If it weren't for bad luck............

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I'd have none at all, I swear.

easy child has been working a LOT of overtime, which of course means I've been working a LOT of overtime as well. The hours I now have the boys makes it impossible to get the dogs to the vet on the days I have them. So Maggie's spaying got put off..........and I worried. And it got put off.........and I worried.

Then as I'm walking her I notice Rowdy's suddenly more interested and perky in her presence. As she's walking in front of me.........I realize she's terribly swollen *there*. That was several days ago. I called the vet knowing he probably wouldn't spay her but figured it didn't hurt to ask..........and no, got to wait 3 wks. D@mn. I have a male in the back yard, unfixed.

Bad enough that Rowdy has sired endless litters. First with the rottie one street over, lost track of how many litters with her......they were "married", I swear those two loved each other like no other two dogs I've yet seen. Rowdy never (or rarely) went to her, it was the other way around. She roamed freely, he was either on a stake or in his kennel. And once pups were old enough to follow mommy.......she never failed to bring them once a day to meet/visit daddy. Never seen anything like it before, I swear. lol He had a litter with our basset Precious due to Nichole's carelessness, which is where Betsy came from.

Last thing in the world I need is a litter of pups. Not that I wouldn't find each and every single one a good loving forever home (I'm responsible like that), but I can neither afford them or have room for them........and Maggie is a baby herself, last thing she needs. ugh

Poor Rowdy now has to stay locked in his kennel except for his walk. This blows major as sister in law and Travis and Darrin worked hard to repair the fence and build a new 6 ft tall fence in front with a new gate so he'd not ever have to be locked up again, he'd have the whole yard to roam. That will have to wait at least 3 wks. Due to arthritis I don't figure Rowdy is too up for contortionistic mating through the kennel fence. But I'm not counting on it either. Maggie goes out under "guard" to do her business and chase her frisbee because she can't take walks until this stupid heat is over.

Totally blows. Lemma tell ya. Rowdy is an amazing dog in his own right and is literally a "hero", having run for help regardless of his own injuries when we were run over by that truck. I have no doubts his many babies by Sheba the rottie were wonderfully amazing dogs. (she was pretty great herself) Betsy is the biggest love dog on the planet....very protective now that she has her "own" family to protect without Molly there......but is still a bit doofy due to Precious' gene pool. Under different circumstances, money wise, Maggie older more mature......I *might* have considered a mating to carrying on Rowdy's genes in combination with Maggie because the two of them together........well.....now that would be something. Not to mention most of the pups would be kept by family due to that alone.

But no. I want Maggie fixed. No pups. I do NOT want pups. Rotten timing. Maggie much too young in my opinion. Too expensive. Well, I could come up with a list of why not. I've already warned Nichole she's not allowed to put Maggie into the yard at all during her visits. There will be no "I forgot" excuses this time around. phht. And no, I don't trust Nichole when it comes to this sort of thing. Not when she is already doing the but ohhhhh they'd be fantastic dogs. sheesh One moment of weakness and I've got a mess on my hands.

Three wks from now Maggie will be fixed. easy child's over time will be over by then too, so scheduling shouldn't be an issue.

A shame in a way though. I know Rowdy and Molly won't be with me very much longer. I will be stunned if Rowdy survives the winter, although we're doing everything possible to make it as comfortable for him as we can.

Maggie continues to show me how smart she is. Connor still has major sensory issues with her. She figured out all on her own that when she got excited and "jumped" around or mouthed him that it made him cry. So all by herself she stopped jumping up in excitement (now she just wags so hard I'm afraid she'll split in two) and she'll pick up a raw hide or toy and hold it in her mouth so that Connor will see she only wants to play and won't put her teeth on him. Much to her frustration, it doesn't seem to help much. She gets so excited when he approaches the baby gate to the kitchen that she hops up to greet him wagging wildly with a toy in her mouth. Makes him stand there and scream. So I noticed yesterday and today when she gets that reaction she's starting to lie down in front of the gate as close as she can get to it, which stops his screaming. Poor baby, she wants Connor to love and play with her so very badly. She's determined to win him over yet. lol
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
Do remember that dogs can be fixed even if puppies are already on the way. Of course you don't want to let Maggie and Rowdy together, but just book the time for getting her spayed a month from now and even if there would be an accident, it will be dealt with (I assume you have no moral obligations against abortion of puppies.) Dog being pregnant doesn't matter for sterilization operation.
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
Rowdy needs spayed as well. No more unwanted puppies would really do a great thing for the unwanted dog population. Send each of your dogs outside in the fenced yard at different times. 2 hrs for one then 2hrs for the other. Being penned up while being an unaltered male near a female in heat would be really difficult for Rowdy.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Actually, I wouldn't abort a litter of pups. That is why I'm upset she went into heat before I could get her fixed. If she got pregnant she would have the pups and I'd find each and every one a loving forever home. I wouldn't like it one darn bit, but I'd do it.

Fran, I do wish I'd fixed Rowdy years ago. But he's too old now and vet says he likely wouldn't do well with the anesthetic....... Fred had an aversion to fixing males. Kept telling me it was a "guy thing". Never understood it but every time I tried he had a hissy fit. Rowdy lives outside. He has his kennel. No, he won't scale it......it has a roof built onto it to prevent such antics because he used to do just that. (and to keep the weather out) As long as he's in his kennel he can't get to her..................as long as she is under guard, that is, as she is going to reach a point of ultra cooperation where she might find a way to get it to work with him through the fence of his kennel. Which is the reason for the guard. She's only off leash right now for 20 min jaunts with her frisbee or ball to burn off energy. I don't *think* that Rowdy has the mobility due to arthritis to manage fence mating, but I am not going to risk it either. She is never alone in the yard. Never.

The method worked fine for Molly and for Precious until Nichole got "careless" and just let Precious into the yard one day when Rowdy was not in his kennel. I still believe it was deliberate on her part, but she denies it.

Since Maggie is already to the stage of showing much exuberance (if you get my drift) seeing Rowdy........I'm wondering if I caught on to this heat thing late in the game. She's so furry on her backside I didn't notice until she was fully swollen. To my knowledge Rowdy has never been alone with her, so we should still be safe as far as that goes.

I've got the appointment made already for her to be spayed.
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
Wish there were bc pills for female dogs and condoms for dogs. LOL. They are like teenagers in the first throws of hormones. Both of my females had issues with occasional bladder incontinence after being altered. It's a shock to them and Lizzie gets frantic. She gets a medication that seems to help. If she could just have because implants or something like that would make it less traumatic than the surgery.
It's sort of odd but my male who is pretty calm gets nuts when we cross paths with an unaltered male. Guess the hormones are obvious or the threat is real to them.
You are lucky you found so many homes for the puppies, there are so many in rescue foster homes that can't get homes.
Hopefully, you won't be a dog grandmother again. : )
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I am so glad I got Abby and Ziva fixed a few months ago. No puppies from that line. I love Abby to death but we dont need another one. We do have two unaltered beagles but they are supposed to be bred. Hunting dogs sell. They are cute lil buggers but definitely not pets even if Lulu keeps attempting to follow my other two into the house...lol.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
You know Fran, I bet they could do it already if they thought they had a market for it........BC for dogs that is. I don't think the whole condom thing would work. lol

I've had pretty good luck with spaying. But have had two dogs it actually made aggressive. Well, one was already behaving aggressive (Lady) and vet said fixing her should calm her down. Uh, no. Quite the opposite was true, she went off the deep end. Precious? I've never been sure if it was the raging uterine infection or the spaying that changed her personality. Which ever it was it got her rehomed to another family without other animals.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Spaying literally saved my Heidi girls life. After her last set of puppies we noticed she was dropping weight more than we thought she should even though she was feeding about 8 puppies and she was so tired all the time. We pulled the pups off her at about 6 weeks old and rushed her in to get her fixed and they found ovarian cancer. She had to have a complete hysterectomy. If we had waited a few weeks longer it would have spread even further. It took her quite awhile to get over that one.
 
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