To Neuter..Or Not? Too Late?

[jmm]

Patellas 12 months if you want the OFA. Your regular vet can tell you the status as soon as you bring your pup home.
The heart is not the echo, only the auscultation. Your regular vet would hear a genetic problem (PDA). Seeing a cardiologist (unless you need the paper for clearance), is not terribly necessary.
Eye exam at any time ?(if your dog has no problems and is not being bred, this is not necessary...the things in Maltese would be eyelash/lid abnormalities)
Thyroid depends on who you ask...I find most in other breeds test around breeding age (2 years). On my pets, I do a baseline around then. I don't send it to OFA.

[Snowbody]

Originally Posted by Hunter's Mom

Please do not take this the wrong way but this is a completely inappropriate reason to not neuter your dog. Only those dogs that are judged to be great representations of the Maltese breed should ever be kept unaltered and used for breeding purposes. If you breed Cloud you would be taking on the unglorious title of a "Back Yard Breeder" and these individuals are not well thought of on this forum or in the general public.

Please take Cloud to be altered immediatly and erase any ideas from your head about breeding him to any future female maltese you might own or any other maltese for that matter. You would be doing such a disservice to Cloud to keep him unaltered for such a selfish purpose. Trust me - he doesn't care about passing on his 'genes' and neither should you. You should simply enjoy his companionship.

[Cheri]

Emmy, I know what they're saying may seem harsh to you, but if you hang around breeders and rescues long enough, you would understand why they are so adamant about this. They SEE what happens when you breed 'pet quality' dogs. They don't MEAN to sound rude.

A lot of times problems arise from dogs that have 'bad breeding' in their lines (and unless you got him from a breeder who shows or has dogs from champion lines, chances are your dog doesn't have 'quality' genes ...for lack of a better term...) Their point is that if you breed him, the same problems will continue down the line...and maybe HE came from someone that decided one day to breed THEIR dog because he was cute... can you see the pattern? It will just keep going with people just breeding their dogs.

I agree with what they say, have him neutered and tell your boyfriend to shove it, he's your dog lol it really IS better for their health and a lot of times it mellows them out as well (if that's even possible with him lol)

If you want another dog, check into rescues. There are TONS of malts out there waiting for someone to take them home!! (I would have more if I didn't already have 5 dogs...)

(((HUG)))
I hope the reactions to your post doesn't make you angry. You didn't know, and that's ok. Now you do Its all about the health of the dogs, and to prevent over population...that's all. It's not a personal attack, k?

[CLOUDsMommy]

Emmy, I know what they're saying may seem harsh to you, but if you hang around breeders and rescues long enough, you would understand why they are so adamant about this. They SEE what happens when you breed 'pet quality' dogs. They don't MEAN to sound rude.

A lot of times problems arise from dogs that have 'bad breeding' in their lines (and unless you got him from a breeder who shows or has dogs from champion lines, chances are your dog doesn't have 'quality' genes ...for lack of a better term...) Their point is that if you breed him, the same problems will continue down the line...and maybe HE came from someone that decided one day to breed THEIR dog because he was cute... can you see the pattern? It will just keep going with people just breeding their dogs.

I agree with what they say, have him neutered and tell your boyfriend to shove it, he's your dog lol it really IS better for their health and a lot of times it mellows them out as well (if that's even possible with him lol)

If you want another dog, check into rescues. There are TONS of malts out there waiting for someone to take them home!! (I would have more if I didn't already have 5 dogs...)

(((HUG)))
I hope the reactions to your post doesn't make you angry. You didn't know, and that's ok. Now you do Its all about the health of the dogs, and to prevent over population...that's all. It's not a personal attack, k?

Thanks Cheri..I didn't find it rude or that they were trying to 'attack' me, I'm glad I'm getting information about this type of things because I really don't know what's considered ) to be a 'backyard breeder', 'puppy mill', etc (ALL the descriptions that are considered to be BYB/PM). I just know those things are bad and have bad environments for animals...It did make me sad though to read about the comments...I would never want to breed Cloud to sell and make any profit off of it. I just kind of thought if Cloud was to ever pass, there would still be a part of him with his offsprings that would be with me...Also, if we were going to get a female, I was definitely looking into rescues...

It did kind of make me tear eyed to read though..

[Cheri]

Originally Posted by CLOUDsMommy

Thanks Cheri..I didn't find it rude or that they were trying to 'attack' me, I'm glad I'm getting information about this type of things because I really don't know what's considered ) to be a 'backyard breeder', 'puppy mill', etc (ALL the descriptions that are considered to be BYB/PM). I just know those things are bad and have bad environments for animals...It did make me sad though to read about the comments...I would never want to breed Cloud to sell and make any profit off of it. I just kind of thought if Cloud was to ever pass, there would still be a part of him with his offsprings that would be with me...Also, if we were going to get a female, I was definitely looking into rescues...

It did kind of make me tear eyed to read though..

Glad to hear it I knew they weren't attacking you, but sometimes people see it as that because they don't want to hear what they're saying.
And rescues btw will never give you a dog that isn't spayed or neutered.

I understand what you mean about wanting a piece of cloud after he passes. It makes me sad to think about not having Vi around too. But one day it will happen no matter what. That's reality. But you know, I think no matter what, I enjoy my days with her and no other dog could ever replace what we have together, related or not. And I would get another malt, but not as a replacement by any means, but as a new journey That's how you should look at it. Just make every day with him count
And I'm happy to see that you are a responsible owner who can hear the truth and accept it

[jmm]

Genetically if you want a similar dog you would get a sibling or do a line breeding. An outcross of outcrossed dogs tends to produce a lot of variety.

[Hunter's Mom]

Originally Posted by Cheri

Emmy, I know what they're saying may seem harsh to you, but if you hang around breeders and rescues long enough, you would understand why they are so adamant about this. They SEE what happens when you breed 'pet quality' dogs. They don't MEAN to sound rude.

(((HUG)))
I hope the reactions to your post doesn't make you angry. You didn't know, and that's ok. Now you do Its all about the health of the dogs, and to prevent over population...that's all. It's not a personal attack, k?

I didn't think my post was harsh nor do I feel it sounded rude. Perhaps I am wrong but I really hope this post wasn't geared towards me comment. I also don't think JMMs post was either of these things - it just stated what would need to be done if breeding as something this person was interested in doing.