question about 6-9 month development Labrador

Question
QUESTION: I have a 6 month old non neutered English Lab (yellow). He is fairly well behaved
and mellow.  What can I expect in regards to the next stages of behavioral
development?  Recently he has not wanted to follow  his usual  bedtime routine
which he was so comfortable with. I wanted to prepare for the next expected
stages of behavior to adjust my training methods. Thank you.

ANSWER: His testicles should be fully descended and cranking out hormones.  You can expect challenges to your leadership.  Maintain your training.  You may want to look at http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm  

He is still too young for vigorous activities such as agility.  

Do you have any real reason not to neuter him?  I assure you, we have plenty of breeding stock and will do fine without him.  Besides heading off some behavioral problems, it has health benefits, eliminating certain common cancers.  

Doing breeding right is a lot of work.  If you haven't done much reading on it, take a look at http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/articles.html#breeding

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QUESTION: in response- I plan to neuter him at a later age in order to preserve the natural
hormone cycle he needs for growth. Most likely at 9-12 months. Thank you for
your quick and information response. Very helpful.

Answer
I have a real knee jerk anti breeding reflex.  If you read a little further at that Woodhaven site, you will find some support for the later neutering.  The ideal may be for everyone to delay spay/neutering and carefully control their dog until then.  I appreciate and support what youare doing.  Unfortunately I see too many questions here from the less responsible that lead to us slaughtering millions of dogs each year for lack of homes.  It is easier for those of us concerned about that misery to say spay/nuter by 6 months.