Despite the best of intentions, I let this blog slide. I am going to make an effort to update this blog at least weekly so check back frequently. So let’s see what some of our recent cases have taught us.
Dogs will breed if the female is in heat and you give the male access to her. Sounds pretty straightforward, but we had a case where the dogs were put together briefly because it was a holiday and guess what? Those nasty dogs proceeded to breed right in front of the owner, GASP. Dogs are not at all shy about their mating habits and don’t care who is watching when they breed. Many people think that because dogs can remain locked for 10-20 minutes that mating takes some time. The actual time from penis entry to ejaculation may be minutes or even seconds. So who cares and why am I harping on this? It is because if you are going to keep intact female and male dogs in the same household, you need to learn about the heat cycles and mating habits of dogs if you do not want accidental breedings to occur. Many of these accidental breedings occur in young animals that are not mature enough, mentally or physically, to have puppies. If you keep an intact female you need to know about her personal heat cycle as every dog is a little bit different. Dogs should not be bred until they are at least 2 years old and have had tests for genetic problems associated with their breed. Better yet, spay or neuter your dog. Next time I will tell you some of the reasons that clients have given me for breeding their dogs and why most of them are the wrong reasons. Then we’ll go on to how to breed dogs the right way-and probably end up in the poorhouse. Stay tuned.
Gotta go amputate a cats leg-lesson, keep you cat indoors and it won’t get smashed by the garage door!
Have a great day-Dr. Adams
