I want to share something that I have learned while going through the grieving process with the loss of our beloved Golden, Baylee. There has been extensive research (most notably by UC Davis) that shows that hip displasia, which is the terribly crippling condition that our furry baby suffered from, is most often brought on by spaying or neutering the dog too early. I find it agonizing that I did not know this when we got Baylee 9 years ago. The study was done for Labs and Goldens, which are both incredibly popular breeds, but the results were most dramatic for Goldens.
The solution is to wait until 6 months (or up to 2 years) to spay or neuter (and be responsible with your dog's interaction with other dogs beforehand, lest you be joined by many new little fur balls) or for females you can ask for a modified spay which leaves the ovaries intact, so that the much needed hormones can still to their job in building the bone and cartilage plates.
I know that someday soon we will welcome another Golden into our lives, and we will do things differently this time.
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