Daughter has two dogs, a female jackawawa (Jack Russell/Chiuawawa cross) and a male American Bulldog. They get along great....but there's a "but". The little un' will be due to come in heat (purely based on her age and will be her first one), and really need to sort something before then. I don't think sellotape round her waist will cut much ice here...he would split the poor bugger in half. So, question....get the lads nuts off, or get her spayed....or both? Any advice most welcome, especially from Dolly, the Jackawawa. Here they are....
Unless you’re going to breed from her, I’d get Dolly spayed. Saves all the potential hassle of other dogs showing an interest when she’s out for a walk.
Which ever is the cheapest or if you are thinking of breeding from them, probably the little one as it’s a mongrel and you haven’t a clue what pups she’ll have
Unless you are planning to breed from her then get her spayed! When my wife lived at home they had a dog that when she moved out became ours and we took her with us. I took her to the vet when she was about 4 and was asked why she hadn't been spayed if we weren't breeding. It was explained to me that the chance of mammary cancer is significantly decreased if you get them spayed before 1st or 2nd season. They asked if I wanted to book her in now and when I asked well what difference does it make to the chances now was told pretty much nothing now. So she didn't get the op. We had her put down because of mammary cancer about 4 years ago, she probably would still be with us now. And it absolutely devastated us! Got another dog about a year ago (I told myself no more after the above but my kids wore the wife down) and the first thing we did was ring the vet and organise getting her spayed when old enough. All that's a long winded way of saying the health benefits and convenience due to lack of spotting around the house, other dogs bothering her. If you don't want to breed mean that getting her spayed should be the choice out of the two.
Get both done. Will fix your problem now but in the long term it cuts the risk of cancers in both dogs as they get older. Only keep them in one piece if you’d planning on breeding from them
Just put the little 'un upstairs ... ... a dog that big will never get up a flight of stairs with a hard on
Not an expert but was told that if not breeding best to get both done but dogs shouldn't be done till mature i.e. 2 yr old and bitches should have their first season. Best to talk to the vet, I see, from other posts you live in Consett, I don't know which vet you use but we go to Prince Bishops at Leadgate and find them to be brilliant and if I'm right about letting her have a first season they should be able to help gat them through that first season. Good Luck.
Get them both done. Reduces the risk of the male running off when he gets a whiff of a female in heat and calms them down, making them more home orientated. Getting the female done will stop your house becoming a magnet for all the running loose dogs in your neighbourhood. It also makes taking them for walks a lot easier.
Some good advice, thanks lads. They're my daughters dogs, so I've told her to ring the vets...westway vets in Consett, and get a price to have the little un spayed, and said I will cover the cost. She's worth it....Daddy's Little Princess..... I liked Smugs advice, but unfortunately she lives in a ground floor flat.....so no stairs.
Our lad still gets horny without his balls. Got tied to our Westie loads after he’d been done. So get her done would be the only possible way to go from my experience
Funny you say that about first season, I thought the same. I agreed to watch a mates dog years ago while he went in holiday and it just happened to fall on its first season and he was getting it done after, as he had been told to wait. But our vet reckoned it was lowest risk of cancer if you got it done before first season. I've got a feeling having first season is a belief that your dog won't mature properly without it? 100% though should het her spayed before or after 1st season if not breeding. As I said before coming from experience of losing my dog, sorry my best mate to mammary cancer which would have just about been prevented if she was spayed. She also had a op to remove a tumour early on and they couldn't get it all out and told us it will be back and the only option to fight it then itls another op and chemo. I couldn't put her through that so she lived for a while with the tumours until they got huge. And we took the decision to get her put down before it really started to obviously give her pain etc... I loved her so much I believed I was making that decision for her and not me as I would have deep down liked to keep clinging on to her but didn't want her to suffer. And you know what it's one of the hardest decisions we've ever made as we still wonder to this day, 4 years on, was it too soon?
You saved her a lot of suffering, mate. But the feeling of guilt will persist until the time comes, and it will, when your doubts will finally disappear. My poor dog didn’t have that escape and I will always have that guilt.
Thanks Sandy. I didn't want her to suffer mate, I'm quite sure we did the right thing but every now and again I wonder was it too soon?
Get her spayed ASAP otherwise you’ll have it every season. We made the mistake of not getting one of ours done and other than one of our other dogs trying to shag her at every given opportunity, dog nappies are a pain in the arse
What reason is there to not get both of them done?? Saves a lot of hassle and is a health benefit for the dogs.
We had our youngest dog spayed at 9 months I think. Definitely before first season. I always thought it best to let them have first season too, but someone told me otherwise (cant remember who) and our vet did it no bother. Was certainly more convenient if nowt else. She is 5 now and cant say I have noticed any behavioural changes in her compared to any of my other dogs. She is sat at my feet now, looking at me as if to say are we having a wander down the river or not. Suppose we will. Drifting a bit now but are looking at getting a new pup. Asked my wife about spaying and she agrees, we would do same again if we get another bitch, which is likely.
