Let's See Your Dogs!!

My little rebel

 

Some off leash time.

 

Who do those people think they are?

 

That's funny. And I don't mean in a bad way.

Kimo was looking a little on the heavier side and I cut back his food a bit then we hit the vet a couple of days later. She said "he's looking heavy" and I told her what I'd done. She was happy that I'd cut back.

The biggest reason for keeping a puppy lean (and maybe a good argument for feeding adult dog food over the fattier puppy stuff) is to help with bone growth. It's the same reason you want limit activities like long walks, running, and jumping--not easy but do your best. Especially if you have a large breed dog. The idea is to do this until they are about a year to a year and a half. Add to that to the recommendation to wait until a male is a year before sniping the grapes. They produce hormones that help with bone growth.

We have another puppy appt and I think the subject of twigs and berries is gonna come up. He'll be just about 7 months then.

 

What can I say, she's a real bitch.

 

Those signs piss me off.

 

If you run your pup their bones don't grow?

 

Their bones grow but the running and jumping stresses the growing joints which may lead to problems later in life.

 

It was explained to me that you should run a pup miles a day every day while growing. The occasional hike or run is fine. Day in and day out hard work can cause issues supposedly

Edit: * not a vet lol

 

New pup

 

Griffie!

 

I hadn't heard about the "wait until they are 1 to 1.5 years old" to spay or neuter until someone posted it here, so I did a little of the suggested internet reading on it. What I got from it is that if you spay/neuter early, their bodies may not release a hormone that tells their bones to STOP growing, particularly leg bones, so their legs may keep growing longer than they should. Makes sense to wait until they are fully-developed to start messing with stuff.

 

There's a lot of info out there on spaying and neutering at certain ages. Some of it breed specific. There's no concesus on what's right for every dog. There are pros and cons at any age.

Bigger breeds for instance are more likely to have growth issues related to spaying and neutering too early.

The humane society I volunteer at spays and neuters any dog as soon as it comes in. Puppies are done around 8 weeks. This is, largely, to prevent more dogs in shelters.

Both my dogs were spayed at 6 months. One a Pyrenees mix and one a Husky mix. Pyrenees for instance take a long time to fully mature. Up to thee years. We didn't want to leave it that long.

The foster puppy we have now was done at 8 weeks. We dropped him off at 8am. Picked him up at 3pm and it was like nothing happened to him. Ha. Puppies recover very quickly.

It's largely up to the breed, your vet, and your own research.

 

GSP's love to run !!!

 

This is one reason I am not a fan of shelter decision making. I appreciate what they’re trying to accomplish but 8 weeks is way too young.

 

I waited until my female came into heat the first time. She was just over a year old.

 

I agree with you but it's unfortunatly not a cut and dry situation.

The puppy that I have now ended up in shelter/foster because his mother became pregnant with 8 puppies. Had she been spayed... None of these dogs would end up I shelter.

One dog is from a backyard breeder. He was too unhealthy for the people that unfortunately bought him. He wouldn't have ended up there if people weren't studding out dogs without giving them basic care.

Other poor decisions have filled these shelters. There have been a lot of instances of people getting "cheap" dogs from shelters just to breed puppies to make money.

As someone who deals with these dogs every week I sure don't have all the answers either but unfortunately people can't always be trusted to do the right thing. The end goal is to prevent more dogs in shelters.

I don't belive in breeding dogs either. I don't have strong opinions on those that do it properly and do it with care but I think breeding dogs as a whole is more troublesome than neutering a puppy. Many puppies grow up with no issues. This is not to say that there aren't any that will have issues.

Of course, we all have different opinions on this. I don't mean to be argumentive. Just putting my point of view out there.

 

I got this little guy about a month ago. He was about 3.5 months old when I picked him up. He’s an AmStaff and his name is Roux.

 

Boxer was just 'fixed' this past Tuesday at 18 months. 18 months is the minimum age recommended by the breeder we got him from. He's 72 lbs and probably about as big as he will get. He's acted like the surgery didn't phase him at all, but we must limit his activity for at least another few days. Not easy to do with a Weimaraner...

 

Durrr… what size tire will fit with a stock lift?!