It's getting close to the time that we wanted to neuter Echo, so I thought I'd check into it at our vet's to see the costs and what the procedure is like, etc... What happens is, he goes in the morning for blood work to see if he'll be allergic to the anesthesia or any other health issues, and if that's OK, they perform the operation that afternoon. He then stays overnight for observation and then we pick him up the next day. Because of his size (the top of the cost structure) it's going to cost about $230 for the operation, $70 for the blood work, and then $35 for the "pain package". Sheesh, that's an expensive procedure! We were originally going to wait until he was at least 10 months old - and we may still do that, but I thought I'd look into it now. "Technically" we can do it anytime now. The vet's usually recommend it at around 6 months, but our breeder suggested waiting until at least 10 months so that he takes on more of the masculine attributes. I've emailed her again to ask her what she thinks.
When you snip male dogs too soon, they grow really tall and never really fill out the same. Their heads also remain thin and pointy more than usual. For example, there's a Dantry Dane owner with a male from a few years ago (I think he's 3 years old now) who got it done at 4 months... Why? Because he was going in for surgery for something else, so they thought to do it then. This dog is now 41" at the shoulders and really lean (skinny)!! That is incredibly tall. Echo is about 35" now; his dad is 36 and his mom is 32. So, we think (hope) he's about done in height. He's definitely getting thicker fast than taller now. We don't want him to get any taller so the dilemma is, do we snip him now and risk him growing taller, or wait and let him fill out more - which he most likely will anyway.
He is not showing any aggression towards people or other dogs at all, so that's not even a consideration for doing it now. The most "aggression" he has is when he starts bugging you to play with him. He'll stand there and bark at you and run around - sometimes gets out of control. But, with a firm voice and sometimes having to grab him, he'll calm right down again. This could get worse as time goes on... At the dog park, if another dog (ALWAYS another smaller dog) barks at him for getting too close, or for whatever doesn't like Echo, he cowers with his tail down and backs off - that's good (sometimes I'd like him to stomp on the other dog once to put it in his place, but that's asking for trouble). So, having him intact so far has not even been an issue. That may change though if he starts getting a smell for other females in heat.... OR starts showing more confidence towards other more aggressive dogs. It's something we'll have to keep an eye on more closely in the next few weeks/months. We're not even technically allowed to take Echo to the park anymore since he's over 6 months and not neutered. No one has questioned us on him, but they do ask how old he is occasionally.
Update on the painting:
We haven't done anything else since the one wall was painted red on the weekend. I want to get started on the green tonight, but if not, it will definitely get done this weekend. Then maybe on Sunday get the TV mount on the wall!
Also, with our TV, we get free High Definition for a year, so that should be coming soon too! Actually, it was 12 months of the standard HD box, or 10 months of the PVR HD box, so we went with the PVR model. Can't wait for LOST in HD!!!
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