Spaying and Neutering

Because I know many of you will be contemplating this in the near future, here is some information. I do have a lengthy article if you would like me to send it to you.

On the positive side, neutering male dogs
• eliminates the small risk (probably <1%) of dying from testicular cancer
• reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate disorders
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• may possibly reduce the risk of diabetes (data inconclusive)

On the negative side, neutering male dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a common cancer in medium/large and larger breeds with a poor prognosis.
• increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 1.6
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of progressive geriatric cognitive impairment
• triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems
• quadruples the small risk (<0.6%) of prostate cancer
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract cancers
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations
For female dogs, the situation is more complex. The number of health benefits associated with spaying may exceed the associated health problems in some (not all) cases. On balance, whether spaying improves the odds of overall good health or degrades them probably depends on the age of the female dog and the relative risk of various diseases in the different breeds.

On the positive side, spaying female dogs
• if done before 2.5 years of age, greatly reduces the risk of mammary tumors, the most common
malignant tumors in female dogs
• nearly eliminates the risk of pyometra, which otherwise would affect about 23% of intact female dogs; pyometra kills about 1% of intact female dogs
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• removes the very small risk ( 0.5%) from uterine, cervical, and ovarian tumors

On the negative side, spaying female dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a common cancer in larger breeds with a poor prognosis
• increases the risk of splenic hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 2.2 and cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 5; this is a common cancer and major cause of death in some breeds
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of obesity by a factor of 1.6-2, a common health problem in dogs with many
associated health problems
• causes urinary “spay incontinence” in 4-20% of female dogs
• increases the risk of persistent or recurring urinary tract infections by a factor of 3-4
• increases the risk of recessed vulva, vaginal dermatitis, and vaginitis, especially for female dogs
spayed before puberty
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract tumors
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations

One thing is clear – much of the spay/neuter information that is available to the public is unbalanced and contains claims that are exaggerated or unsupported by evidence.

Here is Jetta working on hand signals with one of her favorite people helping her.

Stormy:

Well, I have been using one of my herding sticks on Stormy, and he is bettter about watching out for me. He is very different than the other two. I still have him in the crate at night, as I don't trust him. He knows "crate, but it takes a few minutes before he finally gets into it.

He and Jazz had the best time playing together, and once in a while Cutter will join. I love watching them play.

Jetta is fabulous, we can hardly believe how wonderful she is. She is never crated anymore. Jets sleeps with one of the family, her choice. I also noticed that if she is hot she sleeps on the bathroom floor. She is very reliable with listening even in highly distracted situations. She loves kids, although when I first took her to school dismissal she did give me a look that said, "You sure about this?" It was funny, now she does not bat an eye lash. We took her to a 3K walk around Lake Harriet called The Monster Dash, she dressed up as a witch and did great. She talks to me a lot. I know when she sounds like Chewbacca she really wants something. She loves to run silently up to you and snatch whatever is in your hands and bolt off with it. I think she also enjoys keeping a leery eye on the neighbors.


Right now we are working on "bring it" which is fetch, she loves to run and bring the ball back, just not right to us. We are also teaching her to say, "I love you" She is a bit mouthy at times, nothing unusual for her age. My husband has issues with her jumping on him-I keep having to remind him to give her the signal for sit before he touches her. He is just over the moon in love with her.


She is always with us, loves water, she will get right in the shower with you if you let her. She also adores yogurt and Kifer.


We had an underground fence installed so she has run of the yard and is safely contained. Jetta takes her job seriously and has a stern "I mean business bark" We had family stay overnight and she read my uncle the riot act when he got up in the middle of the night for water before she realized who he was.


Jets weighs 53 pounds as of today.


Thanks for the wonderful pup, we love her so.

Hi Liz and thanks - it sounds like the litter is consistent overall.

Are you continuing to take her to class? I would really encourage you to do so since from now on until she's about 2 she'll be going through a lot of changes (like kids do) I'd love to see a little video of her with her tricks!

Blade is doing very nicely. He finished his first 6 weeks of obedience and did very well. The instructor is gone until January but I still work with him on my own. I think he is going to start up Rally when he gets back which sounds like a lot of fun. We are still doing agility and I'm amazed at how well he does at it; he is a natural. I have just started him at biking(slow and short sessions) but he will also be a natural at that. I also get together with a couple of other people and there dogs and we take them over to the dog park so all the dogs get alot of socialization with other people and dogs. I measured him the other day and he stands at around 24 inches and weighs about 55 pounds; he will be a big boy. I will get some current pictures of him and send them off sometime this month. The only problem I'm having with him is he wants to chase cars. Even as a baby he would try to go after them. I've always discouraged the behavior but with limited success. My agility instructor gave me a couple of suggestions that I will be trying. He is a great dog and I'm looking forward to many years with him.

Rally would be great for a young dog as is agility...I would think that Rally would help get him started toward obedience also.

I did google 'dogs chasing cars' and found this good link: http://aspcabehavior.org/articles/59/Dogs-Chasing-Cars-.aspx which you might find helpful. I don't tend to have the problem since we're so rural that 10 cars a day is a traffic event here and when the dogs aren't physically with me they are confined.

I'm doing some focus heeling with Gail so that when the time comes to compete she can pay attention to me better...it's fun but hard. I have a GREAT video from Mike Ellis on teaching the focus heel ~ it can be ordered through his website if you're interested. I tried to get some video of her this afternoon on the sheep but wasn't successful --- too much to video and train at the same time. She works very nicely ~ not too wild but still with drive and instinct.

Yes, I'd love to see pictures and I'm glad to hear that you're keeping him socialized ~ please keep in touch!

Thanks Sunny,

The info in the article is pretty much what my agility instructor told me. I guess the good thing is he has never had the opportunity to flat out chase a car as he is always on leash at this time except at the beach. Blade's recall is good but I know from experience with my other dog that once they reach that excited stage and start the run they aren't coming back no matter how much I call. I'll keep you posted on the progress of this.

--------------- continued.....

I just wanted to let you know that I tried the exercise that was in the website you sent and that it is working wonderfully. In fact, after 4 days of working with him you wouldn't really know he had a problem with car chasing.

I think it worked so fast with him because, one, he is a puppy and didn't have alot of time to develop the habit; two,

because he never really got the enjoyment of chasing a car; and three, he is a puppy that picks up really fast what I'm asking of him.

I've never been too interested in clicker training but I have to say it works quite well. When ever I decide to use the clicker to train something to Blade he picks it up much quicker then when I don't use it. It is a handy little device.

Thanks again for website.

That's good news - I'd continue to reinforce the training though. Regarding the clicker -- I don't actually use a 'clicker' but I do use marker words which is the same concept -- a 'Yes!' when the dog is correct, an 'un, uh' (or however that's spelled) when he's wrong. On another topic, I found a 4 week rally class to take Gail to which starts this Wednesday which will be more for socialization than anything else. I can't maintain any kind of a focus heel in a group class because they tend to have heeling for so long and she's just not mature enough but rally shouldn't degrade my training. I'll let you know how it goes.

Creed

OK - now we are going through teen age years, Has decided that he has a mind of his own. He loves to work and we continue with obedience and focus work. He and Spice love to play with each other to the point that we have to do timeouts for our sake!!!.

He and the cat are now playing with each other and the cat is doing his best to get Creed in trouble!!

We are giving thought to renting Creed & Spice out as ditch diggers!! We might be able to off set their food costs.

Let me know how that works out! Maybe we can form a company :)

Creed is growing like a weed. Last Monday his weight was 41.5 lbs. He had a great time at the Vet's office playing with new and old friends. He still gets himself in trouble with Spice when he thinks he is going to be first through the door or first when running up the hall etc. He wants to be in front of her and she is having none of it. Starting to show an independent streak and a little self thinker. But, such a little love when he is watching you and doing his puppy work.

I'll try to get a weight on Gail - she's now finished with Advanced Puppy class - I am doing focus and attention work at home and will take her to classes for continued socialization.

He is a joy and he and Spice get along so well. Thanks!!!