What is the best age to surgically sterilize a dog

We are a race of animal lovers. It is common for households to have one or more pets. People spend a great deal of time and resources to care for their pets. Sadly, a lot of dogs are put to sleep because people can no longer cope with the responsibility of keeping these dogs as pets. Millions of unwanted dogs are euthanized every year as the supply ofdogs exceeds the capability of people to care for them. Homeless dogs can be greatly reduced if unwanted litters is reduced by spaying or neutering a dog.

Through a procedure commonly known as neutering, a male dog will be rendered incapable of reproduction. In femaledogs, the same procedure is known as spaying. This short surgery that is performed while the dog is under general anesthesia will remove the testicles in males and the uterus and ovaries in females.

Surgical sterilization has other benefits other than addressing dog population problem as the procedure can also prevent the development of unwanted behaviors that commonly arise from the dog's mating instinct.

Surgical sterilization will not alter the personality of the pet but it will make the pet manageable as aggression that commonly develop because of the dog's breeding instinct will be tempered. A pet parent aware that spaying and neutering promises longer and healthier life would have the pet undergo the surgical procedure.

Due to the mentioned benefits, spaying or neutering is a very important gift a pet owner can give to the pet. The right time to neuter or spay a dog is a point of argument between vets and animal behaviorists. A dog can actually have the surgical procedure at any age. The advantages of spaying and neutering a dog at an early aged were shown in the studies conducted on surgical sterilization. The popular belief is to have the procedure after the dog have had its first heat cycle but no evidence supports that this idea would be healthier for the pet. The primary reason for early age sterilization is to make dogs incapable of breeding so as to lessen the number of homeless dogs but the procedure will also prevent unwanted behaviors that commonly surface when the dog develops the breeding instinct.

Traditionally, dogs can only undergo sterilization procedure after reaching the age of 6 to 8 months. Nowadays, sterilization procedure is safe even for 8 week old dogs as safer anesthetic procedures for very young dogs are now being used and recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association.