illy

I'm living with a friend who has 2 dogs. One 2 year old male Maltese Terrior (Gucci), and the other one, a 6 year old female Chihuahua x Fox Terrier (Winnie). Winnie has 2 baby pups with Gucci that are probably a month old. Now here's the problem.

I have a 5 month old female puppy (Beagle x Kelpie). Her name's illy and she gets a long very well with Gucci (Winnie doesn't like illy unfortunately, sometimes attacks her, but my dog just surrenders because she's very passive. I haven't seen Winnie biting illy though, I just think she's being defensive over her pups). Anyway, that's besides the point. Today I saw Gucci trying to hump my puppy!! I don't think Gucci actually got "it" in, because illy kept moving and trying to get him off, though I am very concerned as I know how passive my dog can get!

She can't get desexed (spayed) yet as they have to be 6 months old, so I'm wondering about the possibilities of my pup being pregnant. I really do not wish for her to be pregnant at all, so I don't really know what else I can do. I can't seperate them as the houseowner doesn't want dogs inside the house.

Apart from that, I'm trying to find money to pay for her desexing which is in a month! (She's born on the 11th). I only have $130 and in Australia, desexing costs around $230. I'm very concerned and worried and I just need some suggestions on what I can do, and if my puppy can actually get pregnant. She also needs her last puppy shot which was due on the 7th but I couldn't get it done as I had to pay rent. I don't know what I can do for her right now and I'm soo distressed. =( I feel like I'm such a bad owner when I look at her.

Any suggestions?

Oh and I forgot to mention that Gucci is afraid of heights, so we put him on a table to seperate them for the time being. He usually sleeps on the table because he barks a lot, and that's the only way to make him shut up. Of course, this can't be a permanent thing until the heat wears off.

This is the most recent picture of her:


She's so cute!

MrsRottie

Hi Illy,
She's lovely

My opinion is this : I think you're right saying that Illy is defending her pups. Once the pups are older she will more than likely settle down and get on just fine with your pup.

Re the humping - it's a dominance thing - absolutely nothing to do with procreation whatsoever. Gucci is letting your pup know who is boss. It's fairly unusual in my experience (which is rather limited!) for a huge dominance display with a pup - the adult dog can tell it's a pup simply from their smell, but chances are he's a bit confused and possibly defending the pups too.

Illy will NOT be pregnant. A bitch has to be in season or at least very near it to get pregnant. The dog will 'lock' into the bitch when mating and you would not be able to part them until it was over. (Not that you should try - that can be dangerous in itself)

Should you ever be in the position where you think Gucci has got to her then a trip to your vet for the 'morning after' pill would be necessary. De-sexing is expensive, but permanent and a lot easier on your nerves!

Take a deep breath and calm down - they will work it out amongst themselves
Re the jabs - I know exactly what you mean - they cost a fortune. While you're not sure if she's covered or not, keep her in and only let her play with other vaccinated dogs. Have a chat with your vet see if they can do a pay in instalments account for you??

Good Luck, let us know how you get on

Jane x

lassie

Yes agree with posting above, butDo you not think Gucci would be better done too?

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Love is a ruffie:

dlambertz

oh my! i would talk to your vet about possibly making payments on a spay. here they spay as early as 8 wks. i agree with the other poster about gucci being neutered too. course, i am pro spay neuter advocate. i feel only the best breeders should breed and the rest of us should just enjoy all the hard work and knowledge they have about the breed they raise.
darla

lassie

8 weeks your'e kidding blimey

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Love is a ruffie:

dlambertz

my vet waited on the chihuahua due to size but told me wheaten could have been done easily at 12 wks. here is an article on early spay neuter http://www.ahimsatx.org/easn/easnmm.htm when my girls were done...(all at 6 months because i didn't know about early spay than) they only had an incision about 1/4" long... amazing from the old time spays we used to see.
darla

illy

Gucci isn't my dog and I don't think the owner wants him to be desexed. Winnie was desexed when she was 6 months old, but apparantly she still got pregnant!

So my pup won't get pregnant if she's not in heat? How do we know this for sure? It's just wrong if she did get pregnant cause she's still a puppy and can barely look after herself, let alone bare puppies.

I just hope it's a dominance thing, though my pup thinks that it's just a game what Gucci is doing (at least it seems like it). I watched them today, and I haven't seen Gucci mounting on her so that's a good sign. Hopefully he won't do it again until she gets desexed.

With regards to getting her desexed.. I think I'll just borrow money to get it done, along with the Booster shot. Luckily it's her last one!

Thanks everyone for your posts!

Taeric

I really don't think you have anything to worry about. A female pup isn't reproductively mature prior to her first heat, and even if she was mature, it would be an astronomical longshot to get pregnant when not in heat.

It's very odd that your friend's dog managed to get pregnant. When a female gets spayed, the vet performs a full hysterectomy (at least in the US), so the equipment is not longer available to support a pregnancy. Maybe that pup had a lesser procedure done (like the canine equivalent of having her tubes tied, if such a procedure exists for dogs). From the price you quoted in your first post, I'm sure you're getting the full surgery. I think we paid around $150 US for our dog's spaying last summer. It's definitely a very good thing to do, especially before the first heat. I've read that the chances of various cancers and other maladies increase exponentially after the first heat. Good luck.

ChipsDad

Get it done ASAP!

MrsRottie

There is some research here in the UK which shows that bitches speyed prior to their first season can be come totally incontinent.
I would love to be able to reference this research for you, but it was something my vet told me about. It only happens in a very few cases, but once it happens it is non-reversible.
I'll ask the vet and see if I can fill in more details on that.....