Some Common Myths About Desexing

Females should have one litter first

No. There is no benefit in letting your pet have a litter before it is spayed. The chances of mammary cancer in bitches gets much lower when they are spayed before their first heat. Spaying a female before breeding her eliminates the chances of medical problems during a pregnancy or during birth or while rearing puppies.

My dog would make really great puppies/I want to have another dog just like my dog, so I'm going to breed him/her.

Roughly 25-30% of all dogs in shelters are purebreds. Even if your dog is AKC registered, that doesn't mean that the dog should be bred. Before ANY dog is bred the owner should prove that the dog will actually improve the breed. Thorough health testing, including tests for genetic diseases, should also be performed.

Also, your dog is a unique individual. There is no guarantee that puppies will resemble their parents in looks or personality, especially if the parents are mixed breed dogs.

Breeding dogs is a good way to make money.

The only people who make any money from breeding dogs are those who don't care about the health of their dogs or the quality of the puppies they produce. Responsible breeding requires health testing and medical care, as well as careful consideration of the pedigrees of the parents, their temperament, and whether their puppies would actually improve their breed or merely be more fodder for the shelters.

Medical costs before breeding will include extensive health testing, which may include x-rays, blood work, tests for infectious diseases like brucellosis, tests for genetic diseases like von Willebrands, ultrasound exams to check for heart problems, CERF and BAER exams to check for eye and ear problems, and other additional tests depending on the breed of the dog.

Medical costs after breeding will include pregnancy tests, ultrasound to check the progress of puppies, pregnancy care and perhaps caesarean section if the dog has trouble giving birth . There is also the chance you'll have to pay for veterinary care if the puppies should become ill.

Then! Once you have the puppies, you will have to provide vaccinations, worming, premium foods, trips to the veterinary hospital and advertise and sell them.

Plus in order to provide socially well adjusted dogs to these great homes you already have organised, you'll have to invest many, many hours into learning about and practicing socialisation, trips outside to encourage housebreaking and buy containment crates as the puppies grow and get mobile.

My children should see the miracle of birth.

First, dogs usually give birth in the middle of the night when the children aren't going to be around, and dogs prefer to have quiet and privacy during birth. If the mother dog is disturbed by children or too many other witnesses, she may become stressed and abandon the puppies or even kill them.

Second, if you want your children to learn responsibility through caring for a puppy, there are many great puppies waiting for adoption at your local shelter. If you want to see the miracle of birth, you should first witness the miracle of death by volunteering at your local shelter for a few weeks. And there's a better alternative: if you want to witness the miracle of birth, rent a video.

We can find good homes for the puppies.

For every puppy you breed and place in a new home, a puppy or dog in a shelter may die because it wasn't adopted. There simply aren't enough homes for them all.

And even if we ignore the puppies in the shelters -- are you SURE your puppies are going to good homes? Have you been to the new homes to check that they are suitable? Have you asked the new owners what they plan to do if their work commitments take them interstate or overseas? Are you willing to take the puppies back if their new homes don't work out?

If you produce a puppy, you are responsible for it throughout its entire life - and that could easily be 10 years+.

A desexed pet will become fat.

Desexing your pet does not make it fat or lazy, only lack of exercise and too much food will do this.

Pets lose their personality after desexing.

False. Your pet will retain his or her own, very individual personality after the operation. The only 'character' change resulting from desexing may be that your pet calms down a little.

Dogs won't be happy after they're altered.

Dogs are not like humans, they don't look forward to having children. Male dogs don't even realize that pups they produce are their own offspring. A dog's reproductive urges are based solely on its hormones. Once the hormones are removed, the urges go away and the dog doesn't miss them.

The operation is painful.

Pets will experience some tenderness in the affected area immediately after the operation. Your vet can advise you on caring for your pet after desexing. Most cats and dogs bounce back very quickly.

Before you let your dog have a litter spend some time volunteering at your local shelter and see all the puppies and dogs who must be killed daily. Letting your dogs breed only adds to the death toll.