Dog things

Wednesday 30th May.

The castration issue is really bugging me at the moment as 16 weeks seems terribly early to have any dog castrated, they are, after all, still babies.

I have been in touch with my friend and Kasidi's breeder in England and she too was appalled when she heard 16 weeks is the age vets are recommending for castration/neutering. She told me her vet would not suggest such an early age. I was always told by vets in the Uk that it is best for the bitches to have a season first and with Ridgebacks this can be as old as 15 months. As for the dogs....... Why do we castrate them?

Marking, mounting, wandering, aggressive tendencies towards other male dogs are reasons to have a dog castrated and these are pretty good reasons especially if the dog is living with a young family in an urban environment. I have no arguement with any of these reasons and of course if a bitch nearby comes into season then it can be an extremely difficult situation. Where I struggle is the age. My experience of 21 years with this breed and German Shepherds growing up is many of these tendencies do not appear until 9-12 months and in some cases they never appear. Raiza springs to mind, yes, he cocks his leg and marks his spot but this has never been a problem. My neighbours who live close by have a wonderful Ridgeback called Sim who is 2 and a half, a lovely gentle boy and he is intact. He lives a double life in that half of his time is spent in Manhattan and the other half up here in the Catskills. He has never presented his owners with any problems.

I have to go to England on Monday and I will be attending the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Great Britains open show so It will be interesting to discover thoughts from other breeders.