I have a tentative appointment to spay the chiweenie in Florida on Friday am. We are wintering in a condo in West Palm Beach.
Back in the day I would not have thought twice about it; she is 6 mos old, just a pet, we don’t want more chiweenies, we travel a bunch, there are many other dogs here, etc.etc. If she was a male dog, I wouldn’t think twice either, because for me, Betty at 72, a low drive dog, a neutered male just works best.
But, this is a female. Im not into fat dogs…right now she is sort of whippet like. Her coat is already dreadful, she sheds like mad, and spaying won’t help.
So, I’m thinking of trying out one heat, to see how bad it is…and spaying her at around a year of age..but the old vet in me says, “do it now, it will be easier on her”.
What do you folks think about spaying, for your personal dogs? I know all the medical arguments pro and con.
I don’t want to “fix her mind” permanently in 6 month old chihuahua mode. I’d like her to mature mentally.
I have been “spayed” myself:it did not improve my cognition! Or my level of “bitchiness”!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

I have a tentative appointment to spay the chiweenie in Florida on Friday am. We are wintering in a condo in West Palm Beach.
Back in the day I would not have thought twice about it; she is 6 mos old, just a pet, we don’t want more chiweenies, we travel a bunch, there are many other dogs here, etc.etc. If she was a male dog, I wouldn’t think twice either, because for me, Betty at 72, a low drive dog, a neutered male just works best.
But, this is a female. Im not into fat dogs…right now she is sort of whippet like. Her coat is already dreadful, she sheds like mad, and spaying won’t help.
So, I’m thinking of trying out one heat, to see how bad it is…and spaying her at around a year of age..but the old vet in me says, “do it now, it will be easier on her”.
What do you folks think about spaying, for your personal dogs? I know all the medical arguments pro and con.
I don’t want to “fix her mind” permanently in 6 month old chihuahua mode. I’d like her to mature mentally.
I have been “spayed” myself:it did not improve my cognition! Or my level of “bitchiness”!

You know the medical arguments (spaying before first heat virtually eliminates risk of mammary tumors; the incidence of spay incontinence increases with size; in larger dogs, there are several reasons for waiting until twelve months, or even more, etc., etc.) ... really, I can personally comment only on the weight issue in spayed females.

My females have all been rescues, which means they've all been spayed, whether early or late, and I've never had an overweight dog. (And several of my latter pets have been Pugs, who are infamous for excess weight.)

Other than this factoid, I've never had an intact female so can't compare mental development, etc.

We will probably go ahead and just do it.
Some day, it will have to be done. Some day I’ll be really old and unable to protect her.

As you know, she may not even come into season until she is a year. Both Drift and Toni did not have their first one til 13 months.

Back in the day, my dogs were shelter dogs, spayed before any seasons. They were wonderful pets. They were not fat- decent diet and adequate exercise kept them lean. They learned tasks just as well as my purebred intact females. They mentally matured just as the intact ones. One, Brandi, was and old soul from the day she was born, and spaying at 6 months did not change her. She became my first therapy dog and worked the children’s cancer ward.

It’s up to you, but in my experience, I didn’t find that spaying drastically changed their personality or cognition.

Well, the deed is done.
A soft little dog, she never saw THAT coming, had never been to the “vet”, had experienced nothing negative beyond my attempts to train her not to pull on the lead.
My husband loves this dog.

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

Well, the deed is done.
A soft little dog, she never saw THAT coming, had never been to the “vet”, had experienced nothing negative beyond my attempts to train her not to pull on the lead.
My husband loves this dog.

Awww ...

I'm remembering my Luna, a dog I adopted in 1999 whose only vet experience had been the rescue's spay surgery. She was similarly (and understandably) anti-vet after that.

Luckily, our vet was very close by, so we were able to do neutral and positive visits (weighing on the big floor-scale in the waiting room, followed by a treat, and some stop-ins just to buy a package of Zuke's Minis and bust them out right outside).

She never loved going there, but she did get so I didn't have to pick her up to get her inside.

That's great that your husband loves her!

I've also been using the scale at the Vets to help Quincy get used to other dogs. He loves everyone at the vets......and the world but he still needs the exposure to other dogs with no contact. It's Quincy's biggest issue to learn family dogs are the only playmates he needs. I expect the unknown dogs, etc to be neutral in his play book.

 Quote: Bob Scott

I've also been using the scale at the Vets to help Quincy get used to other dogs. He loves everyone at the vets......and the world but he still needs the exposure to other dogs with no contact. It's Quincy's biggest issue to learn family dogs are the only playmates he needs. I expect the unknown dogs, etc to be neutral in his play book.

I too want unknown dogs to be a neutral experience to my dogs ... for me, it's because I have no way to know how the unknown dogs will react.

And it's also important to me that my dogs aren't terrified of the vet's office.

Anya was spayed at 6 months by the rescue. She didn't show any negative health signs until after she was treated with prednisone when she had pneumonia. The pred triggered a hormonal imbalance which is more likely in spayed females. She lost her muscle mass, her coat, energy level and gained fat on her shpulders and torso. But we found a natural remedy and she doesn't need to take any steroids. We give her Dr. Mercola's female glandular support and also the canine hormonal support together. So my point here is if you want to keep her adrenals as healthy as possible post spay, I highly reccomend both these supplements for any spayed or neutered dog. Removal of the gonads puts more stress on the adrenals because they have to make these hormones to keep the body in balance. I also find it imperative to feed a raw species appropriate diet but at the very least make sure the main fat source in the food is animal based. Cholesterol found only in animal fats helps the body make hormones.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Bob Scott

I've also been using the scale at the Vets to help Quincy get used to other dogs. He loves everyone at the vets......and the world but he still needs the exposure to other dogs with no contact. It's Quincy's biggest issue to learn family dogs are the only playmates he needs. I expect the unknown dogs, etc to be neutral in his play book.

I too want unknown dogs to be a neutral experience to my dogs ... for me, it's because I have no way to know how the unknown dogs will react.

And it's also important to me that my dogs aren't terrified of the vet's office.

So true Connie. No matter how well our dogs are trained for us we have absolutely no control of others and their dog.
As to the spay/neuter issue thee are a lot of sights on the web that give the pros and cons. It's a personal issue that can be discussed with your vet if you trust their judgement. Spay / neuter is a big money maker eor a lot of clinics.