Some time ago on the old board we had a discussion on the pro's and con's of neutering and what age is best.  Of course I can't find it now.

What I need now are some photo's to illustrate the lack of development in chest and muscletone that sometimes occurs with neutering too early.  Some facts to back the theory up other than my own experiences would be helpful too!

Thanks,

Carol

(formerly applesmom on the old board)

I'd be interested in seeing those photos as well. I believe Rogan was neutered at <6mos old, but *I* think of him as a little heavy in front so I doubt he'd be a good example.

An ideal photo would be two adult males one neutered and one not who have both been provided with the same amount of exercise.  Could I be lucky enough to find such a thing?  If there are photos to disprove the theory that would be just fine too.  I'd also need to know at what age the dog was neutered.

That's not asking too much is it?

Carol,

I know we got into this topic a bit in May when I asked what to do about my (then) 10 week old puppy humping my arm. (The thread was called "hump day" if you want to do a search and see what some of the various opinions were.)

This was an interesting article provided by one of the responders: www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html

Thank you everbell!  That site was a huge help.   Haven't been able to find the hump day discussion yet!.

I can tell you some chest measurements of Rocky's chest from adoption to now. Rocky was neutered at 10 months old while in GSP Rescue foster home.  We adopted him at 12months and his chest measured 29 inches. With daily exercise  and change diet to Canidae from Iams Rocky grew into a 35 inch chest . You can kind of see his chest in my avatar picture. Diet and exercise can build up chests, never realized the age of neutering can effect chest measurements also.

This is the url http://66.85.66.182/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3512&highlight=hump

This is a link to see Rocky's stretched out chest and long legs. Front of his chest is not that broad and maybe if he was neutered latter than 10 months old, he would have a broader chest and shorter legs.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa168/Snickers-085/IMG_0050.jpg?t=1185560977

This is a link picture of our first male GSP Poge. He was intact at 5 years old and we didnot get him neutered until he was 9 years old. Poge had a very broad chest and was shorter than our present GSP Rocky.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa168/Snickers-085/PogeinwaynesburgPa5yrsold-1.jpg?

Just wanted to add in that GSP's often tend to be "late bloomers" its really line suggestive, however it can also change from dog to dog. My dogs chest is deeper than a litter mates of his(Both mine and his dad have VEEEERRRYY deep chests). Both un-neutered. At 2 years old. And this line the males don't stop maturing from anywhere from 3-4 years old.

Not sure if he will want to get back into this subject. But im pretty sure WildRose had some good experiences with this, Maybe even a pic or 2.

Rocky and Poge don't even come close to the few I've seen that didn't develop properly.  

The dogs I'd seen had been spayed or neutered before 6 months and their forechests looked like someone had punched them in the chest and set everything back a few inches.  They also lacked depth of chest.    They still looked like adolescents even though they were full grown adults. 

This was quite a few years ago and I'm beginning to wonder if poor breeding might have had more to do with it than early neutering.  As far as I know none of those dogs were related.    

So far the only article I've come across on the subject is the one that was  listed here and I agree with most of what she had to say. 

Thanks for the help!

My friend Joe has a female with a front that you describe, she is TERRIBLY sickle -chested (he has finally spayed her-at 3 years old...). I have seen several dogs related to her, all the same fronts and all intact, males & females, her litter brother is actually worse than her. Have another friend with an intact male unrelated to Joes' female, who was also sickle-chested at 8 years old.

The largest GSP I ever saw was nuetered at a young age, very large boy with a deep chest. Could just be genetics, maybe a little of both?? Interesting question.......