The owner of a 5 months-old bitch found he could not keep the dog. He wanted to spay her before he turned her over to a new owner. I asked him what the rush was, and he said his vet told him bitches should be spayed young or they would get breast cancer. This is not true. They might or might not. We do not approve of spaying bitches at this young an age. I assured the man that she would probably not come into heat soon — we find the average age is a year. Animals altered too young seem to us never to mature properly. If his or the vet’s worry was that bitches can belong to puppy mill breeders, I assured him that we would not turn the bitch over to anyone who was not responsible. As for altering males, if the owner is responsible, this is rarely necessary ever. If the dog marks the house, it might be an option, but we feel no responsible owner should have a male Komondor wandering off lead where he can overpopulate the world. In any case, neutering an animal who has recently been relocated is a BAD idea. Much better to have them well settled and used to a new owner and new surroundings. One dog recently came home after neutering and didn’t seem right. By the next day he went into bloat. It seems to me that something put too much strain on the system.