Neutering
Not all dog owners wish to breed their pets. In order to ensure that your dog is neither impregnating or being impregnated, you can choose to neuter your dog. Each year in Ireland, thousands of unwanted dogs are being abandoned or handed into shelters around the country. This can be easily avoided with neutering.
There is also significant evidence that early spaying (female) or neutering (male) can have important benefits for the health of your pet. These include reducing the risk of certain cancers, having a positive benefit for health and lifespan, and curbing unwanted behaviour and marking. For male dogs it can also reduce some unwelcome behaviour such as aggression and dominance, sibling rivalry, territorial marking with urine, roaming/straying, and dry-humping.
The latest advice is that in most cases spaying and neutering should be carried out at an earlier age than was previously suggested. In general, both male and female small dogs should be neutered or spayed at five to six months of age, that is, before a female dog's first season/heat. However, current advice is that large breed dogs (both male and female) should be spayed or neutered at approximately nine months of age, while giant breed dogs (both male and female) should have this delayed until at least one year of age. This is to allow large and giant breed dogs be more skeletally mature before neutering.
It is not recommended to spay females when in season. Ideally, if a female has had a season, please seek advice from us before booking her in for surgery.