Finnie
Deeply Rooted
I read that whole website back in 2017 when I was deciding about when to have my collie spayed. It convinced me to wait until her bone growth plates closed and that a tubal ligation procedure would be better than ovariohysterectomy. But, the closest veterinarian that performed those was a 4 hour drive away and the cost was prohibitive. So I decided to go with conventional spay.Another read i'm trying to get my head around
Countering the Effects of Spay
If your dog has already been spayed, there are some things you can do to help her live the healthiest and happiest life possible. The best chance you have to keep your dog healthy is to assess and …healthyandhappydog.com
The website makes a good case. Hopefully some day veterinary medicine will catch up and change their thinking. Then eventually tubal ligation will become a common and easier to access treatment. But that kind of change comes extremely slowly. In the meantime, all we can do is postpone the spay surgery past the growth plate closure and monitor our dogs for any signs of hormone related problems. Or choose to keep them intact, if that is a reasonable decision for certain individuals. (Obviously not in Nancy Rose’s case and not in my dog’s situation either.)
Don’t let the website overly frighten you. They are highlighting worst case scenarios. They have an agenda to make a major change in the veterinary status quo so they make it sound like those health problems are inevitable for every dog. But it’s really just a higher percentage of risk, not a forgone conclusion.
And also, Bay and Ducks are spot on about training. Training a dog to come when called can save its life. Another really great habit to train into your dog is the wait command. Train her that YOU will always walk out the door first, and she has to wait and not follow you until you give the command or the release word. Obviously if you have a door charger, that one will take a fair amount of effort. But it firmly puts you in the dominant position in your dog’s mind.
