when to neuter?!

experienced dane owners, when did you find it best to neuter your dane? we are also getting the “anti-stomach flip” surgery at the same time.

i’ve read some research that doing it too early stunts their growth / can cause negative impact to joints, but could be a riskier surgery the longer you wait. that said, i had a 125lb german shepherd which for medical reasons had to be neutered at 4 months old and that clearly did nothing to his growth. he did however have hip dysplasia and torn ACL’s so trying to prevent that as much as possible with our dane.

our vet recommended before 24 weeks with the “puppy plan”, which just seems crazy early to me.

thoughts?!

edit: thanks for all the info everyone! i’m glad i wasn’t crazy thinking my vet recommendation to do it before 24 weeks was insane. we will be waiting as long as possible, a lot of these comments align with the research we’ve done.

xo!