Speying

For those who do not intend to breed, have you speyed or neutered your dogs. Roxy is booked in to be speyed but after each season so far she has had a phantom pregnancy and the vet would not do it :evil: Aarghh very annoying!!

Jadey was speyed at the dogs home before we had her but we would've had her done anyway - she was used as a breeding machine in her younger days so this is her time to chill out!xx

If everything goes to plan Tess is getting speyed in May :D

After a long hard decision myself and Mike have decided to neuter Jake which is a real shame as we have had so many offers already with him and he ain't a year yet, reason being is he seems to be so frustrated and lively, when the kids are playing with him or anyone shows him a little attention he tries to take his friendlyness a little further by licking your earholes, we also thought it was the best choice with a baby on the way too just the fact that it might calm him down a little, does anyone know the advantages and disadvantages of having this done and when the best time is to do it as I have heard that you are meant to let them have a go first, all help would be great thanks guys Nicole x

I'd say 18months Nicole www.doglistener.co.uk has some great advice on it all. Studding them first is a old wifes tale. Don't expect him to be calmer after neutering.

I'm torn on this. My furry babies...well I don't intend to breed from them so I guess after reading the article Kyle stickied it would seem best to have them both spayed...
I want to do the best for them but there is so much pros & cons information out there that its really hard to make the final decision.
Naturally I don't want to put my furry babies through any unecessary pain going through surgery but then again I don't want them prone to any of the cancers or infections that can be fatal...
??????????? I just don't know...???

They woulden't feel any pain as they'd be knocked out. The only pain really for a bitch would be splitting the stitches open by jumping etc.
Also more staffy bitches are becoming prone to pyometra which is not the most pleasant situations a female can be in. I'd advise you to get them done.

Also if any breed of dog hasn't been tested for genetic disorders relevant to that given breed (L2-Hga/PHPV/HC in staffords) they should never be bred from at all. There are enough staffords born from untested stock everyday, enough crossbreeds as well and the rescues are full of these dogs as proof. As a rule, if you are going to breed people are more likely to have put more thought into buying a pup from registered, tested parents and are also more likely to keep them once they have invested the price of which one cost. It all comes down to responsible dog ownership. Some people humanize ther dogs too much and think how it would make themselves feel but the dog knows no different and in a wild situation none of a pack besides alpha male and female can breed and the rest would go their whole life without ever having or producing a litter.

Good info thanx guys. I really soley got my two for pets. Their parents test clear etc & I wouldn't dream of breeding from them unless they were tested too as I have learned a lot just by reading info about the seriousness of testing clear. But I know in my heart that I really don't want to breed them so spaying it is.

Now lol for the big question...do i get them spayed at same time? What do you reckon would be best? Would I have to separate them as the playful they are they might cause some damage to each other in (ouch) ripping their stitches?

Just when you decide on one there's always another decision to consider lol

You'l have to keep play to a minimum.
You can get disolving stitches now too so you don't have to go back after the op unless something is wrong as they stitch under the skin somehow not quite sure.

Cheers for the advice Kyle, much appreciated!