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Posted by Sara2 on 12/28/2007, 7:31 am, in reply to "spaying"
76.20.250.235
Hi Betsy,
I urge you to listen to your breeder.
Unlike with males, there is a very real risk that spaying too early could lead to a condition that you spend the rest of her life battling: incontinence. It is much more common in dogs who were spayed at a young age and can be a very frustrating condition to deal with when you're trying to keep your baby in the house. As your girl ages (and even before her first heat), her urinary tract will continue to mature. Selma (my almost-2 year old) developed a series of very bad bladder infections at 8-9 months. One of the things we did to make sure that this didn't become a life-long issue (it can be) is to wait to spay her. Selma was 16 months when she was spayed and never had a heat. Ask your breeder when your girl's mother went into heat. Selma's mom was 22 months old when she had her first heat, so we knew we had some time to plan. Had I not had an intact male in the house, I would have let her have a heat cycle. Having a heat cycle is protective against osteosarcoma (bone cancer), which can be a death sentence in dogs.
Waiting to spay is also better for her long-term joint health (in our breed this is much more likely to be an issue than mammary tumors are). Allowing her bones to grow with her hormones still in her body will help her joints develop as they were meant to and decrease the likelihood that she will develop early onset arthritis.
While your breeder is giving you aesthetic reasons to wait until her is a year old, there are some very good health reasons that I am sure she is also aware of. You should talk to her about when you might expect to have a heat cycle and what kind of precautions you HAVE to take if you're caught unawares. If you feel you won't be able to handle a heat cycle for whatever reason (esp if you have an intact male in the house), then please find out when you might expect a heat, and spay prior to that.
As for what your vet and trainer have recommended: vets and trainers tend to recommend six months across the board for all dogs, but when you think about it, it doesn't make much sense. Look at how mature a chihuahua is at 6 months versus a great dane. The 6 month mark is recommended because almost no dogs will go into heat before 6 months, so it keeps people who aren't ready to handle a heat cycle responsibly from ever having the opportunity. You'll need to do some soul-searching and figure out how ready you are to handle a heat. If you can't have a heat, that's okay -- I couldn't! -- but find out from your breeder when you can reasonably expect a heat. That may help assuage some anxiety.
As for your girl getting "nasty", I'm not sure if that was meant as a warning against her cleanliness (blood), her libido (sexual interest), or her general demeanor. I can tell you that most of the in-season girls I've been around have not been very bloody (not even close to a woman's monthly cycle) and tend to keep themselves clean. Girls do become interested in mating during their cycles (that's what it's for, after all), but it isn't a behaviour that carries over after their cycle is over and actually only lasts a few days in the middle of the cycle when they are fertile. And having a heat cycle certainly doesn't make a girl have a permanently bad attitude. Some are grumpy during their cycles (basically doggy PMS) but mostly they tend to be kind of lazy. After they've had a cycle, they are generally more laid back and mature. It signals an end to puppyhood (though that varies from dog to dog).
Please speak to your breeder again. Ask some questions. And you can, of course, ask us here. Please don't spay that early. I encourage you to do some thinking about this. I do NOT encourage you to go through a heat cycle if you're not prepared to do what it takes to keep your girl from getting pregnant (constant supervision when outside the walls of your home). You don't want to subject her young body to a pregnancy - especially an unwanted one - on her first heat, and there is likely a very good reason that your breeder sold her to you as a pet to be spayed.
Thanks for asking the question. I hope you'll be reassured and feel comfortable waiting until she's closer to a year old (or older!).
Sara
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