Cupcake is officially over her 1st and only ever heat!! WOOT!! Her little flap is just about tucked back in and her nipples and starting to go back to as normal as they will be too. Although the ones by her legs seem to be a bit ore swollen. Im going to guess it will take them longer as they get rubbed a lot wit her walking and running.

So now she has a newdate to get he rlady box out the worrying gets to start all over. Her lady box will come out on Febuary 15th. I wanted to give her a month just to make sure everything was good and "back to normal". Please pray for my sanity

Bye Bye lady box!!! I bet you will be glad when its over with.

Ha! - "Lady Box"! I like that. I bet you will be relieved when it is all over with.

just a month until the "lady box" is a gonner! hang in there!

Hi there, your Cupcake is a little sweetie, and her name suits her so well!

I was just wondering if she's not too young for spaying? I'm no expert, and I'm not being judgemental - since everyone's free to make whatever decision they think is best for their dog - it's just that most of the breeders and dog people I've talked to recommended that the dog should be allowed to mature before being castrated/spayed. This would apparently give time for their hormones to settle down. On the other hand, our vet mentioned castration during our first visit (when George was 9 weeks old) and seemed to be keen to do it as early as 6 months. Leaving personal choice - which would inevitably divide us into two categories - aside, I'm just wondering who's right and how you get to make the decision.

Diana

Thank you. She certainly does fit her name for sure.

I dont really think there is a "right" answer for when to spay/nuter. Its a personal choice really like deciding to to clip you dog ears to look like "breed standard" or docking of the tail. Even though those are purley for asthetics. We had initially wanted to get her spayed at 10 mo but our finances wouldnt allow at the time. So she turned 1 and 1 week later she went into heat. Personally I never want to go through another heat with her. What a mess that turned out to be. Just ICK! Having had her 1st heat has not changed her one bit and personally Im not sure how much more maturing shes supposed to do. We have no intentions on breeding her as we only know how to make human babies and have no right to make puppy babies-lol. I like Cupcakes puppyness and I suppose as she ages she will calm down. I dont think it has anything to do with being spayed really. I have heard anywhere from 6mo to 14mo is a good time to get this done. There seem to be many "pro/cons" but you just need to decide whats right for you and your dog.

Hi, again! I completely understand your position. One of the reasons why we decided to go for a dog, and not a bitch, is the fact that bitches come into season once, or even twice a year. We'd heard that these can be messy, and from what you're saying, they really are. Another thing that we weren't very keen on was a trail of amorous dogs following us around during the season. So we've got a dog, so we don't have such problems. We don't intend to breed from him at this moment in time, but we're also not going to chop him off, since we're still on the fence about whether this is necessary. However, if at any point in his life there is a medical reason for castrating him, or he becomes aggressive/frustrated, etc. we will be open to the idea.

Anyway, I hope that Cupcake's operation goes well and am looking forward to seeing more of her cute little face

Diana

We didnt even think about her going into season when we got her. All we knew is we were in love with her and she was with us. The eyes I tell ya-they can get you to do anything!! And to tell you the truth we knew nothing about whippets when we got her. We did our researched after the fact, a little backwards but it has worked out:) Ive only ever had 1 dog and he was fixed young so I never knew him intact. I didnt even know all the fun things we could do with her till later. And thankfully I have lots of friends out here that have Whippets/Greyhounds and a Saluki. So were well roundedish in the hound community. Im supprised how large our sighthound community is for an island.

BTW-Your boy is beautiful!! Just stunning:)

I think that's how it happens - you just fall in love and that's it! The only reason why we did our research re: the most suitable breed in advance is because our daughter was 5 years old at the time and we wanted to make sure we get a dog who is good with kids. So we chose a whippet - which I had never seen in real life before. George is my first ever dog and my husband's second - he had a JR ages ago, but that doesn't really count since JRs are a completely different kettle of fish. When we went to choose our puppy we thought it was going to be difficult, as we had seen pictures of the litter and they were all gorgeous, but it wasn't: George chose us straight away and leaped on our daughter's lap, and we liked him best, too, so that was it. I don't have to tell you how much we love him, and how wonderful he is, and how spoilt he is, etc. - I'm sure it's exactly the same with you.
You're lucky to have other sighthounds around. There aren't many where we live, just a few retired greyhounds, but no whippets (at least we haven't bumped into any) for George to run around with. When we went to the seaside, everybody seemed to have either whippets or greyhounds, George really loved it.

Thanks for your comment about my boy's looks. I think that George and Cupcake would make a nice couple Such a shame that we're too far from each other I'll stop pestering you now. Good luck with the op and please let us know how it goes.

Diana

Funny DEW is concerned you are doing it too soon, and I thought you talked about doing it months ago! (I'm thinking...she didn't do it yet??!!)

My little guy was all fixed up before I got him on his first birthday. That's ONE thing I'm glad I didn't have to worry about!

Cupcake is one of my all time faves, but DEW, your guy is gorgeous..very striking!

I'm sure Cupcake's operation will go fine. From the sounds of things, you have a great vet.

Spay/neuter wasn't something that I had to think about (would have been done anyhow if I did have to think about it). Sigi & Miranda's breeder always spays/neuters before a puppy goes to a pet home. So, Sigi was done around 3 months and I'm not sure when Miranda was done, but she's 17 months tomorrow.

Ive been thinking about getting her spayed since we got her but have been to chicken-lol. and see where it got me so she is finally going in

Thank you, Zorro's mum - I could say exactly the same about Zorro: gorgeous AND he looks a lot like my George's favourite girlfriend But, not to hijack Cupcake's thread, if you want to see more pictures of my boy, I've posted some in the Photos and the Introduction sections, just look for thread titles with "George" in.
Sorry, Cupcake, back to you now!

Diana

I dont mind. We all love each others Roo's.

I have heard it said from other whippet breeders that whippets should be at least 1 year old before they are spayed or neutered due to the growth of their bones needing the hormones. They say that if they don't have all the hormones, their bones keep on growing too much, and some of them end up being too leggy. There are differences of opinion even among vets, though.

Luckily, with a male, you don't have to have them altered, but with a female it is so much easier to not have to live through the messy heats twice a year.

So much Whippet love going 'round in this thread! LOL!