Thanks for sharing your experience. Wishing you and Duke both many many more years of romping! 🙂

Thanks!… You’ve broken thru all of the (expert) back and forth babble… Your story inspired me. It also helped me make the decision to neuter my Lab/pit puppy … 🤙🏾

My lab will be 2 years old in mid-October – similarly our vet and friends also suggest neutering! But till now, he doesn’t hump or mount, he jolly, intelligent, happy and healthy. We’ve done research on latest findings on longterm health implications on neutering on male labrador- so, we’re not totally in favor of the surgery – what do you suggest?

Thanks for sharing the info.

Any update on how your boy was after the implant wore off, and did you nueter in the end?

Best, Adam

Since then, there have been numerous studies showing that neutering too young leads to significant joint problems. I now have a 82lb 1.5 yr old pure bred lab, who’s a big love bug. Never mounted anyone(or dog), no aggression, strong, sturdy, smart – just gorgeous – and while my vet pushes for neutering, we have decided not too this time around. I agree with this post…think twice and do your research.

First one a black male, never neutered. He had problems with seizures, not too often, but still had them occasionally, he started having urinary problems at age of 10 and when opened up for the “simple” operation, the vet found a major mass inside and put him down during the surgery.

Second one a chocolate male. He was neutered very young. Was a great dog and he had good health to a little over 11 years (I had him c. 11 years to the day). He stopped eating and I took him to the vet. They said that his liver enzyme in the blood was over 800, when it should have been around 100. They wanted to do all sorts of exploratory surgery, tests, etc. I could not bear to put my 11 year old lab through that, as I did not think it would it would significantly improve his life span and he had a good run.

Third lab, a female chocolate that was rescued from a county pound at around 1 year old. She was already spayed when I rescued her. I had her for 12 years and she was overweight, as she ate everything she could find, including poop. I got her when Lab 2 was 3 years old. They were great companions, but when he passed in late 2017, she became lonely and withdrew from activities. Hence, Lab #4 came along after 6 months. It was like night and day, as she suddenly was following him all over the yard and was happy again. Lab 3 had all sorts of lumps and bumps, which are typical with labs, but she did well and simply slowed down as she got older.

In late 2021, Lab 5 came along, a female black puppy. I had 3 labs for a while, as I did not want to have #4 go through the depression that lab #3 did after losing #2. Lab 3 lasted until February of 2022, but was slowing significantly and she finally told me it was time, when she struggled to walk around the yard and collapsed before getting to the door, as she was out of breath. The vet said that the insides of her lips were very pale and that likely indicated an internal bleeding event. That made me feel better, as it is a hard thing to put a dog down.

So now I have a 4 year old lab who has been marking spots around the inside of the house (he had been good until about 8 or 9 months ago). He also likes to sniff and smell at the females and their pee (was doing that to the spayed #3 and also to #5) and a 7 month old lab who has not yet come into heat. The male (#4) is being neutered this week. The female (#5) will be spayed at an appropriate time after her first heat.

My experience is that I am not positive that there are health benefits to having it done or not having it done. However, there certainly could be benefits as to what age one has it done. All dogs are different and can have different health issues regardless of when or if they are neutered.