[kri$hna]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

My lovely ten year old Alsatian, Wolf aka Simba, passed on this morning after a couple of months of ailing....

..Ten years of companionship, friendship and affection is not easy to forget.
Its off to Happy Hunting Grounds for you then my man and I will see you when I get there!

I know how it feels to lose a companion like wolf! I have been through this twice for my earlier friends both GSDs. The void left by a companion like wolf will be felt sorely.
RIP wolf!

Originally Posted by ksakotai

..The responsible thing to do is to neuter your dog, unless you are interested in a career in breeding. Most breeders in India do not conduct adequate research into bloodlines and follow responsible breeding.

So go ahead, but make sure the vet knows what he is doing and the dog has adequate post surgery rest and care.

- Krishnan

I am not really interested in breeding or carrying forward tigers lineage. he doesnt even have paperwork for parenting

I am only thinking about the necessity of neutering. I am not sure how necessary it is to neuter tiger, now that he is 2.8 yrs already and is pretty manageable in behaviour. Most of the info available online gives contradictory opinions with equal benefits and disadvantages, hence unable to weight out the necessity of it actually. Post surgery care should not be a problem at all actually and the vet is pretty experienced as well.

its only me & my wife unable to make up our mind for this thing.

[esteem_lover]

From my experience, neutering extends the life of your dog and he/she is much more healthy after that. If your conscience allows it, then do it. I did it for my GSD cross and he lived happily and healthily after that and so was my very sick female Pom.

[ijeet]

RIP Wolf

I know the feeling Shakar, lost two of mine couple of years ago. My 12YO Peter waited for me to reach home from Bangalore. He was suffereing for 3-4 months and my father told me that he can go anyday. One weekend I just took the flight so see him and he left within hours after I reached. Tango was quite young only 7 but I think he missed peter too much and joined him in Happy hunting grounds. I am sure they are waiting for me there and miss me as much I miss them.

Take care

-Ijeet

[ksakotai]

Originally Posted by Parthasarathig

Nope no bragging or shows for me. Only show will be sometimes letting the neighbors baby play with him or showing off how friendly he is. Thats the only snob value for me.

Do dogs run on treadmills? Weve treadmill at home and maybe would use it on days when i feel sick and unable to take the puppy out for a walk. I mean for the pup to run and exercise on the treadmill.

Thanks once again.

I just saw this thread and though you may have got your answer I wanted to give my 2 cents:

In countries where there is a good regulating organization governing the breeding and certification of dogs there are strict rules on what one should do in order to get certified. Champion dogs almost always come from a good breed, often stretching back 5 generations. The reason for certification is not always to show in competition. If the certification body is doing its job properly, the fact that your dog's lineage is certified means it will mostly have a good temperament and character, free of diseases (such as hip and shoulder distocia) and will be a good pet in your house.

Look at this site for more information - United Schutzhund Clubs of America - Breed Standard

When we were in the US we raised a Schutzhund dog which was certified. We did not show in competitions, but getting such a dog ensured that she was level headed, and a good companion. She took both our kids under her wing, in a way, right from 1 month, when she would often snuggle beside them and be a protective companion.

It is good to get a "regular" dog, but it requires lot of training and we dont know what its character is because its lineage is doubtful. If you have kids that may create problems. Dogs are pack animals, descended from wolves. So if you dont show them there place in the family (bottom of your family pack) they will be untrainable. You should be the Alpha Female of the pack and if so they will obey.

.. my 2 cents

- Krishnan

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Folks,
My male pug is now 26 months old, don't have any idea of breeding etc.Even my vet adviced on neutering..
Kindly guide on the cost of this surgery or is there a cheaper alternative?
Any suggested places in chennai.
My vet is one dr Mohammed ali in greenways road .

cheers

[KarthikK]

my condolences @shankar.balan. I know its a really tough time to go through. I'm sure he's watching from up there remembering all the good times

Originally Posted by ksakotai

I just saw this thread and though you may have got your answer I wanted to give my 2 cents:

In countries where there is a good regulating organization governing the breeding and certification of dogs there are strict rules on what one should do in order to get certified. Champion dogs almost always come from a good breed, often stretching back 5 generations. The reason for certification is not always to show in competition. If the certification body is doing its job properly, the fact that your dog's lineage is certified means it will mostly have a good temperament and character..

+1 ksakotai, exactly what I was telling a few pages back on this thread. Adding to what you said, there is a wrong perception that a champion bloodline means it has to be shown in a dog-show. What the dog shows do is certify the dog as perfect examples of that breed and breed's characteristics, and guarantee that it does not suffer from ill-breeding defects, that's all there is to it. That tag is what ethical breeders look forward to before they set out breeding pedigreed breeds. And because the champion pups are of such pedigree and quality, they cost considerably more than newspaper classified puppy ads. There's a price involved, but there is also peace of mind involved with a champion bloodline.

Originally Posted by PRADEEP KUMAR

Folks,
My male pug is now 26 months old, don't have any idea of breeding etc.Even my vet adviced on neutering..
Kindly guide on the cost of this surgery or is there a cheaper alternative?
Any suggested places in chennai.
My vet is one dr Mohammed ali in greenways road .

cheers

Neutering will cost around 2-4k depending on where you get it done. It is a minor surgery, will be done under general anesthesia and will take around 1-1.5 hours of procedure time. The dog will be given some 2 hours of rest after he wakes up, and you can take him home after that. The next 3-4 days you will need to restrict his movement and make sure the surgical incision heals up fully. He will then be back to normal life after the stitches are removed, in fact nowadays they use self-absorbing stitches so even stitch removal is not a big concern. Hope that helped.

I'm not aware of places in Chennai, but just get it done at a reputed vet hospital/clinic. Avoid doing it at small clinics which don't have proper surgical OTs (operation theatre) and equipment. You do not want any post-surgical problems because of these small time clinics messing up something.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by ksakotai

I just saw this thread and though you may have got your answer I wanted to give my 2 cents:

In countries where there is a good regulating organization governing the breeding and certification of dogs there are strict rules on what one should do in order to get certified. Champion dogs almost always come from a good breed, often stretching back 5 generations. The reason for certification is not always to show in competition. If the certification body is doing its job properly, the fact that your dog's lineage is certified means it will mostly have a good temperament and character, free of diseases (such as hip and shoulder distocia) and will be a good pet in your house.

Look at this site for more information - United Schutzhund Clubs of America - Breed Standard

When we were in the US we raised a Schutzhund dog which was certified. We did not show in competitions, but getting such a dog ensured that she was level headed, and a good companion. She took both our kids under her wing, in a way, right from 1 month, when she would often snuggle beside them and be a protective companion.

It is good to get a "regular" dog, but it requires lot of training and we dont know what its character is because its lineage is doubtful. If you have kids that may create problems. Dogs are pack animals, descended from wolves. So if you dont show them there place in the family (bottom of your family pack) they will be untrainable. You should be the Alpha Female of the pack and if so they will obey.

.. my 2 cents

- Krishnan

Alpha Female my foot. Our doggie was the Alpha Male in the house. And he deserved not a whit less. A game of dominance is not the best way around with your soul mate.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

From my experience, neutering extends the life of your dog and he/she is much more healthy after that. If your conscience allows it, then do it. I did it for my GSD cross and he lived happily and healthily after that and so was my very sick female Pom.

I don't believe we have any right to play with their bodies like this. My conscience would not allow me to play with what "nature" has given them.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Alpha Female my f***. Our doggie was the Alpha Male in the house. And he deserved not a whit less. A game of dominance is not the best way around with your soul mate.

Actually in most dog/wolf packs, females are the ones leading the group, hence the word 'Alpha female'. It is not a game of dominance forever. During adolescence, the dog will test its ranks to see where it stands in the house. If you are firm and patient with training during this phase, the dog soon understands his/her place and will not bother much for the rest of his/her life. If the dog is untrained, and gets to think he/she is the leader of the pack, it will result in multiple problems in day-to-day life, some like these :

- aggression towards own family members and kids
- extreme possessiveness over belongings, not allowing family members to touch toys/food bowl, etc. (side effect of first point)
- will not follow during walks, will rather pull the owner
- testing your leadership - challenging or will not listen to commands, might jump/behave badly with guests
- might snatch food/titbits from people

If any of these points sound cool in day-to-day life for the next 15 years, then good luck!

I don't believe we have any right to play with their bodies like this. My conscience would not allow me to play with what "nature" has given them.

This is a very common argument to this whole idea of animal birth control. Remember that nature did not give you the dog by default, you brought it home with your money and choice. I have some questions for this anti-neutering group to ponder over :

- If, during your ownership phase (assuming female dog), there were accidental litters, would you throw away the puppies? You cannot, right? So indirectly, you are contributing to the dog population due to your negligence.

- if during your ownership (assuming male dog), your dog accidentally mated with some other random female or ran away from home to mate with some random female dog, is it your responsibility or nature's to get it back?

- if your male dog is hounding some other female who belongs to someone else, will you blame it on nature or will you take charge of the situation?

- if your female dog is in heat, you cannot even step outside your house because you will be attacked by male dogs from everywhere. Heck, they will even jump into your house over the walls to come and get it done with. This happens for 3 week durations, once in 6 months. Can you sit at home and watch over your dog 24X7 with a stick in hand to ward off every potential suitor who arrives?

- if during an accidental incident with another dog, your dog contracted some potentially fatal ST diseases, would you blame nature or yourself? whose responsibility is this?

- Lastly, if neutering is going to extend your pet's life by 4-5 more years by preventing some common causes of premature death like testicular cancer or prostate cancer(in males), or ovarian cancer and uterus cancer (in females), would you rather have him go through a minor surgery in the earlier part of life (and live a long life in peace later) or would you like multiple chemotherapy sessions later on, and undergo pain and suffering both for you and the dog, with no guarantee of survival post-treatment?


No offense meant , To each his own, so I do not want to comment on individual opinions. I'm just trying to explain how and why ABC came into the picture, and why it is now deemed almost compulsory in many developed countries for pet owners. The points (benefits) are there for you to see. Let normal pet owners leave the responsibility of breeding to professional breeders, they are the guys who know best how to create good bloodlines. The normal pet owners should enjoy normal lives, not get into the risk of unwanted litters (destroying breed quality here), unwanted diseases and unfortunate incidents which they were not ready for.

Cheers.

[ksakotai]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Alpha Female my f***. Our doggie was the Alpha Male in the house. And he deserved not a whit less. A game of dominance is not the best way around with your soul mate.



I don't believe we have any right to play with their bodies like this. My conscience would not allow me to play with what "nature" has given them.

Raccoon,

I just saw your response. First off, you may not agree with me, but that is not a reason to get personal. We can agree to disagree in a civil manner.

My guess is you may not be aware of the dynamics of raising dogs. Some people absolutely give total control over to their dogs, which ends up in their dogs ruling their owners' lives, which is not good either for the dog or its owners or for neighbors.

A dog (male or female) views its owner's family as its pack. For the family's peace of mind, a dog needs to be made to understand what its place is in the family - that is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Else, you will find that it poses a potential threat to children. One can be loving towards to your dog while at the same time be firm with it. I am talking of German Shepards but it applies to most other dogs as well.

- Krishnan

[kri$hna]

Guys, I have written about a peculiar issue with my pet & other dogs in my locality, the problem seems to have increased now !

Today, my wife had called me in afternoon to inform about a new development back home. Yesterday night, the female stray dog on heat was waiting at our gate, while tiger wanted my wife to take him out (She usually takes him out @10pm to finish his last pee of the day before sleep). Yesterday, my wife thought he can pee in our balcony and didnt take him out. She also saw the female stray at the gate and few other males of the locality in our backyard/gate area.

later on, my wife got busy with her work and slept late, but she noticed tiger being uneasy and not being able to sleep at all. In the morning, she went down for a regular walk and was shocked to see lot of blood around our backyard, gate and walkways. We dont know what exactly happened, but my wife says female might have been injured badly. She was also feeling very bad about the whole thing. She thinks she could have stopped the whole thing if only she had come down along with tiger in the night, to shoo away the males. However, i consoled her saying she could have been easily overpowered there, with excited dogs eyeing that poor stray on heat.
I dont know if it can be termed a gang rape, but not sure what went on yesterday. Now, the issue is, our guy tiger is seriously pissed off with the whole thing i guess and shows on his face ! Every friend and visitor keeps asking "what happened to tiger? he looks so dull ?"

He is not showing much anxiety though. His apetite is normal (it was always less) eats ok, sits like he does usually but somehow isnt playful like he has always been. This could be because he didnt get to do the female, but will he become alright? Any specific care to be taken ? Is it ok to go for the neutering surgery during this phase or shall we allow some cooling off time ?

[KarthikK]

^^ What are these dogs doing outside/in your house compound 24X7 ?? Try to get them to go elsewhere, in other words chase them away. Does Tiger not chase them away?

Also, Kri$hna, why do you think the blood thing has something to do with the female dog? Did you see it in injured condition or the fighting take place? Or it could be something else, say some cat or bird which was attacked and killed overnight, or due to the female dog being in heat. Gang-attacking a dog to the extent of bleeding happens only if the female dog was an outsider trespassing the territory of your locality dogs, and if the female refused to get out of the territory and fought back instead. 99% of the times the outnumbered stranger will put its tail between the legs and run away, so fights rarely take place. They will also not be too violent with the female if they were interested in it for other obvious reasons *lol*. If there was an injury, it could be some males trying to compete, in all probability.

Regarding tiger being uneasy, don't bother. He's probably just interested in what's going on outside, it doesn't have anything to do with his health or well-being. He should get over it as soon as the reason for the distraction is taken out . He won't be sad because he didn't get a chance to do the honors , that's all filmy stuff. On second thought, you could take him to a vet and check whether there is some other health problem he is suffering from, maybe something unrelated with the whole gang wars story - could be as trivial as a stomach upset or fever or something.

Neuter surgery can be done anytime any day. Do fix up an appointment with a reputed doctor and meet him/her before the surgery day, so that they have advance notice. They usually prescribe an antibiotic course 2-3 days before surgery day, to prevent any post-surgery infections.

It would also help if you could take 2-3 days leave and stay with him post-surgery so that he doesn't damage the stitches (they usually lick the incision area like crazy, if left alone)

[ksakotai]

Originally Posted by kri$hna

... Now, the issue is, our guy tiger is seriously pissed off with the whole thing i guess and shows on his face ! Every friend and visitor keeps asking "what happened to tiger? he looks so dull ?"

He is not showing much anxiety though. His apetite is normal (it was always less) eats ok, sits like he does usually but somehow isnt playful like he has always been. This could be because he didnt get to do the female, but will he become alright? Any specific care to be taken ? Is it ok to go for the neutering surgery during this phase or shall we allow some cooling off time ?

I agree with @KarthikK. I dont think your Tiger is pissed off because he did get to do "it". One question, how much exercise does he get on a daily basis? Not just walking, but strenuous exercise on a daily basis. Many a time lack of exercise also causes dogs to become lethargic. Best is to take a tennis ball and play fetch with him - that works his muscles and allows him spend his energy. Am I right in assuming he is a lab? Ideally these dogs are outdoor dogs and should have good exercise. You can even do this in your garden or front yard.

[kri$hna]

Originally Posted by ksakotai

I agree with @KarthikK. I dont think your Tiger is pissed off because he did get to do "it". One question, how much exercise does he get on a daily basis? Not just walking, but strenuous exercise on a daily basis. Many a time lack of exercise also causes dogs to become lethargic. Best is to take a tennis ball and play fetch with him - that works his muscles and allows him spend his energy. Am I right in assuming he is a lab? Ideally these dogs are outdoor dogs and should have good exercise. You can even do this in your garden or front yard.

Tiger is a GSD bro. And he gets enough exercise running around in the balcony, sitout, hall & then walking twice a day for 30 mins each walk. The walks might be slow because the guy who walks him isnt quick, but since we dont tie him anytime, he is always free to move around the house. He usually runs a lot, drinks plenty of water and spends a lot of energy moving around. If there is any more energy left, he barks it out BTW, he follows an "early to rise, early to bed" philosophy, waking up at 5.30am & sleeping by 10.30pm, which is sort of my habit actually. Now, i try to sleep longer, while he tries to pull me out of the bed :P

He is actually underweight ( around 24.8 kgs) for his breed standards and looks like he ll stay that way forever. The problem was never about lethargy, but sadness & a feeling of anxiety probably (if i can phrase it that way).

Anyways, I have decided to get him neutered to extend any possible health benefits to my best buddy. But my vet says he doesnt have enough facilities to do a surgery at his place & during day time he works in a rural govt hospital which also isnt good with facilities. Can someone please suggest a good vet clinic/hospital for neutering, in Hyderabad ?

I ll pay a visit to blue cross, hyderabad soon to see if they can help with this surgery, but would prefer a private clinic with better facilities if available. I just dont want to cause unnecessary situations later resulting from an unhygeinic surgery now!

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by ksakotai

Raccoon,

I just saw your response. First off, you may not agree with me, but that is not a reason to get personal. We can agree to disagree in a civil manner.

My guess is you may not be aware of the dynamics of raising dogs. Some people absolutely give total control over to their dogs, which ends up in their dogs ruling their owners' lives, which is not good either for the dog or its owners or for neighbors.

A dog (male or female) views its owner's family as its pack. For the family's peace of mind, a dog needs to be made to understand what its place is in the family - that is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Else, you will find that it poses a potential threat to children. One can be loving towards to your dog while at the same time be firm with it. I am talking of German Shepards but it applies to most other dogs as well.

- Krishnan

Sorry if my brief comment sounded rude. It wasn't ment to be.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Actually in most dog/wolf packs, females are the ones leading the group, hence the word 'Alpha female'. It is not a game of dominance forever. During adolescence,
Cheers.

To each his own is right. Because I'm not sure I agree on some to most things mentioned. But then, to be honest, I have not encountered the situations you have mentioned.... even though he was quite aggressive and had a fairly short fuse. That said, I had my soul mate for 17 years, and I grew up with him. So it can't be said I am not aware of the dynamics of raising a doggie. We were so tuned into each other that most of our communication was mostly non-verbal. It wasn't a game of dominance and hierarchies by far. He was the most pampered thing at home, and if most of what is said above were true, he should have made things hell for us. The fact is the reverse. His presence was a benediction that has lingered as strongly as ever, though it has been time since he left us. I cannot imagine anybody ever taking his place, ever. But then maybe not all doggies are built alike. I understand that neither your doggies may be alike nor your situation. I can only speak about my own experience.

[perseus]

I have a 5 month old persian male kitten. He is not neutered yet. I just got another 3 months old female kitten home. They don't get along. Male kitten attacks her at every chance. Although sometimes he even licks her. I know all about introducing them slowly but my bigger worry is if he gets her pregnant. Should I keep them separate until male is neutered to prevent any chance of he getting her pregnant?

Also any recommended place to get him neutered in Bangalore?