Retriever - when to spay?

I

igloo

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Found this thread useful, but would like to hear more of your opinions:
http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=51139&highlight=dog+spaying

We have a 6 month old retriever and intend to spay, we live in rural area where there are lots of dogs about and our garden not 100% fenced in. We have to decide when to spay i.e. asap, before first heat, or afterwards.

Our vet suggested waiting until after the first heat is over if we wanted to enable the dog to 'mature and develop adult sensibilities'. In other words, if you spay her before heat it will prolong/perpetuate puppy-hood in the animal and make it harder to train her etc. Has anyone heard this opinion before? Is it credible? I have to say the vet has been very good in dealings we've had over the years.

We have a young family and Mrs Igloo is not in a position to watch the dog 24/7 while she (the dog..) is in heat. So do we keep her indoors and take her out on the lead for toilet breaks? Do we get ear-plugs to keep the neighbouring mutts from preventing us sleep? Is there any kind of 'product' to prevent anything more than casual sniffing.. if you know what I mean..??
 
Hi Igloo,

Yes I have heard this before and it is for exactly the reason the vet has given. If you trust your vet you shouldnt have any problems.
 
I have heard arguments for and against waiting until after the first heat to spay, and to be honest, I haven't been convinced either way. With my two, as it happened, we left it too late to spay before either of their first heats. We didn't have too many problems with dogs, funnily enough, despite living in an area filled with pet dogs. I would be extremely vigilant when taking her out for walks while she is in heat, though. By the way, the worst part about having a dog in heat is that it can be a bit messy! Just be prepared for a few weeks of constant cleaning of floors and anywhere that your dog likes to sleep.
 
Yes was worried about the cleaning up mess. The vet suggested putting a nappy on her..
 
We didn't go quite as far as the nappy thing (to be honest, our 2 would have ripped them to shreds!). One thing we did find useful was the disposable puppy pads which are designed to protect your floor from accidents. We put these under the dogs while they were sitting/lying down indoors, or travelling in the car, which saved a bit of cleaning! We tried a few different types, but Argos definitely seem to be the best value. The item number is 870/2489.
 
To be honest her first season is likely to be very light in terms of mess - even for a large retriever. Subsequent ones will be much worse. My gut feeling is to spay between the first and second season, but I would go by what your vet recommends (if you're happy with him).
 
I should have been a little clearer when talking about it being messy - it's not too bad - just spots of blood rather than a full-on flow. It was very obvious with our Bullmastiff as she's smooth-haired, but was barely noticeable with our Samoyed, as her fur mopped up the worst of it before it could hit the floor. I would definitely recommend using the pads, though, on her bed, in the car, or wherever she likes to lie down.
 
Thanks for the input so far.

We had another chat with vet and she wants to check that the 'bits' are in place and fully formed prior to any scheduling of an op to have her spayed. We've decided on balance of advice to have the operation prior to first heat.
 

Hope all goes well.
 
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