<<Hi there everyone...I was just thinking it would be interesting to do this since it's been a subject we've been talking about a lot lately. I was wondering how many of you have neutered/spayed/unneutered/unspayed females and males, and what you're reasoning for doing it or not doing it is--i.e. breeding purposes or personal preference, or whatever--and how many BMDs you do have. And, then, if the owners with unneutered BMDs will fix them in the future.>>
I have three dogs and have had a couple others in the past. I like all of my dogs neutered/spayed as I never intend to breed anything. The only reason that I've left any intact past puppyhood was to show. Bandit, BMD, who lived to 7 1/2 was neutered at 4 1/2 after I convinced his breeder that he was really too small to finish without going to the expense of a professional handler and wasting a lot of money in entries. I'm not into showing in conformation and only agreed to show him at all for the breeder's sake. I had an IG while my children were small. She was given to me with the agreement that I would whelp one litter, which I did and then had her spayed. Currently I have my son's Gordon Setter, an Australian Shepherd and a Berner. The Gordon was spayed by the time she was 6 months old. I was going to wait a bit on the Aussie to see how he turned out, conformation-wise in case my niece wanted to handle him to a CH. (She's trying to become a handler.) but had him neutered by the time he was 7 months old, soon after he started jumping the 5 1/2 foot fence to visit the neighbor's bitch in heat. I figured that if he was that horny at six months old, heaven help us! By the way, he still marks but not all of the time. Just most of the time. Even though he is not dominant with other dogs. Just wants to play with everyone. My Berner is just 18 months old and has a few points toward his CH. His breeder would like to finish him, if possible. I'm training him in agility and she would really like to have produced a versatility dog. I'm not really sure what all he needs to do but, if he lives long enough and she puts the CH in front of his name, I'll have no trouble putting whatever letters he needs after his name. But even then, my plan is to call for his neutering appointment the day his CH certificate arrives. This will make all of the rest so much easier. I mentioned Bandit, neutered at 4 1/2. This helped him stop marking in the house. (He would mark on my sons' beds if I had to discipline them.) He also became more easy-going even though he was always a very laid-back dog. It seemed as though he didn't have to worry anymore. He could just be a puppy again. He even went back to squatting most of the time. Claudia Brydon in NW PA Barney OA NAJ (Aussie) Boomer (Bernese Mountain Dog) Mo (Gordon Setter Granddog
