HI,
Already you have had lots of good advise and articles. My experience with spaying my pyr/GSD cross at 5mnths is still very fresh. At 10 mnths she started dribbling urine and lots of licking to clean herself to leaving wet patches where she slept or relaxed.
Our vet doesn't think her incontinence is due to being spayed, just that it happens to some bitches. She is on stilbesterol, which works if taken every 2 days, but cutting back to twice per week (as advised) is not enough. So we're trying a homeopathic along with the stilbesterol, so far (only 10 days) the combo looks like it will work. I'm also looking into other herbal treatments.
To get back to my point! If I had all this info. 7mnths ago, I would have waited until after her first heat before having her spayed. I have always had male dogs previously, which I always had neutered, so this is my first spay experience. She gets upset when she "leaks" and it did interfere with her concentration at a few obedience classes. We've since finished those and are now doing puppy agility, which we are both enjoying. She certainly doesn't have the drive of those border collies, trotting is a more ladylike pace!!
Thanks again to all BPO's wonderful advise,
Elaine