My biggest hesitation in hormone removal is that the sex hormones do play a role in the closing of the growth plates of the bones. I'm sure that in many dogs this will have no long-term effects, but I'd rather take care with my dogs until teh growth plates are closed before desexing them. I've always opted to neuter my dogs because I'm not up to the task of keeping an unaltered dog in a busy city like the one I live in.

Your dogs are obviously past that point, so it's up to you. Wolfsoul has put up a lot of good information, and it sounds like you have things well thought out. Your pups are lucky to have an owner who goes over all of the information before making a desion about their welfare.