In article ,
Rocky wrote:

So my
calendar tells me that the best Friday for surgery won't be
until June 26, so I can count on another heat.

--

A lot of good things about summertime though - one is that "leashed
walks only" are more pleasant when there are both more daylight hours
and warmer temps!

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Matt said in part...
I have no idea. Her first heat was 14 months and she was 21 months on
February 20th. So, anytime now.
__________________________________
I am under the general impression that a dog's first heat is usually
before a year old and likely even younger than that. I have read that
the size of a dog thus the breed or breeds play a part.

My question is at what age did your female first come into heat and what
breed was she? Does anyone think that 14 months is unusual or is that
the norm?

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to reply.

Chica is scheduled to be spayed on 3-3.

I estimate that she is about 8 or 9 months old. She has been with me
for almost 5 months.


Be Free.....Judy

Melinda said....
In this year's Yukon Quest, which still has several teams on the trail,
Lance Mackey's younger brother had to scratch because a female in heat
basically shut the team down, and William Kleedehm, who was the early
leader and expected to win, stalled out because of a female in heat and
ended up finishing sixth.
_____________________________
Melinda,
I am surprised that either musher would take the chance of having a dog
in harness that was even close to possibly coming in heat while on the
trail.

That seems like it could create havoc not just for the team with the dog
in heat but for other teams too?

Of course I always offer the disclaimer that I know little about mushing
and I do understand that the dog owner may want his dog to remain intact
for health reasons or breeding purposes. I am just blown away that the
musher would be out on the trail with a dog in heat. Aieeee that sounds
like a recipe for disaster.

I can't recall the name of the native from the guard that Lance was
grooming to be a musher. How did he do?


Be Free.....Judy

In article ,
(Judith Althouse) wrote:


My question is at what age did your female first come into heat and what
breed was she? Does anyone think that 14 months is unusual or is that
the norm?

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to reply.

Marcie's breeder thought she'd go into season at 14-16 months. Some of
her littermates did. She and another went in at 10.5 months. Breeds
vary a lot and Flatcoats are very slow to mature, physically and
mentally. Small breeds tend to go in pretty early, but I'd known some
large breed who've gone in at 6 or 7 months too. My only other bitches
cam to me spayed, so I have very little personal experience with this!

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I am surprised that either musher would take the chance of having a dog
in harness that was even close to possibly coming in heat while on the
trail.

Sometimes they can catch you by surprise. In William's case
she didn't - she went into heat a few days before the
start. He said he took a gamble and thought they'd be okay,
and he decided to risk it because she was the only dog he
was running the Quest with this year who'd been up Eagle
Summit before (dogs have an uncanny ability to remember
trails they've been on only once).

That seems like it could create havoc not just for the team with the dog
in heat but for other teams too?

Sometimes. Generally the dogs are extremely well-trained.

I can't recall the name of the native from the guard that Lance was
grooming to be a musher. How did he do?

He's running the Iditarod, not the Quest, and the Iditarod
starts March 7 (the ceremonial start - the real race starts
the 8th). The guy's name is Harry Alexie. He's run some
other races earlier this season and done very well for a
rookie, esp. given very tough weather.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

(Judith Althouse) said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I am under the general impression that a dog's first heat
is usually before a year old and likely even younger than
that. I have read that the size of a dog thus the breed or
breeds play a part.

You are correct, but only because you used the qualifier
"usually." There are lots of thing which play a part, inlcuding
the influence of other dogs in heat.

My question is at what age did your female first come into
heat and what breed was she? Does anyone think that 14
months is unusual or is that the norm?

I've always heard "between 4 and 14 months." Maybe provided one
data point to support that adage.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

elegy said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

i'm going to do steve's hips at a year with his neuter. his
contract stipulates neuter by a year, and i'm comfortable
with that.

I contacted Maybe's breeder and she was fine with me holding off
on the spay surgery.

he's still unilateral cryptorchid

That's a good reason to neuter.

from what i understand, OFA prelims done at a year are
accurate enough for my purposes, and that way he only needs
to go under anesthesia once.

I'm doing both at once, too (spay and OFA - though a GA often
isn't needed for an OFA Xray). Since a two year spay was
manageable, I thought that I'd shoot for an OFA which could
officially help Maybe's breeder (or not).

BTW, who files the results?

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

elegy wrote:

from what i understand, OFA prelims done at a year are accurate enough
for my purposes, and that way he only needs to go under anesthesia
once.

If it were my dog, I'd consider redoing the hips if it was a Fair or
below (Borderline, Mild, etc.) For a Good or Excellent prelim I wouldn't
redo.

elegy wrote:

On 27 Feb 2009 03:58:57 GMT, Rocky wrote:


BTW, who files the results?


i think it varies with the vet but we send everything in and our fee
inludes the ofa fee. then OFA sends results to vet and to the client.

Yep. And if the client checks on the OFA application form to make the
data open no matter what the result, the OFA will publish the results in
their online database even if the dog ends up dysplastic. If the owner
does not check that box, if the dog is dysplastic the owner and vet get
the results, and the results become part of general OFA data, but are
not published.

That goes for all OFA tests BTW, not just hips or hips/elbows. IMO
anybody with an agility prospect should *always* do elbows along with
hips. ED is potentially a lot more damaging to an athletic dog's career
than HD. Lots of dogs compete with HD. ED? Not so much. They land on
those fronts, and dogs with ED just can't do well long-term.

elegy wrote:
On 27 Feb 2009 03:58:57 GMT, Rocky wrote:
I contacted Maybe's breeder and she was fine with me holding off
on the spay surgery.

i might do that when it gets closer to time.

although i've already got everybody at work having a fit because i'm
not doing the "correct" thing and neutering him at 6 months *eyeroll*

OMG. There are presently at least two people
at the cat rescue that I (used to) work with
that aren't speaking to me because I fought
them on spaying an undersized kitten just
because she'd hit 6 months. She weighs a full
pound less than her 5 month old buddy (she's
3.8 pounds, normal for a 6 month old kitten
would be +-6 pounds), but because they were
being adopted, one of the coordinators wanted
me to rush her in to be spayed before she was
rehomed. ISince she was my foster, I refused.

So when I saw several of them on Tuesday,
that coordinator wouldn't even look at me.

I get the need....boy do I. But not at the
expense of her life. Jeez.

Sounds like you're both making the right
decisions for you.