I had a partial spay done last year on a 5 yr old Chihuahua.

I talked to my vet about it ahead of time, copied the belfield article and took it to him before the surgery. He was happy to do it as I requested.

My female has come in heat once since the surgery. She was just as randy, and my male was just as excited about her (but he will hump a tomcat), as when she was entire, so I still kept them separated.

I didn't give her any chlorophyll when she was in heat, that might have made a difference with the male.

Thanks for the info Jasmine (and lovely pictures). If I decide to spay, I would want to go this route.

Maybe I'll start a new post asking if anyone knows about bone loss in females after spaying just for my information. If I decide to spay, I would go the route in the info you gave me. Leaving the ovaries should handle the lack of hormone problem.

Thanks again...Anna

Thanks Debbie, good to know.

I do not know about bone loss in dogs. I would suspect that it is possible. The body systems of dogs and people are not all that different. It is an interesting question.
Spayed dogs can loose "drive" or "intensity" or whatever you want to call it. For the average pet owner, this can make a better pet, an animal easier to live with, less of a problem, less likely to be surrendered to a shelter. More comfortable in a couch potato role, which is what many people want.

List members may be a different population segment, more dedicated to their dogs, more willing to adjust their own lives to work thru heat cycles.

As far as spaying and leaving the ovaries -- we pull up the ovaries by grabbing the uterus, a Y shaped tubular organ, the whole system runs from up near the kidneys to about an inch inside the vulva. The ovaries are isolated and ligated
first, it's the hardest part, because they have the most blood supply, and they are deep. It is easy to leave ovaries, no one would mind leaving ovaries because it is technically difficult, it would actually make the spay easier.
It is hard to find ovaries after the uterus has been removed. They are buried in fat, small in a dog not in heat, and deep in the body. The uterus is the landmark, a tubular ribbon that you hook and use to pull up the ovaries.
Many veterinarians have made this mistake, left part of an ovary (most common in deep chested dogs) and at some point in their practice life had to re-op because the client complains the animal still comes in heat. Been there, done that.

Thanks Betty,

It's nice to have the expertise of someone who has actually fiddled with the hardware.

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Good to know the details of spaying operation before making a decision.

Anna