Working Bitch

stevoman

Well lads. My llewellin is due to come into season in the next two months and im thinking about neutering her after her first heat. Is there any reprocuctions for her as she is a working dog as i have heard it can effect scent. Sorry i didnt take this to the animal and pet section but i thought the wisdom of you lads who work dogs would come in handy.

thanks,

stephen

Vegeta

You have obviously thought about the fact you'll never get a pup from her, even if she's the best dog you ever own and cant get a pup from her.

Cant you just give her an injection at regular periods to prevent her fully coming into heat

stevoman

thought hard about it alright veg. She's a beaut and anyone who has seen her has commented that it would be mad to spay her, but at the same time im just thinking about the nuisance of her coming in twice a year and knowing my luck she'l more then likely come in again on the 1st of november!

Pups from her would be great but at the same time i did by her to work and not to breed.

TBH i dont know too much about the injection so i dont.

It just seems like spaying her would be saving me a lot of headaches. Then of course the man who sold her to me i know fairly well and has been breeding the same line for about 17 years and he told me that a litter of pups would do wonders to steady her up.

Its my first gundog of my own so i dont want to make any mistakes beacuse i hope that this will be the dog that i can train my next pup with in a few years time and keep going from there.

BryanL

sometimes you can just try and manage these things,copper in thier drinking water usually stops bitches coming into season and you can bring their season on to suit you and avoid clashing with nov 1 St by kenelling her with other bites in season.
i know one hound pack i hunt with use a "cedar scent " spray on bitches to keep dogs away from them when they are in season, very helpful to reduce the number of days the need to stay in.
if she's in a secure kennel and worked solo it's not a very big issue to hunt on with her.
Bryan

Vegeta

I have an english setter dog but have not had a setter bitch in years. Cant recall if the old man had her spayed or not.

I do have a lab bitch and dog and the bitch has just had a litter and the difference in her is unreal. She has improved 10 fold, mainly it has calmed her down and she now listens and learns things much quicker.

She just didn't have the ability in her so we kept her as a pet and now she is soaking up any bit of training.

Hard to know what to do alright. It sounds like you don't mind if you don't get a pup out of her so your main worry is will spaying her effect her ability to hunt etc. Personally I don't have enough experience with spaying working dogs to know but hopefully someone else will have some advice. Maybe it effects each dog in a different way?

stevoman

BryanL wrote: »

sometimes you can just try and manage these things,copper in thier drinking water usually stops bitches coming into season and you can bring their season on to suit you and avoid clashing with nov 1 St by kenelling her with other bites in season.
i know one hound pack i hunt with use a "cedar scent " spray on bitches to keep dogs away from them when they are in season, very helpful to reduce the number of days the need to stay in.
if she's in a secure kennel and worked solo it's not a very big issue to hunt on with her.
Bryan

Great info bryan i wasnt aware of any of these ways to deal with a bitch coming in!

stevoman

Vegeta wrote: »

Hard to know what to do alright. It sounds like you don't mind if you don't get a pup out of her so your main worry is will spaying her effect her ability to hunt etc. Personally I don't have enough experience with spaying working dogs to know but hopefully someone else will have some advice. Maybe it effects each dog in a different way?

Yeah it definitly the hunt im concerned with more than anything else TBH.

whitser

it wont effect her working ability but it could have a negative effect on her conditioning. bitches tend to put on weight after getting fixed. so if your sure your getting it done, cut her food by about a quarter and she'll be grand. she wont miss it, they tend to loose some appetite also after the op.

whitser

stevoman wrote: »

Well lads. My llewellin is due to come into season in the next two months and im thinking about neutering her after her first heat. Is there any reprocuctions for her as she is a working dog as i have heard it can effect scent. Sorry i didnt take this to the animal and pet section but i thought the wisdom of you lads who work dogs would come in handy.

thanks,

stephen

you dont have to wait til after her first heat, thats a old wifes tale. in fact new research sis pointing to its better to neuter before a heat.

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

you dont have to wait til after her first heat, thats a old wifes tale. in fact new research sis pointing to its better to neuter before a heat.

really? i have spoke to a lady vet and she said that it can effect them but of course its results that count and i guess you have had plenty of experience with the hounds!

whitser

i dont nueture my bitches but i looked into. and a friends recently got his working springer bitch done. and he got all the facts off his vet first. having said that i've gotten different points of view off vets before.

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

i dont nueture my bitches but i looked into. and a friends recently got his working springer bitch done. and he got all the facts off his vet first. having said that i've gotten different points of view off vets before.

aint that the truth! well in fairness it came from a vet who loves her dogs like humans, (no harm in that) so sometimes the views can be a little byest!

whitser

i find country vets are best to use. ones that have experience of working animals. but my mates springer that was done hasnt shown any lacking in her hunting what so ever.

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

i find country vets are best to use. ones that have experience of working animals. but my mates springer that was done hasnt shown any lacking in her hunting what so ever.

It might be a thing to consider so!