and I know it's the right thing to do, but I feel awful for him. But it's time, he will be 2 in June and he's constantly sniffing and marking when we walk. Literally every 10 feet or so. And he sniffs and licks what I assume is other dogs urine when we are walking, which means I gotta watch his every move when he smells something. He also can't keep his nose out of women's crotches, rear ends or armpits. And if they have a skirt on he goes right up it!! So, I am hoping some of this will change in time after the surgery. I know it's no big deal but I hate that he has to go through it.

I am also having his hips x rayed while he's under anesthesia. I am a little worried about dysplasia (sp). His right leg looks a little funny when he trots. The initial evaluation Friday was good and didn't seem to be any problems, but an x ray will show more. I hope his hips are ok. Ugh. Well, if you read all that, thanks! Sorry so long, just worried about my pal today.

Jon

Don't worry. It's really a pretty simple operation.

But I want to say that the whole nose-in-crotch thing is 100% a training issue, and shouldn't be decided on via hormone changes. No "hoping some of this will change" .... because you will not allow it. (That should be a reassuring thing, you know: It's not up to powers outside your own control at all.)

Let us know how it goes! If you can, get a soft or donut collar rather than a cone .... JMO, because I find them both far less traumatic for the dog.

I put oversized tee shirts on the boys post snip, the collars were a bit uncomfortable for them, worked on the girls too.

He will be fine, I think chaps tend to be a bit more cross legged about it than women, bit too close to home I guess

I was very worried about getting Vigo neutered...I put it off for a long time until finally deciding to do it at the end of December.

The surgery was a cinch...no problems at all and I picked him up the same day. They let me take him home when he was a little groggy, because he is a nervous dog and not completely comfortable at the vet.

We did have one incident where he licked his incision...he hadn't bothered it at all, but my Grandpa's house was robbed and Vigo got to his incision in the commotion. I ran him back up to the vet the next day and they reglued it and gave us some antibiotics.

Vigo absolutely would not wear the cone! He got a pretty pair of teal doggy diapers instead lol.

I did sleep in the living room with him for the first few nights...sharing the couch with an 80+lb dog is not fun.

Here is a pic of him in his teal "panties" as my husband called them.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a304/GermanShepLuv/Mobile%20Uploads/mms_picture-85.jpg

P.S. Veterycin spray worked wonders on keeping the incision clean and healing quickly.

LOL....awwww Viggo

Well, his neutering went fine. He's doing very well, however, he does have some dysplasia in his back left hip. I am going to search the site and do some research on this, but has anyone here dealt with this before? I am hoping it won't become too severe. He's not even 2 yet, and I would like him to have as many happy and pain free years as we can get. Thanks!

Jon

The two best things you can do are to keep his weight trim (he should be very lean--any extra weight puts strain on his hips) and supplement daily with glucosamine. There are jillions of glucosamine summplements on the market, many include other beneficial ingredients (vit. C, chondroitin, MSM, etc.) Find a good one and start giving it daily for life.

 Quote: Jonathan Frost

And if they have a skirt on he goes right up it!!

I just wanted to echo Connie on this one, totally a training issue.

Speaking of Echo, my youngest, he was neutered at around 10 months. It was heading into winter and just a good time for him - chipping, x-ray and blood work to boot.

His surgery went well, slept when he got home, we limited his exercise for a few days and you would never have known he had anything done.

The following summer, when we had a few younger females around, we had a couple of mini skirt incidents. It was beach weather and he was super cute about it but he got some shocked screams and some dancing around, not to mention a ton of laughter.

It was so unexpected the first time, it was really hard to do anything about it. Thinking it was just an isolated incident, we really weren't prepared the second time either.

So naturally, he now has a rep and we're extremely prepared. He's really good with an "Uh, uh", but we watch him like a hawk. And it's just mini skirts - dresses, pants, shorts, bikinis are all fine, don't get so much as blink let alone a sniff. Something about those mini skirts though that just intrigues the heck out of him.

The first incident was a good 8 months after he'd been neutered. Has absolutely nothing to do with them being intact or not.

And I'm sorry to hear about the dysplasia. Haven't had a lot of experience with it, a bit in older dogs only. Keep his weight down. I'm sure you'll get lots of advice, it's not uncommon.

Thanks everyone. I have a neighbor at work who has an Aussie with hip dysplasia and hers is 11 years old and does fine with supplements. I don't know why but I thought he was going to have a short, miserable life. I guess time will tell.

Jon