Welcome to YT. I personally will choose spay/neuter with all my pets. I feel the advantages far outweigh the risks with anesthesia and additionally the other risks you mention. Plus, I just like knowing I don't have to mess with heat cycles. (I generally only have females) I have been through pyometra. It was actually discovered during the spaying procedure so we got extremely lucky.
There are risks with every procedure, even vaccinations. Spay is generally very very safe. I don't know personally a single person close to me who has lost a pet from having it spayed/neutered. Sure, I can find it if I research it online, but not in my immediate community of friends/family. I know many who have had severe, life threatening reactions to vaccinations, yet we consider it safer than spaying, and we still do it because it keeps our pets safe/healthy. That is just a comparison. I am not sure if false pregnancy is medically necessary, but pyometra is very scary. And I cannot tell you if neutering your dog contributed to his other health issues, but I would be skeptical to believe that only based on my own experiences with altered pets/animals. Good luck with your pets in what ever you choose.
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