Spay Gracie?

[bethh]

I'm trying to decide whether to spay Gracie anytime soon or to wait and consider breeding her when she is older. What are your thoughts and why? I'm not new to dogs having puppies. I grew up with our dogs having puppies plus I work at a vet.

 

[Baymule]

That is a deeply personal choice for you and your dog. It sounds like you have the know how and experience with raising puppies. You might want to give her a chance to "grow up" and let her body mature before spaying her. Since you work at a vet, finding working homes for the pups wouldn't be a problem. That is something that you would have to think about, it's your decision.

 

[Ember Kinsch]

I 100% agree Bay.

 

[bethh]

At what age, would you recommend spaying? With our small dogs, we usually do it by 6 months. She will be a year in January.

 

[Baymule]

Big dogs take about 2 years to grow to size. They need those hormones for bone, joint and muscle growth. Our female GP is spayed, but she was 8 years old. Just got tired of fooling with it. Our male, Trip is about to lose his, he is 4. He is jumping the fence and going wandering about and I won’t put up with that. I’ll probably have to hot wire the outer fence as well.

 

[bethh]

I’d assume we would wait to beeed her until 2+? With our other dogs, we would wait for their 2nd heat cycle. So many decisions...

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, if you are going to breed her, I'd wait until she attains full growth. The calories she needs for growing her body would be diverted to growing puppies. I think you are on the right track. You are carefully weighing up options and are not in a hurry to implement anything.