Should I breed from my dog?

Hunchback

I love my Springer Sweep.




Anyone I meet who owns Springers tell me he is an absolute beauty. I am going to get him neutered. But I have been told I should let him do the business at least one time before I do it. Is there any truth in this?

TheSockMonster

No, get him neutered ASAP.

DBB

Hi OP,
Welcome to the forum!:)
I have split your post away from the old thread you had posted in, as it deserves a thread all of its own.
I have also resized your picture as it was vast!

Now, with mod hat off...
There is no basis in science to suggest any reason why a dog (or a bitch, for that matter) should have to have sex ever. It's quite the old wive's tale, perhaps stemming from the show world whereby a dog often needs to have the potential to prove itself as a stud or dam that produces excellent offspring, in order to achieve real success in the showing world.
There is some basis in science to consider delaying neutering some dogs until they have matured sexually and physically, to allow them to develop fully... but this is not linked in any way to whether the dog gets the leg over or not!

andreac

Why would you let him do the deed? Has he been health tested? Proven in the ring or out hunting?

hollytrees

My friend was also told the same about her King Charles cavalier. Lovely cute pups but out of the 3 pups one had heart problems and other one had knee problem. It has put her off for life. So my suggestion is to neuter

Knine

He is a lovely dog. If he is a well behaved dog I would leave him as he is. I would not be rushing off to neuter him but not breeding him either.

None of my many many entire males died of testicular cancer. They all died from old age.

Hunchback

Many thanks all.

He is just a pet, so not a working dog. But his parents were working dogs. I just asked because I want to do the best by him, if you know what i mean.

We have had him health checked and absolutely all clear - the vet says he does not have a cleft palette (?) which he said is a common feature for these dogs.


Glad to hear that essentially, it won't harm him not to have something he never had. He's 14 months now, so I better get the lead out. No pun intended.

andreac

Is he hip scored?

Whispered

Ah there are lots of old wives tales like that, but very few of them are based in fact. He doesn't need to do the deed. Although I can understand why you might want him to, we all love our dogs and they're all special and unique, but can you imagine how many more dogs needing homes there would be if we all bred our dogs because we love them

muddypaws

The other thing to consider is, that once a dog 'does the deed' once, he will know whats what, and, even after neutering, may well try and go after bitches in season, so allowing him to sire a litter can bring more problems for you.

DBB

He is indeed a lovely Springer OP, and Sweep is a lovely name for the breed!

Hunchback

andreac wrote: »

Is he hip scored?

No, he just had a general health check. I didn't ask for this test because he is my first dog and I didn't know such a thing existed. I'm learning on the job

andreac

Well you would need to do all these tests before even considering breeding as you need to ensure he is healthy and free from any issues that the breed can suffer from.

I would highly advise you not to breed unless you are going to carry out all these tests. If he's a pet then just keep him that way. No need to breed just because he can.

Hunchback

Thanks Andreac. I'd hate to be irresponsible, and all this advice helps me to avoid that pitfall.

Hunchback

[IMG][/img]

he had all his buddies around last night. best welcome home ever!

Hunchback

Okay, the above was gratuitous, I hold my hands up

Whispered

Looks like a MAD HOUSE.

I love it

Grab All Association

Thread title lol your lucky this isn't After Hours. Neutering is just wrong unless you have a bitch there's no point. Oh and they still fight over and hump bitches after the snip.

Hunchback

Chris___ wrote: »

Thread title lol your lucky this isn't After Hours. Neutering is just wrong unless you have a bitch there's no point. Oh and they still fight over and hump bitches after the snip.

Hmmm ,interesting. Knine's post at 6 was already playing on my mind. Knine also says not to, but then post #2 says neuter asap.

He is not badly behaved, quite obediant actually.

DBB

Whispered wrote: »

Looks like a MAD HOUSE.

I love it

The Westie looks DISGUSTED

Knine

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

Hmmm ,interesting. Knine's post at 6 was already playing on my mind. Knine also says not to, but then post #2 says neuter asap.

He is not badly behaved, quite obediant actually.

Read up on the pros & cons of neutering.

My entire dogs have much better coats, more muscle mass & are more agile then my neutered dogs

They also have more drive & not as lazy!

Contrary to what you often read they don't mark in the house or chase the ladies.

Neutering is great in certain circumstances but if your dog is not causing any hassle I would leave him be.

Hunchback

Knine wrote: »

Read up on the pros & cons of neutering.

My entire dogs have much better coats, more muscle mass & are more agile then my neutered dogs

They also have more drive & not as lazy!

Contrary to what you often read they don't mark in the house or chase the ladies.

Neutering is great in certain circumstances but if your dog is not causing any hassle I would leave him be.

Great to know. Sweep NEVER marks in the house, has a ridiculously good coat and is well behaved, and I am pretty delighted to hear from the majority that under such circumstances it's not necessary to neuter.

Needless to say I'll supplement this advice with further research!

DBB

Knine wrote: »

Neutering is great in certain circumstances but if your dog is not causing any hassle I would leave him be.

... on the assumption that you don't allow him out and about the neighbourhood to visit the local in-heat lady dogs
If he's securely contained all the time, and there are no behavioural problems associated with testosterone, there's no hurry OP.
But do a bit of reading up on both sides of the debate, just so that you're comfortable yourself with whatever decision you finally come to
There area good few threads about in in this forum if you do a search.

Frigga_92

^^^ I would second what DBB says. If you can be certain he'll never be free to roam and sow his oats and there are no problems with him then I would hold off.
My great dane wasn't neutered and I had no problems with him.
My male german shepherd isn't neutered, he's nearly 2 and no problems with him either. We have a full house of dogs though and there is usually always one of us home so plenty to keep him entertained. There is a bitch next door and a bitch across the road but he has never been interested and is kept in securely anyway.
I have 2 miniature dachshund puppies and they appear to have reached sexual maturity early, they're not 6 months old yet. They try to hump each other at least once a day and would be carrying on in other ways so once they reach 6 months old I'm going to have a chat with our vet and see what he thinks. Dachshunds would have a strong nose and will always want to follow their nose if allowed so that would be another factor for me, they're smaller dogs, good diggers etc. so more of a chance of them getting out to follow their nose if they were very determined.
Humping is something that my great dane never did and the german shepherd has probably tried it 5 times in his whole life.

mymo

I would wait and see, assuming he's not out roaming or free to get at any bitches.

My advice is look at your situation, read up, don't worry to much about the horror stories you may come accross, they are very rare.

I wasn't going to neuter my boy, but at about 3.5 years he was getting very stressed as there were 4 bitches in the square I lived, all coming into heat at different times, he was whinging and trying to hump my bitch(who is spayed) and annoying her.
Then he started asking to go out and trying to get out of the garden, so I got him done.
I am so glad I did, he's so much happier, still the same crazy loon he always was, his coat is fine, if not better, and I have the peace of mind of not worrying about him trying to escape.

I personally would be worried about what would happen to any puppies he created, if they would be treated well, etc. and with the number of unwanted dogs in this country I just couldn't breed him.

kylith

Chris___ wrote: »

Thread title lol your lucky this isn't After Hours. Neutering is just wrong unless you have a bitch there's no point. Oh and they still fight over and hump bitches after the snip.

No, they don't necessarily still fight over bitches after they have been neutered. If yours did it may have been a behavioural thing, none of the neutered males I know do that.

mymo wrote: »

I wasn't going to neuter my boy, but at about 3.5 years he was getting very stressed as there were 4 bitches in the square I lived, all coming into heat at different times, he was whinging and trying to hump my bitch(who is spayed) and annoying her.
Then he started asking to go out and trying to get out of the garden, so I got him done.
I am so glad I did, he's so much happier, still the same crazy loon he always was, his coat is fine, if not better, and I have the peace of mind of not worrying about him trying to escape.

That is what neutering will do, OP, it will remove the stress of him being able to smell all those sexy, willing lady dogs and wanting to go make their acquaintance. I've known terriers to climb 5' fences to get at bitches, I've been followed by a Labrador who climbed the wall of his garden while walking a bitch who had just started her first heat and I've known litters sired through chicken wire. I recall someone on here telling of a male breaking a window to get out because there was a bitch in heat in the area.

mymo wrote: »

I personally would be worried about what would happen to any puppies he created, if they would be treated well, etc. and with the number of unwanted dogs in this country I just couldn't breed him.

Knine

I have several.entire males & entire bitches living in the same house. No issues! I also regularly have other dogs visiting/staying.

The OP does not have any bitches in his house & most neighbours probably have theirs spayed. His dog is also well behaved.

Tranceypoo

Knine wrote: »

& most neighbours probably have theirs spayed.

In Ireland??? Doubtful!!

borderlinemeath

Tranceypoo wrote: »

In Ireland??? Doubtful!!

I have to agree, I think a lot of owners think there's a lot less managing of females in heat than they think. Most intact females I mind would not be show dogs or even great examples of their breed, although there is a lot less of them about here than intact males.

There's 3 unneutered males here at the minute and one (male) owner "would never do that to him - take his jewels?", another is afraid he'll get overweight and another has simply not bothered even though the dog is only kept secure by an e-collar. :mad: So a lot of the wrong reasons for not neutering still permeate the Irish mindset.

kylith

Tranceypoo wrote: »

In Ireland??? Doubtful!!

Especially since they may well have gotten advice that their bitch needs to have a litter before she can be neutered, or are of the opinion that their dog is well behaved and, sure the neighbour's probably have their dogs neutered.

If you rely on your neighbours to get their dog neutered so you don't have to, how do you know they're not doing the exact same thing?

Knine

Tranceypoo wrote: »

In Ireland??? Doubtful!!

Doubtful really? I would safely say there are far more entire males around then unspayed bitches.

I can also say sadly that there have been far too many young males of my favourite breed who did not see age 5 because they were neutered early in life!

The OP has not had any problems to date with his dog.

I have a lot of dogs. The dogs that are done (males) just do not have the drive, coat or stamina of their entire companions. They would still mate a bitch too.