OT Winter fun with dogs
Kathleen wrote:
> Omelet wrote:
>> In article > ,
>> Dave Smith > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Omelet wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Last time I had a dog come into heat prior to spaying, a
>>>> neighborhood stray dug into the yard, bred Misty, peed all over
>>>> her and the front porch! It was a royal mess.
>>>
>>> Our Bouvier came into heat shortly after we moved to this house. I
>>> had built a kennel for her and she spent most of the day in the
>>> kennel while she was in heat. We discovered that there were a lot
>>> of male dogs roaming around, and they spent a lot of their time
>>> hanging around our house. I didn't know whose dogs they were, but
>>> knowing what a male dogs can be like around a bitch in heat I used
>>> to take a shotgun with me when I took her back and forth to the
>>> kennel. Luckily I never had to use it and she was spayed shortly
>>> after that first heat. Friends on mine had a runted female Great Dane.
>>> She was normally a
>>> very well behaved dog, but she was a slut. Every time she was in
>>> heat she managed to sneak out of the house and have a tryst that
>>> ended up with a litter of big puppies. They didn't want to have her
>>> spayed but ended up doing it.
>>
>>
>> IMHO unless you are an actual breeder, it's irresponsible not to
>> spay/neuter. The cost of the surgery will more than be made up for
>> if you have to raise a litter.
>
> We left Scully intact until she was 2 1/2, pending OFA and eye exam
> results. She passed both with flying colors. She was beautiful,
> gorgeous, healthy, excellent temperament and could do everything a BC
> was supposed to be able to do. The breeder who'd produced her
> promised a stud that was a match for her in every way, had a waiting
> list of buyers for prospective puppies.
>
> And I couldn't. Not with healthy border collie adults and puppies
> waiting for homes. Not knowing that if the goal was more dogs just
> like her, that her sire and dam were still intact and of breeding
> age. Not knowing that if I bred her that I was exposing her to the
> risks of pregnancy and delivery; that I might be burning her candle
> at both ends.
> And so we had her spayed. I love the idea of being able to have a
> daughter of hers to raise and train. But it wouldn't be Scully. There
> will never be another like her.
>
> But when I look at the sea of orca colored dogs at any given
> tournament I see all of the border collies I've known and loved,
> there in the spectrum of the breed. Duffy's ears, Connor's build,
> Rocky's eyes, Molly's way of moving, Bonnie's markings and coat,
> Tessy's shy gaze.
> A friend from another team comes to our crating area at every
> tournament to pet Zane, because when he lays his ears back he looks
> just like her boy Cruiser who passed three years ago, and she holds
> my hand and looks at the thin white scar across the back of it. I
> got it playing ball with Cruiser at Springfield in April of 2002. He
> didn't bite me, I basically stuck my hand in his mouth and scratched
> myself on his fang. Cruiser left a mark on my hand. The others left
> marks on my soul.
> That's the advantage of owning and loving a pure bred dog. Like any
> other dog, pure bred or mutt, each one is unique. But with a pure
> bred dog, a border collie, you can look out across the breed and see
> all of the traits that made your dog what he or she was, carried
> forward in various combinations. And that's somehow comforting.
Lovely post Kathleen.
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