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Hi Everyone,

Today I would like to discuss whether to neuter and more specifically when to neuter.  Today, more pressure is brought to bear concerning neutering your German Shepherd Dog.  Your veterinarian more often than not wants to neuter your German Shepherd Dog puppy as early as six months of age.  However, you should hold on and think about it before proceeding.

The Testicles produce growth hormones and are instrumental in proper development of your German Shepherd Dog puppy.  It is quite simple, if you neuter before your German Shepherd Dog is physically mature, they will not grow right and they will never reach their genetic potential.  For example if by disease or accident a human male child is castrated before puberty that child will never reach his full height or grow a beard unless the hormones produced naturally by the testes are replaced.  The same is true for your German Shepherd Dog puppy.  Therefore, if you plan on neutering, you should wait until age two to ensure that your German shepherd Dog has reached physical maturity.  Actually, there is research that shows neutering your German Shepherd Dog before maturity may make them susceptible to various disease processes later in life.

Neuter! WHAT?

I am fully supportive of neutering in certain situations, one being access to random bitches.  This situation is most likely to happen in the country, where your German Shepherd Dog has free roam of your property. If he is not breeding quality, you should consider neutering to stop random breedings with stray bitches.  Neutering should be considered if your German Shepherd Dog has genetic or inherited defects.  If you have more than one male German Shepherd Dog, you should consider neutering one or both males to ensure they do not fight for dominance.  In addition, you may consider neutering for health reasons, if the condition would be improved if your German Shepherd Dog was neutered.

Other than the above reasons, I really see no reason to neuter your German Shepherd Dog even if you do not plan on breeding him.  If you never breed your intact German Shepherd Dog, He will not miss it, and will not become a wanderer or fence jumper every time he smells a bitch that has come into season.

The worse thing in regards to breeding that you could do for your German Shepherd Dog is to breed them once.  This literally could make your dog miserable. Guys seem to be guiltier of this than the ladies.  I have heard it several times that they want to reward their male German Shepherd Dog with a breeding because they love them and want them to be happy.  Do not do it!  If you do plan on doing only one breeding, then you should strongly consider neutering after you do the breeding.

Tomorrow, I will continue this discussion focusing on what exactly neutering does to the mentality or personality of your German Shepherd Dog and what type of physical changes that you could expect.

Ask me a question and I will provide my opinion.

Sincerely,

KeystoneGermanShepherds