
I am going to be gathering most of my information from this article http://www.stonedance.ca/images/Early%20Spay-Neuter1.pdf
There are other articles on this topic out there, but some are from journals that are not available to those not subscribed to the journal or enrolled at a university with a subscription. While studying animal science, I did read a variety of articles on the topic with the same conclusion. You will notice the above article has an excellent bibliography siting all of the sources and the author is a veterinarian! While the title focuses on canine athletes, this really is relevant to all dogs.
The article breaks down the "considerations" into several categories; orthopedic, cancer, behavioral and miscellaneous health. Early spay/neuter is anytime before 6 months of age.
Orthopedic Considerations
Dogs that are altered before puberty (which ranges depending on the breed as large breed dogs hit puberty later than small breed dogs), don't have the sex hormones (testosterone or estrogen) required by the body to close their growth plates. What this means is that those dogs tend to become overgrown. They have long legs, lighter bone structure, narrow chests and skulls. This can cause a higher incidence in bone-related and ligament related maladies. There is a significantly higher incidence of hip displaysia in dogs altered before 6 months! Also, there are higher rates of CCL ruptures. Hip displaysia is a horrible thing for an active dog to have. It can change their life significantly and cost the owner a lot of money if surgery is required. Wouldn't it be easier to hold of till the dog hit puberty to alter him/her to avoid this?
Cancer
There is a 5 times (yes 5 times!) greater risk of cardiac cancer in spayed females versus intact females. 2.5 times greater risk on the male side. There is also a significantly higher incidence in bone cancer of dogs altered before 1.5 years of age. The idea that neutering prevents prostate cancer has also been disproved as having zero effect.
Behavioral
I have met many people that hold onto the idea that intact males are aggressive. I can tell you from personal experience, that this isn't so. Lex is a very sweet dog and while he doesn't like to "exchange numbers" with other intact males, he can most certainly tolerate other intact males at a park any day. The studies I have reference actually have evidence that it is neutered males that display the most aggression! It also points out that spayed females are more likely to have fear issues and noise phobias.
Other Health Considerations
Most people I know have however heard of female urinary incontinence resulting from an early spay. This means the dog now has problems holding urine. It is interesting to note that this can also happen to neutered males. An increase in hypothyroidism appears in spayed/neutered dogs as well as a much higher incidence of adverse vaccine reactions.
The article also points out at the end that there are other procedures we can do such as tubal ligation or vasectomies, where as in humans, the dogs still have their hormones, just are unable to reproduce. This is probably the most ideal scenario, but it is difficult to find a vet that can preform the procedure and it is probably more costly than just removing the uterus and ovaries/testicles as it requires a more delicate surgery.
So now you have the facts. I am in no way advocating that we all just leave our animals intact. Even responsible owners may end up with a whoops liter and contribute to that huge overpopulation issue we have in our nation. If I were to get another female dog, I personally wouldn't spay her until 15-18 months of age (if it were a medium to large breed). If I got a small breed dog, I would spay her at 9 months. If for some reason I got a male dog that I wanted to neuter (honestly, I don't think I will ever neuter a male again since I have had such a wonderful experience with Lex and I don't have to worry about heat cycles and puppies), I would neuter around 15 months.
Below are two more links/articles supporting the above data.
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-practice-news-columns/bond-beyond/is-early-neutering-hurting-pets.aspx
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longtermhealtheffectsofspayneuterindogs.pdf
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