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I have had two spayed females now : A rescue dog that I had spayed at 5 years old (her first "family" apparently kept her isolated when she was in heat and used pads when she had discharge) and a puppy I had spayed at 4 1/2 months old. Neither animal seemed much different before or after the surgery personality- or behaviorwise, and I had read that early spaying gives a bitch a masculine personality, so I was a bit worried about the puppy. I will say dogs seem to recover from being spayed when young better than they do when spayed as adults, if what I saw with my two females is typical. The puppy was back to her normal bouncy, jubilant self in a day or two, while the older dog took 3-4 days before she was completely back to normal, and she went so long without eating that I was becoming worried. BTW, the older spayed bitch is now 15 going on 16 years old, and she is still a pretty active, happy canine . (Sadly, the 'puppy' was put down at age 11 1/2 years old , for reasons totally unrelated to the spaying.)