Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Spay before or after first heat

What they said. Another reason besides letting her fully develop is reducing the chance of incontinence Look up the opinions and stats, some by veterinarians on incontinence developing in female dogs that are spayed too young. We've had two female Labs. One wasn't spayed until she was over three years old and had a litter of pups. She lived to 13 years and never had a problem with incontinence. The other was spayed as a pup before her first heat. She also lived to be 13 but was incontinent before she was four years old. Did some research on this and found out it doesn't always happen but happens often enough to not take a chance on.