[wildcard]

There are a multitude of things to keep in mind when considering early spay/neuter. Early spay/neuter has been shown to increase the risk of urinary incontinance in females, it can cause both sexes to grown taller, to have a more narrow chest and skull, the tibia can grow excessively putting increased stress on the cruciate ligament making it more likely to rupture, such dogs are more likely to be dysplastic (not such a concer in toy breeeds), they are more likely to have increased noise phobia, there is eveidence that females will be more fearful and males more aggressive, and in at least one breed such dogs are 5 times more likely to develop hemangiosarcoma (blood cancer) and also more likely to develop bone cancer. One distinct benefit of spaying before the first heat is that it limits the chance of mammary cancer, however mammary cancer in dogs is not as life threatening as it is in humans.

I breed papillons, any puppy that is not to be bred (meaning, so far, all of the whopping 3 puppies I have placed) goes on a spay/neuter contract with limited AKC registration, meaning if they were bred their puppies would not be AKC registrable. However, the most important thing is screening puppy homes, I would not place a puppy with a person I could not trust to adhere to our agreement, meaning that I really don't place puppies with people I don't know or, if I don't know them personally, they are friends of friends and have a history of responsible dog ownership and references. If I felt unsure about a home I would not place a puppy there to begin with.

As my dogs compete in performance events, I personally would not consider spay or neuter until they were fully mature (most of mine show in the breed ring so they are not altered until after they have finished their breed CH) both physically and mentally.