Thanks Andrew, your information on the Staffordshire comes close. This has been very helpful.

Hi Kat – it won’t be available given the small numbers of the breed. The best you can do is go by the general guidelines you’ll find in this page and the links to the appropriately sized dogs.

Hi Len. Yes, that would be correct.

Hi. While there is nothing specific on Mastiffs (due to the small numbers in the original study), if you look at the pages on the other giant breeds, you will see that early neutering does not appear to have any adverse effects on their health. This is certainly not what would be expected by extrapolation from medium and large breeds, but it’s what we see. Certainly there’s no evidence for waiting until two years, and I would advise earlier to decrease the difficulty of surgery and its recovery time at the very least.

Hi Shona. Like any habit, the more it gets repeated the harder it is to stop. That’s why my opinion on the correct date is “as soon as it can be safely done”. For your breed that is six months, and although there will probably be reduced efficacy in controlling behavioural problems after this, you should still see benefit at eight months. That benefit will probably reduce further over time so my advice is get it done soon.