I’m sitting here after my boyfriend has taken Tierce and his crate to the vet’s so that Tierce can be neutered. I’m kind of struggling with myself even now, after research on the Internet, discussions with his breeder and his “grand-breeder“.
Susan advised me to get the neutering done, to possibly ease off on the dominance aggression around other dogs and to prevent prostate problems in the future. Susan has been breeding and showing dogs for longer than I’ve been alive and has been breeding Shibas for decades, and she ought to know about spaying, neutering and male Shibas.
I believe that Tierce should never be bred, but in light of the fact that he’s not allowed to run hither and yon, neutering isn’t going to make a big difference. However, it would be nice to have a dog that doesn’t immediately try to take out the biggest dog he can find and it would be great to know that he is less likely to have prostate problems as he grows older.
However, I’m still nervous about the whole thing. I wonder whether I’m doing the best thing for Tierce healthwise, since there’s a lot of stuff about spaying and neutering that we don’t know in the long run. I’ve had dogs spayed and neutered before and they’ve lived long and happy lives. Shassi was spayed at 6 and is still chugging along at 15 1/2. I think this is just a bad case of anthropomorphization, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a shriek inside me saying, “No! My baby!”
When Sukoshi got spayed, I didn’t need to use an E-collar on her and she didn’t pick at her stitches. I picked up an herbal preparation at Petsmart and kept her semi-tranqillized using these “happy pills”. May not be option for everyone, but it sure worked with her. Basically my approach was to let her sleep as much as possible and thereby promote healing. Initially, she just went outside to do her thing. I gradually increased the amount of time outisde and level of exercise during her recovery period. By the time her incision was checked, she was in pretty good shape.
She has moderate hip dysplasia and therefore was not a candidate for breeding (even though she has a temperament that is wonderful!). For this reason, getting her spayed was a “no brainer”.
With Nikko, he was neutered at almost 7 months. Did not have to use
the E-collar, he didn’t seem interested in the stitching. Ultimately i knew
he was not going to be bred and the peace of mind knowing at that least we can avoid prostate problems worked for me. His temperment did not chance one ounce.
Yoshi is just over 4 months so we still have a bit of time.
Head and chest scratchings to Tierce and hoping for a speedy recovery.