Thanks to the replies re: my Yorkie. I am in two minds about spaying.
The sensible side says spay so she does not have unwanted puppies,
the the sympathetice (or pathetic!) side says don't put her through
an operation if she doesn't need it. My other concern is that if we
want to "board" her whilst on holiday will kennels accept her? Our
vet is not pressurising us to spay, but they are very willing to perform
the operation - I wonder why! I may take the notice boards advice
and wait for after her first season - I'm still open to swaying either
way. Thanks for your help and a response on the boarding if you
know it would help. Carol

Hi kennels don't require bitches to be spayed but obviously it would be wise to tell them if she happened to be in season when she went to stay.Gillian

Kennels certainly won't mind taking a bitch in season as long as they are told about it. It is quite a regular thing for them, some people will even put their bitch into kennels in season to stop it upsetting their dogs.
Joan

I have had two bitches spayed before the first season with no problems at all. The first person you should speak to is your vet and take his/her advice on when. The breeders on here say that if you spay at all you should wait until after the first season when the bitch will be "developed". I have asked why would you wait for the internal organs to be developed when you are taking them away anyway but no one has answered that question. I also know people who have waited a season and then spayed but say that the next time they would spay before the seasaon. Many of the people who give advice on here are breeders and don't spay their bitches at all so as I said, take your vets advice, he or she knows ALL the pros and cons of when to spay.

Hi Barbara,

I have been looking for more information on this and hope you can help my research please

How old are the bitches now that you had spayed before their first seasons?
Did their vulva's develop normally or stay like a small puppy?
Are they docked and/or what breed?
Had you had any incontinence?
Did they develop the normal musculature for an adult specimen of their breed?

TIA
Christine

Hi Christine

One is five and one is four, they have never suffered from incontinence and yes, they have developed into normal adult specimens.

However, I fail to see the relevance of the other two questions, perhaps you can enlighten me please.

Hi, thanks for your response,

Some of the arguments for and against early spaying indicate that the bitches do not continue to develop properly.

The reason for the docking question is that many very short docked bitches appear to develop incontinence especially after spaying and I was wondering if this is affected by the different times in their life that they are spayed.

Christine

"Docking v Incontinence" Deja Vu ANYone ? :-)

Leigh

I'm not saying a word!

Hi Christine, one is a Weimaraner and she is spayed but can you tell me please why the development of the vulva matters?

Does anyone know also, whether certain breeds are more like to develop mammary tumours if left unspayed? (I heard that Yorkies were more susceptible)

An article that I read recently casts doubt on the theory that early spaying helps prevent mammary tumours. It said that the research that suggested that was not a reliable sample as not enough dogs were used. I still think its a hard descision when so much conflicting advice is given .We all love our dogs and want to do whats best .Gillian

Vets may have good reasons to suggest early spaying but you also must remember they make money out of it. The decision to spay or not and when to spay is difficult and you will find people will argue for what they believe is best for their dogs .So listen to everyone then go on your own feelings there isn't a right or wrong answer.Sorry dont think this helped that much.Gillian

In my opinion spaying before a first season tends to lead to an arrested personality, a pup who never quite grows up properly or a perpetual teenager. Of my bitches three are spayed and three are still unspayed. I had one spayed last year at the age of 5 after she had had two litters. She is a much more rounded personality than the one I had spayed at the age of 8 months who really seemed to stop developing mentally at that age. Spaying also seems to halt some of the physical development of the bitch. If she is not fully mature then you can halt development of coat etc at an immature stage.

Another reason for waiting until after a first season is to get the timing right. The best time for spaying is mid way between seasons when hormone levels are at their quietest. It is a far more serious operation and more dangerous to spay when the bitch is in season as the blood supply to that area is much greater at this time and most vets will not spay a bitch close to her season unless a life threatening cause makes it inevitable. I have heard of vets who have started to operate, realised that the bitch is just coming into season, and stop, meaning that she then needs a second anasthetic and operation a couple of months later.

Toy breeds mainly come into season early, often at around 6 months of age. Spaying this Yorkie at 6 months means you may well be dangerously close to her season whereas if you wait until after you know exactly where in her cycle you are.

Hi, I read a really interesting article in Dogs Today week before last from a trainer of long standing. She has noticed that over recent years many people are spaying bitches before they are mature and these dogs are in her training classes. She has observed that bitches spayed before the have matured (which varies with the breed/size) are increasingly difficult to train and never really "grow up" mentally. I think that to spay any bitch before her second season is not allowing the natural maturing processes to take place, hormones that are inhibited by spaying are not just responsible for sexual maturity, but for emotional maturity and development of character, as well as other areas. The spaying of puppies that have never had a season ( very young puppies) apparently more or less stay at the emotional maturity they had reached when they were spayed. The article makes very interesting reading, not least because I have never agreed with routine spaying of immature bitches!!

Could not agree more WL, after all we, human females, are able to breed from the start of our teens but I don't think anyone would suggest that a 9 or 10 year old was fully grown and mature. The sex hormones control development throughout the body not just the outward signs of sexual maturity. Please if you want a sensible adult dog leave their development to nature and don't curtail it by removing vital hormone producing organs. After all we give ourselves HRT if we lose our reproductive organs at an un-natural early age, so their must be some reason other than reproduction to retain the female hormones in the system. Oh yes I do know there is a difference in the reproductive system of canines and man.
I'm not against spaying at a later stage but even then it has it's drawbacks.

Hi

I tend to agree with Westie lover andJackie H, dogs have to be given the chance to mature in ways other than physically.

I believe (I standto be corrected on this) that early spaying was devised first in the States because of the huge stray dog problem; many shelters were desperate and they felt it was the only way to prevetn all the unwanted dogs. So they spayed puppies before going to homes and son on.

There does seem to be some doubt over this, so with my puppy, if I have her spayed, I will definitely wait until after her first season at least.

I also agree with what someone above said, that with small breedslike a Yorkie, it is possible to spay at the wrongtme and be doing it just as they are about to start their first season.

Best wishes
Lindsay