Wehner Homestead LGD

[Wehner Homestead]

Since y’all seem to like Queenie and I’m a little attached to her, I thought I’d start a thread to share our LGD stories and pics on. We do plan on adding at least one more LGD sometime this year.

Queenie LOVES her human kids. She now makes a daily trip in the house to clean up any messes that Faith, the house dog, hasn’t taken care of. She also had a path through the house to make sure she checks on each of the kiddos. To say she’s spoiled is an understatement!

We did hold off on spaying Queenie so now I have to decide if I want to breed her or not in the future.

I took the kids outside yesterday to enjoy the beautiful weather and these are some Queenie/kiddo moments.

 

[Southern by choice]

Breeding is a long ways off if she measures up and would even be a good candidate.
But at least she will have all she needs to grow properly. Removing the entire endocrine system on a 6 month old dog is incomprehensible to me.

 

[Latestarter]

Love it! Following

 

[CntryBoy777]

Great pics!!....I don't hear a clock ticking, so don't feel there is a rush. We don't have any plans of breeding Gabbie, but she won't be considered for spaying until she is at least 5-6yrs old. The extra monitoring is well worth it to us.....

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Here’s a snapshot my dad got of Queenie during one of our recent snow blasts!

 

[BoboFarm]

Early spaying and neutering has been linked to severe joint disorders because estrogen is used to help close growth plates. We don't even consider spaying or neutering until at least 5 years of age. Anja is 7 and is intact. Jake was neutered last year at 6 years old.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

SBC and I had a convo about spaying her. Apparently most vets take out the uterus AND the ovaries. I could see where this would cause extensive problems. I used to work for our vet and they leave the ovaries unless there is an indication to remove. I’m going to ask the next time that I’m there to see if this is still their procedure. (I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I’m more or less just curios.)

 

[BoboFarm]

Keeping the ovaries is much more ideal and it seems that vets are doing this more often. I worked as a vet tech years ago and I'd not heard of this kind of spay until recently. It seems most pet people don't like the inconvenience of a dog spotting all over their house and opt for a full spay (removal of all parts). When we sold our rottie pups it was in our contract to not spay or neuter until after 2 years of age. If the prospective new owners could not handle an intact dog for 2 years then they were rejected.

 

[Southern by choice]

Keeping the ovaries is much more ideal and it seems that vets are doing this more often. I worked as a vet tech years ago and I'd not heard of this kind of spay until recently. It seems most pet people don't like the inconvenience of a dog spotting all over their house and opt for a full spay (removal of all parts). When we sold our rottie pups it was in our contract to not spay or neuter until after 2 years of age. If the prospective new owners could not handle an intact dog for 2 years then they were rejected.

Our contracts do leave the option up to the buyer, however they are very educated on the subject. It is strongly recommended to leave the animals intact if possible.
We are not a fan of spay/neuter contracts. Best to wait til 5 years if possible.
Of course we also feel that if the bitch has heat issues etc then one has to weigh the risks. Some should be spayed out of a medical necessity.

Sadly very few take any time to explain heat and mating etc of dogs. We are in a culture that has no clue because for 30+ years it has been spay/neuter with no questions asked.
So sometimes you can educate all you want but the culture is so not use to this that after a few heats may think "this is too much!"
For LGD owners it can be a hard decision.
It hasn't reduced puppy numbers either. So why would vets/breeders not take time to educate people... they will scream for 30 minutes on how evil you are if you don't spay/neuter instead of education.

The unbelievable amount of health issues that occur specifically from desexing females is appalling and no one seems to care. SMH

Most countries do not de-sex like we do here.

Good breeders are realizing how bad this is. IMO it is a good way to see if the breeder is knowledgeable.

On the flip side... I still see far too many that have no clue deciding to just have a litter. The LGD world is rampant with this and it infuriates me.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I agree whole-heartedly.....I have favored female dogs throughout my keeping of dogs and I have never had a single one spayed....and in 30yrs of keeping them there have been only 2 litters over that period of time....both were accidents, but the pups were cared for and good homes were found for them all. Being a responsible pet owner goes much further than shots and feed. If I can deal with a monthly goat, I sure can deal with a couple of times a year with a dog.