Hi Daureen:
We have a year and a half old boy, and I know how difficult it was for us when it came to the decision of neutering him. We ended up doing it at 10 months, as we did not want to breed or show. Our vet advised that there was no hurry, that we would know when it was time. I think everyone has different circumstances that go into the decision. With our Keegan he was such a social dog from the get go and absolutely loves to play and run with all kinds of breeds. Out of the blue he started growling and acting out with some dogs, which was not normal for him. He is a pretty tough little guy, but we started worrying he may get hurt because of his behavior and felt neutering him would help this and it did. We also live on land and he is off leash (I am hearing gasps as this is read). Yes we have a Basenji that loves to run free, and we did some careful and consistent eCollar training so he knows his boundaries. During this time of deciding whether to neuter he started running off and we had to chain him, so this also went into the decision and has helped this behavior. Anyway, just a little background on what went into our decision, and I know everyone's circumstances are different. Our vet offered us a Dog Onesie and it was so much better than the cone. It worked very well, but I did have to cut a tail hole and make a couple hand stitches in the back leg holes to make them a little smaller. When it was time to go out and potty, just unsnap, roll up and there was a little snap there to hold it out of the way. Praying the surgery goes well for your sweet pup.
Thank you, Dee. I appreciate your positive comments. I like the onesie idea. I have a phone call into my vet and will bring this up. Due to covid, communication has been difficult. As you know, there are many reasons to make this decision, and I am not freely discussing all with everyone. It is my decision, and I do appreciate everyone's input. My puppy is very dear to me, and I want to make sure I am making the right choice. I feel I need to do it before he is sexually mature, and that is that! Prince cannot be off leash because of where we live, and the parks have very strict leash laws, so roaming, hopefully,will not be an issue, unless he gets free by mistake. He does love to run in our back yard and I do get a lot of joy calling out to him "run, Puppy, run" as he makes giant figure "8s" in the back yard as fast as he can go, almost hitting the ground with his belly. I wish you many moments of joy with your Little Guy,.
There are also blow up ones on amazon and Groupon they work great They look like the neck rest pillows you wear on a plane but for dogs. We got a medium for our 20 lb basenji Enzo
Thanks, I just ordered one.
