Hi all,
After days of information overflow, the decision wasn't actually that hard at the end of the day, and as soon as I said it (to the vet), I knew it was right - my beau will remain intact, at least till he is 2 years old and hopefully even longer. Unless his temper changes in any way, but I have no reason to think it might.

Female bs are definitely not messy! I was so pleasantly surprised when my deceased girl came into heat of how little she bled, but also how clean she kept herself and her surroundings. But then she had a 1st phantom pregnancy (something I knew her mum suffered from frequently), and as well as that she had a fairly huge hernia, so eventually I had her spayed and at the same time she had her hernia repaired. She was 20 months old when she was spayed, so pretty mature I'd say.

Thank you for all your responses, it certainly got my brain churning!

@zande Thank you, Sally. Oh yes, they can be really cheeky and smooth in the way they try to stretch the boundaries
I am happy that it looks like I have found someone who will be happy to look after him even if he remains intact (many daycare businesses do not...and the one he was at up until says they will not take him again till he has been done - their loss!) - we will meet up with her in a week's time to see if all is doable

Take care,
Kjersti & Cosmo