Misunderstanding the Birds and the Bees
Some people really don’t understand the birds and the bees or they underestimate the power of a female in heat. For those people that are not familiar with animal behavior--a female in heat is irresistible to an intact male.
I had one client visit me with her pregnant Pitbull mix. She had originally made the appointment to discuss spaying her young dog, but the appointment ended up being a talk about how to care for a pregnant bitch. She told me that one afternoon she had decided to leave her female, who was in heat, outside in her fenced yard for just a few hours while she went out to run some errands. While she was gone an intact male dog had jumped her six foot fence and gotten to her female. This is only one of the many stories that I get to hear about male dogs doing whatever it takes to seek out the irresistible female.
This next story involves a nice young couple who had purchased two Beagle puppies from the same litter. One pup was a female and one was a male. From day one at their new house these dogs were always kenneled together even as they got older and sexually mature. This young couple believed that because their pups were bother and sister that they wouldn’t have puppies together. As you probably already figured out, this story was being told to me as this young couple was sitting in my office wanted to know how their female had become pregnant.
My favorite story is about a family who had two young French bulldog puppies. This family had originally planned to breed these two puppies in the future when they were a couple of years old. However, one day the family walked into my clinic because she thought that her female Frenchie might be pregnant because she was getting fatter. The wife didn’t understand how this could be possible because she always kept them separated. Upon further questioning I always keep them separated, except at night when they were sleeping.
The moral of all these stories is to have your pet spayed or neutered and a young age to help prevent the overpopulation of animal shelters.
Photo from kells422's photostream.
--Dr. Wohlwend
---------------------
Dr. Wohlwend is a small animal veterinarian in Renton, WA and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.
kells422 on March 31, 2009 at 05:00 AM
Thanks for the photo credit! This dog is actually the epitome of your article! She was actually a rescue from Hurricane Katrina who came to the foster care ward of a rescue shelter- in the end she had 13 pups- the litters seemed to be two separate gestational ages. Sadly she lost the younger portion of the litter, despite the foster care staff's round the clock, tender loving care.
All dogs-including the mom- went on to be adopted into loving homes, but not before being spayed and neutered!
Thanks for promoting responsible pet care!
joesen on December 19, 2010 at 09:31 PM
The wife didn’t understand how this could be possible because she always kept them separated. Upon further questioning I always keep them separated, except at night when they were sleeping.