As a physical therapist I can tell you that a lack of testosterone does not mean he won't have muscle. Protein and exercise are a few of the more essential "ingredients" to building muscle. Yes, testosterone is a player, but not absolutely essential. He will gain muscle with or without the hormone.

Muscle is built, to put it simply, by first breaking it down. When you exercise muscle is broken down. When you rest, muscle heals and continues to grow. Done properly multiple times a week, noticeable changes in muscle will occur in 6 weeks.

I am personally for neutering. But I have also heard that waiting until he is about 1 year old is beneficial. No one can tell you what to do. But if you are concerned about him building muscle I would do some research into how muscle develops.


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Some additional food for thought on negative aspects of early spay/neuter, some of which should be of particular concern to golden 'parents':

http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/...tions_2013.pdf

5.5 months, IMO, is too early for a neuter. Some lines don't reach full maturity until much older than 6 months. What does your breeder recommend?

That being said, a decision NOT to neuter also brings with it the responsibility of always keeping your dog leashed/under control as he will have a greater tendency to roam, especially with intact females nearby. Ultimately, it's your decision, and there will be pros and cons no matter what you choose to do. It's great that you're weighing those options. Good luck with your decision!

Bennett was neutered at 6 months. He was extremely tall, though his uncle was also very tall.
Banker was neutered at 18 months, per his breeders contract. He has a beautiful blocky head like his dad, but is an average size. He is still filling out.

My vet and I disagreed about delaying the surgery, but he deferred to my decision. His concerns centered around safely lifting a bigger dog, slower healing with age and keeping him from accidentally siring a litter. None of those ended up being an issue.

My personal opinion, and this is coming from a very rescue oriented person who normally advocates neutering at 6 months, given his background I would let him grow several more months before neutering, at least 12 months old if not 18 months. Just to give him every chance to grow to his full potential.

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Safely lifting a bigger dog? I would of laughed at this one. Im paying my vet to lift my dog onto the table for surgery. If they cant be careful to not injure themselves or my dog then theres a problem

I agree that the marking and humping won't change. I think the marking can be corrected though. I don't have much advice on that but I will tell you that I have an intact 9 month old that has not once marked in the house and if he did he would soon understand that it was NOT OKAY no matter if his manhood was there or not LOL I think that is a behavioral thing.

Maybe some other people with intact indoor dwelling males will chime in too.

In my opinion, wait to neuter because I think at this point you will be disappointed in the fact that is does not change him that much. Work on the behaviors that you do not like in him as if his manhood weren't a factor. Good luck!

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Marking and humping wont stop. And there are a few health benefits to neutering, and in fact we had a neibors puppy that used to run off because he was horny, and that would probably be less likely, nevertheless im against neutering because I feel it demasculates them. But if you are going to neuter in the end, wait till 24 months, or 18 at the very least, although testosterone isnt the only thing required for their muscle, they will be stockier with it, I still highly recommend against it, they wont behave like a normal male dog

My vet says to neuter at around six months, but we did not neuter our maremma boy until fifteen months & we had no behavorial issues ...no marking indoors ....no aggression. We will definitely be waiting until around twelve months with Loki, & all going well, hopefully longer. At almost six months old now, Loki doesn't mark indoors or outdoors. He does hump sometimes, but only on his favourite rug ....we laughingly refer to it as his shagging rug ...it actually is a shaggy rug & he began humping on it at nine weeks old when we bought it for him, so nothing sexual. He used to do it on that rug all the time, but now maybe every three days or so. Only tried it once on another dog & that was at thirteen weeks old & probably a dominance issue. I personally think neutering under ten months is way too young, but I know a lot of vets want to do it.

Marking and humping arent behaviors that are exclusive to all males, my old dog NEVER marked, and i dont think the more submissive dogs hump very much either