Yes they do, their hormones may linger for a time but they settle, spaying is one of the kindest things you can do to a dog or cat.

Spayed and neutered pets are calmer, because they are not driven by hormones urging them to find a mate and reproduce. They are also healthier, on average.

Depends on what you mean by 'quieten down'. If you have a high energy dog that needs a good bit of exercise, then I don't think you'll see a change in that area.

It should be illegal not to spay your dog/cat

What do you mean by "quieten down"?

Energy level, barking etc? What breed is she and how old is she? Is she an inside dog or do you leave her in the yard and the neighbors are complaining about her barking?

we adopted two puppies back in July. One came from a litter that had been found in a dumpster, the other from an unwanted pregnancy where the litter was left with a friend! The younger dog is now nearly 6 months old and we thought it was a lab. Well she is now all of 28lbs so she is mixed with something a little smaller than a lab! Her name is Scout and she is very sweet. Emma is about three weeks older than Scout, and is, we think lab, boxer, pointer and is now 44lbs. They have been together since we had them. We managed to scrape the money together to get them spade last week (my husband had been laid off and so we are both now looking for work). Since the operation they have been extra frisky - we have them crated separately so that they can be quiet and heal. We are taking them out one at a time to potty and short walks round the garden. I had expected them to be quieter than normal, but not so! They just want to run and jump and play more than ever! So, I guess my question was really two questions, first are dogs normally quiet after the operation and second to they settle down over a period of months. We don't really have any issues with barking - if they see something moving around in the garden, they bark and that's normal. Very rarely do they bark for no reason.

All I can say is...maybe little girls named Emma get extra frisky after spaying...my little Emma cat sure is being a handfull now 11 day after being spayed. Little devil she is, but very loved.

In my experience animals ARE slightly quieter after the operation, however when they DO get going, they REALLY go because they have been a bit lazy.

As far as how long it takes them to tame down in general once spayed or neutered? They're still puppies, so you probably won't notice a difference for quite a while, and a lot of that would be attributed to growing up, mostly.

They will ditch the puppy energy eventually, however I doubt if they were spayed before they came into heat, you will notice a difference due to hormones calming down.

I have NEVER noticed any of my animals calm down from what I would associate with their neuter/spay procedure. Just from age. They DO tend to gain weight easier, but it hasn't slowed any of them down and they're all still crazy and entertaining (most of the time!)

I think what you are seeing are the effects of having them confined. They have to spend the first week basically quiet. They're puppies with lots of energy. They haven't got to run and play hard for a whole week. As they get back to doing what they normally do, they should return to how they were before the surgery.

My pup (6 months) is just two weeks out of surgery and she seems to be wanting to make up for the lost play time. As far as quieting down, I've never noticed a change in her or previous dogs. My baby is all healed and ready to round up all errant yard critters. Those squirrels in the back yard better look out!

Yep, Dogs are lot of work- much more so then cats- still I think dogs are better than cats for curtain living arrangements.

Not really. Spaying and neutering doesn't change a dog's basic personality. It does decrease some hormone-related behaviors such as urine marking (most of the time), wandering off to find mates, same-sex sex aggression (most of the time), that kind of thing. But if you have an aggressive dog, or a high energy dog, those things are not related to hormones and spaying/neutering won't change a thing. Only thing that helps there is training and exercise.

Spaying/neutering doesn't have THAT much an effect on weight either. It's just that most dogs are spayed/neutered at the end of their rapid growing phase (6 months) and the owners continue to feed them the same amount as they were when they were rapidly growing puppies. Once the dog reaches 6 months, they are mostly done growing UP (except giant breeds) and feeding them the same only makes them grow OUT!

No I don't think spaying has any effect on their energy level. Mind didn't anyway. They are probably extra frisky just from having extra energy to burn off because you have them confined. (mine gets "extra frisky' every year this time since her human -- me -- is a big cold weather wimp so her walks get shorter and less frequent when T drops to 40 or so). They'll go back to normal (whatever normal is for them) when "bedrest" is over.

((fyi, in my experience, "quietening down" will start to happen in about 10 years...))

I'd like to hear meghane's input on this, but how long did the vet tell you to keep them crated and quiet? I ask because I never had to give a quiet/heal time to any (and there were many) of the dogs I've owned and fostered. The vets told me to watch them closely for 24 hrs., no extreme jumping, but other than that they could do what they wanted.

I didn't take them to the park or let them run free rein for the first 2-3 days, but they were allowed to do whatever they felt like around the house.

From what you described, I think the pups are just going stir crazy. It has been a week since the surgery, they're 6 months old and their only exercise is to be taken for short walks around your garden.
From my experience, they're ready to get back to normal.
But, check with your vet since there may be reasons he wants them restricted!

Depends on the animal.

I have an unneutered male dog(Rottweiler/GSD mix) who barks when he is supposed to(watch/guard duty)---he does 'talk' to me when he wants out/fed. Otherwise he is quiet and calm. Far cry from how he acted before I got him----totally out of control---barking incessantly when outside, climbing the fence are passerby, attacking visitors.

Just adopted a female whippet mix---spayed her. She is flighty, nervous, and noisy outside---plus she digs(My fault---lack of exercise). Inside, she is quiet and meek. She does growl/whine during play time with the male. I cannot visualize her being more active before the spaying.

Bottom line is some dogs are more active/noisy naturally, regardless of neuter/unneuter. Some are simply not exercised/trained and are active/noisy because of those conditions.