Spaying Conundrum and Training

[BlazeLove123]

Hey there!

Blaze is already 5 months old and becoming a beautiful young dog. I still have a lot of issues with her reactivity, since none of the exercises seem to work, but that's probably because I'm asking for too much. The problem of living in an appartment is that you don't have a backyard to let off some of that excess energy or be an intermediate step in training, and the way from the house to the designated training/playing area is so full of distractions and opportunities to pull!

 

Anyway, my main topic in this thread is actually about spaying. I have always heard that spaying a puppy before her first heat cycle reduces the chance of her getting many cancers, however, when I asked my vet (who I haven't known for very long) she said that if I did decide to spay her before the first heat cycle, I run the risk of her having a "permanent puppy brain". And although I love my puppy to death, I am looking forward to the mature dog that I'm hopefully raising her to be. What has your experience been? What would you recommend?

 

P.S: For training, what are your highest value food rewards? I have tried chicken, cheese, turkey... but nothing seems to be better than lunging for a nearby dog. What has worked best for your dogs?

 

Thanks a lot for your help!

[Bordercentrics]

I am not so sure that there are any hard and fast rules about this. I have a 13 year old who will always be a puppy, and she was not spayed until she was a year old. She is the only eternal puppy we have ever had. Over the years, all of our other dogs have matured with age. Some were sterilized before maturity, and a few later.

 

I you want to trial or compete in sports, I had a friend who would not sterilize until the growth plates were closed, to insure that they would grow and mature completely. I don't know if this is common practice or not.

 

The minimizing of the risk for certain cancers is certainly a big consideration.

 

Good luck with your decision.

 

Kathy Robbins

[Gloria Atwater]

I honestly don't know that spaying will affect a dog's mental maturity one way or another. I had one bitch I spayed at 6 months old and she stayed puppy-ish all her life, while I spayed my current girl at 2 and now six months later she's still a silly puppy much of the time. Years ago I had two dogs whom I had the traditional pediatric spay done, and one stayed puppy-brained while the other was always an old soul. I think that is honestly more an issue of temperament.

However, nowadays I'm of the school of thought that holding off on spaying or neutering at least a year may help a dog mature better physically. If it's not a hardship to you, I'd say hold off a while. But you must do what's best for your own situation.

As for reactivity, there are a number of things that have been written on these boards, so you might just do a search for the topic. But it's my observation that reactivity trumps food treats if the dog is over threshold. By that I mean she is too close to the thing that sets her off, so she can't focus on your treats. It's already too late to redirect her when she's locked onto the trigger of her reactivity. Can you do things like pay attention to the distance at which she reacts, then work on training her to sit and look at you before you get that close? For example, if she starts to key onto other dogs at 100 feet away, you should stop her at 150 feet away to work with her. I'm sure others will have much more useful advice.

Bets of luck!

~ Gloria

[gcv-border]

What Gloria said.

 

Well, that is a first for me. Never heard of the belief that spaying before the first heat will result in puppy brain. Sheesh. Again, like Gloria, I believe mental maturity is more related to genetic temperment and training for impulse control than age of spaying.

 

I have heard (several times) that by neutering (male or female), you will reduce the desire to work. In my limited experience (2 males - neutered at 14 months and 34 months), neither showed a decrease in intensity. I would be interested in anecdotes from others.

 

And yes, I also agree with waiting to as close to 12-14 months if possible (without risking pregnancy) for spaying to allow growth plates to close - particularly if you will be involved in any type of strenuous activity with your dog.

[Luana]

if it was me, I would at least wait for the dog to mature physically first. When Spillo was a puppy I had quite a lot of pressure from the vet, to have him neutered quite early, I think it was 6 months. it did not feel right to me, so at that time I decided to wait till he was at least 2 years old and then make a decision. I finally decide to keep him intact, but I would not have done it before 1-2 years old.

 

reactivity and treats: as already suggested, if you are too close to the trigger (other dogs) the treats are not effective, it does not matter what you have to offer as the dog is just too overwhelmed and she cannot listen or pay attention to you.

for this type of training to work, you need to first establish at which distance your dog is not over the threshold. this distance can change depending on the environment in which you are training (quite park compared to a busy road).

a good indication would be the way in which your dog accept treats, if she has a soft mouth, you are OK, if she has a hard mouth but still accept treats, you are at the edge. if she does not even turn her head to the treat you are way too close.

[DutchBorderfan]

Never heard of that puppy brain theory before haha. I have personally seen a very noticeable character change in my dog after her first cycle. She became much more balanced in just a couple of weeks. I don't know if that would have happened if I'd had her spayed.

 

My vet, and breeder, both recommended that if I did go for spaying, the best thing to do is after the first cycle, and before the second.

 

From what I've heard from several vets: the likelihood of developing mammary gland tumors is significantly reduced when the dog is spayed, but there is no significant difference in likelihood when you spay after the second cycle. The risk of uterus infection is of course completely taken away after spaying.

[BlazeLove123]

Thank you very much for all your replies. I have decided to wait at least till after her first heat cycle to spay her, since I would like to do some agility with her.

With regards to the reactivity, thank you for all the suggestions. We have come quite far. Tonight for example, we were training outside (heeling and recall) and somebody had left their dog off leash. Blaze was completely focused on me the whole time. Didn't even see the other dog coming, when before she would have gone berzerk with a mere whiff of the dog at the end of the road. Of course the off-leash dog came right up to our noses, and at that point Blaze's concentration broke and she went crazy again, but progress is progress and I'm quite proud of her. If only people could just keep their dogs on leash when they should, it would have been a much more rewarding and productive training, but she still deserved the sweet potato mixed in with her dinner that night!

[Gloria Atwater]

Thank you very much for all your replies. I have decided to wait at least till after her first heat cycle to spay her, since I would like to do some agility with her.

With regards to the reactivity, thank you for all the suggestions. We have come quite far. Tonight for example, we were training outside (heeling and recall) and somebody had left their dog off leash. Blaze was completely focused on me the whole time. Didn't even see the other dog coming, when before she would have gone berzerk with a mere whiff of the dog at the end of the road. Of course the off-leash dog came right up to our noses, and at that point Blaze's concentration broke and she went crazy again, but progress is progress and I'm quite proud of her. If only people could just keep their dogs on leash when they should, it would have been a much more rewarding and productive training, but she still deserved the sweet potato mixed in with her dinner that night!

 

 

You might consider carrying a walking/hiking stick. You could use that to help ward off oncoming nitwit dogs and your dog might learn that it's there to shield her, and thus continue learning to be calm. You don't have to flail and threaten the other dog, but even just sweeping it gently above the ground between you and the other dog can be a barrier. Something to think about, anyhow.