julietcr1

When I was looking for a Spoo a found breeders who claimed they where breeding larger Standards e.i. over 25 inches and 60 pounds. Both of these breaders also spayed-neutered at 8-9 weeks! I did not know about early spay-neuter so I did some research and found that dogs spayed-neutered well before puberty can frequently be taller and heavier but look lighter and have narrow skulls and chests. They also have more bone related problemes. This link states some studies that were done Canine Sports Productions: Early Spay-Neuter Considerations for the Canine Athlete

I decided to play safe and look for a breeder that would let me neuter my dog after puberty. Sushi is almost a year old now and I am really happy I kept him intact since he is already 26 inches and 60 pounds! He is not growing as fast anymore but his skull and chest have narrowed and he is gorgeous!

His brother who was neutered at 5-6 months is now 28 inches tall and 70 pounds and not as wide as Sushi. I know this is not a signifiant number but I wanted to keep track.

Questions to owners of large Spoos in this forum : At what age did you spay-neuter your boy or girl?

Merci

kukukachoo

Dude is mucho mongo and we just had him fixed at age five.

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LSK

Thank you BorderKelpie, He was such an amazing pal who was a soulmate of mine for sure. He stayed with me while I was in my studio painting, he followed me where ever I went in the house. He and I were basically tied together at the hip. He loved everyone too. I just don't know this brave new world without him. It is a duller landscape and a very sad one. I so love my big guy..my husband and son have the same special connection to him too. The hardest thing in my life was holding him at his last moments. But I could not betray my soulmate by walking away when we were always together simply for my selfish reasons. I hope I get those last tragic moments, even though peaceful in nature, out of my head.....

LSK

JulietCr1---So if you have what will be a large spoo, say tall (never measured him but he could put his pointy nose in my 6'3 husbands crotch and make him jump!) and 80 lbs at maturity, when would have been the ideal time to have him neutured? Would have my Charley been less tall and heavy in weight? He was extremely lean at 80lbs. I kept him that way since he was diagnosed as a pup. I just want to learn.

Lou

Lou is 6 months old.. at 5.5 months old she was a bit above 50lbs ands 24'' to the shoulder.

I'm worried now.... I wanted a big dog, BUT I DID NOT SEARCH SPECIFICALLY FOR ONE.. THIS WAS THE 1ST BREEDER WE WENT TO. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!! She is just perfect!!

(She wiggles her but when she walks, but definitely seems to have the poodle prancin' walk ... )
I just hope she is healthy and will live forever....
- mmm ok... live a long life :-)

http://s1281.beta.photobucket.com/us...alk-1.mp4.html

Here is a few pictures of her => My husband is 6'3'' as well..
I will keep her lean then, if that's what you guys recommend.. I've been reading obsessively about standard poodles, but there is soooo much more to learn, thanks for all the info!

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CharismaticMillie

Getting a pup from careful breeding is far more important than size!

julietcr1

LSK---I am sorry for your lost and would not want you to feel guilty if your big boy was neutered early. The studies I read says that dogs who are spayed-neutered early are FREQUENTLY taller and heavier so not all of them are.

I can`t answer your question about the ideal age to neuter or if your boy would have been lest tall and heavier because I don`t know. I can tell you what my breeder told me "if Sushi is not humping everything and not showing any other bad sexual behaviors wait as long as you can". My contract states that I need to do it before he is 18 months so I will try to wait until then. If he shows bad sexual behaviors before I will have him neutered.

Sookster

I cannot agree with this more! I have one huge girl, 28 inches tall. She is a very, very lean 63lbs because I worry about hip displasia (she originally came from a pretty deadbeat breeder and has HD in her background; I adopted her from rescue at 2 years old and she was 20lbs overweight, so it's a huge concern for me). I definitely agree that for any poodle (or dog for that matter), but especially for the larger ones, keeping them fit and lean is the way to go to help avoid joint problems.

Breeders, even those that typically breed "smaller" spoos, will occassionally have a larger litter, or one or two much larger puppies in a litter. Size becomes a problem when that's the only thing the breeder cares anything about (as with ANYTHING: conformation/structure, color, personality, health; if you only pay attention to one, all of the others end up lacking severely). Find a well-versed breeder who is focusing on all aspects of the poodle, who also tends to have poodles in the size you like, and you will be fine.

I will say, I think my big girl would be much, MUCH prettier if she were about 25 inches tall. She is proportionate (28 inches long too), has decent structure, tailset, hind end angulation, a bit of a steep shoulder but not the worst I've seen. She'd be a nice female except that she's so large, she just ends up looking like a big clutz. She also isn't graceful at all; she's very clumsy and tends to have no idea where her feet or body are. I personally prefer the size of my 22 inch female so much that any spoos I get from here on out will be that size, approximately of course.

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Lou

Do you have pictures? I just love all spoos. And Id like to see a big female spoo since I think mine is going to be pretty big... :-)

This is Lou at almost 7 months old on a king size bed . Im worried about her health being so big.
[IMG] Lou huge 7month puppy trashes blankets then crashes (king size bed) by Lou Standard Poodle, on Flickr[/IMG]

Sookster

I have lots of photos, but none really show her size that well. I will attach a few here. Some of these aren't great photos, but may help to see how big she is. I'm 5'3, and the man in one of the photos is about 5'7.

I would just keep Lou lean and fit, and hope for the best. That's really all you can do. Bloat is another huge concern of mine (Nova has a lot of excess gas, like, way more than normal for a dog). She's raw fed and kept quiet after meals. You do what you can, and you can't let it worry you too much.

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