Male neutering
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When I was growing up, most male dogs I encountered were left intact, including our family Sheltie. Bitches kept as pets were mostly spayed, but not always. There were no leash laws, but a law stating that dogs off their own property should be "under the control" of the owner/handler, and a lot of people (including us) walked their dogs off leash on a regular basis. We would encounter loose dogs several times on a walk, and generally these dogs were not quarrelsome, although males were intact. My Basenji bitches were all spayed, but the two I raised from pups had seasons before spaying, my show bitch had several, without incident. Although there were intact and running loose males in the area, we had zero problems with them hanging around. I realize this isn't always the case, but with a little care there is no reason for unwanted puppies.
My "other" breed was Border Collie. In season bitches can run at trials, and a male trial dog is said to be insufficiently serious about his work if he is distracted! Some trials request an in season bitch to run last, but not all.
Just to say it doesn't have to be a big deal if the owner is responsible, and for that matter breeders who insist their pups be neutered really have no good way to enforce this unless they do the deed before the pup is placed. Of course, if they want the pup shown it can't be neutered until the end of the show career anyhow.....
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@zande - Yes different for different parts of the world and there is a huge problem with people breeding "whatever" just to have puppies.... to see (puppy mills/BYB) and never doing any health testing. And yes Sally..... puppy mills/BYB selling to whoever has the dollars. They ship puppies all over the US, never met the new owners, do NO background checking, tell the people exactly what they want to hear.
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I have a male and female and experienced heat season for the first time and it lasted 6 weeks! My boy is the sweetest, gentleman. She became very attached to me. On the last two weeks or so, he became insane and all he could think about was getting to her. She hated him and did not want him near her. We did a great job at keeping eye on them at all times, sleeping in separate rooms, hanging out in separate rooms, and doggy diapers helped, separate walks...After going through it; I am now debating which one to spay or neuter. I really don’t want to put them through it. Other than when she is in heat, we love their personalities just the way they are and they are developing so well.
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I believe keeping a close eye and noticing their hormonal changes is really the key to preventing unwanted litters. Especially for females. Males do show signs too and you just have to be vigilant during that time.
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@eliefig Not always easy to tell when a bitch is coming into heat. My Teddy can sense a female coming into heat before her handler sees any signs. As an example, one day in class he began to get agitated, air sniffing, and totally distracted. I asked my classmates if any of their females were in heat. Oh no they all said. The next day one friend said her dog just started to show signs that day. Males can tell sooner than we!
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@wizard My boys always knew, up to two full weeks before, that at least one of the girls was coming in. But keeping written records is never a bad idea. Observe signs, write notes and watch the calendar.
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Although it was the 1st for my girl, I knew a couple of weeks before, slight changes in her attitude. I am able to communicate well with her. I am sure the 2nd time is going to be different. My boy had no experience so it took him longer. It’s so difficult to make a decision. I am so torn about it. Wondering if next time is going to be harder.
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@zande, how do you handle having males and females at that time. It was hard watching my boy acting completely different, he didn’t even want to eat and boy he loves to eat.
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@zande said in Male neutering:
I'd better bow out of this thread, Elbrant
No need to do that. I respect your opinion and experience as a breeder. I was merely trying to offer some contrast between a breeder owner and a pet owner. Pet owners can be extremly knowledgable and still not know anything about breeding. That doesn't make them bad Basenji parents. No ill will. I'm old enough to know that we can be different and still value each others input.
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@eliefig I am lucky. I have a large garden. We built a kind of kennel, a large shed with bed boxes, overhead heating and a dog door, in the orchard and fenced it securely, giving a large run among the apple trees.
First sign of season, teeth chattering, girls changing character (more clingy) and the boys were sent to their des. res. in the orchard. From there they were taken out of the back gate and up the main road for walks. The girls were taken out of the front gate (this is a 'L' shaped property with frontage on two roads) and down the lane. They all stayed on leads for the duration.
But even with 5 nubile ladies, the season season never lasted more than a month cos all the girls just looked at each other and asked 'is it that time ?' and came in.
I put a nursery alarm in the boys' quarters so I could share the village's pain at two in the morning when the timber-wolfing started. :frowning_face:
Once it was over, everyone came back to live in the typical farm-house kitchen and free hunting in the woods resumed.
As the pack size decreased, I never left just a single boy up in the orchard, he had a nice heavy duty crate in my office, doors were kept shut and the boy left the house by the front door and was walked down the lane. A switch from when we had three boys.
I always say in a future incarnation I want to be a Basenji owned by me !
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@Zande, that’s awesome!
