Mary Allen
The Alaskan Malamute cannot be left alone, which means that owners tend to have a second dog. A bitch comes into heat for the first time at around 6 months, which leads to the consideration of how to avoid unwanted offspring. There are various ways to prevent pregnancy.
The Castration of the Female Dog
There is the alternative of castration with the removal of the uterus or castration with the removal of the ovaries and leaving the uterus. The Alaskan Malamute is a large dog, almost 50% of the castrations with the removal of the uterus lead to incontinence, which means that the bitch can no longer hold the urine. This isn’t really nice for a well-behaved dog, nor for the owner. A good veterinarian will examine the uterus closely during spaying and try to preserve it.
Castration should always be carried out during anestrus, which means: a female is actually sexless. Twice a year her body begins to produce progesterone and when the progesterone level is at its peak she lets herself be covered. The times between the heats are called the anestrus, then it forms no hormones. Anyone who has ever experienced how a bitch changes in character before she comes into heat knows what females you can have at home, and somehow you get the feeling during a castration in this phase that the women stay up-to-date standing when they are neutered…
The next alternative is to sever the fallopian tubes, which is called sterilization. The bitch remains the same both in character and appearance, she gets “hot”, can be mated, but of course, she doesn’t get pregnant.
Male Castration
Changes in behavior can be increased aggression towards other males, aggression towards females, but of course also subservience towards other dogs.
This makes me wonder, why would they want a male dog if they’re going to make a eunuch out of it?
In addition, castration has no positive effect on the behavior of adult males, because this is learned, experiences with other dogs have shaped it, its learned behavior is manifest, you cannot change that with castration. But what can happen to you is that the dominant male then keeps fighting because he doesn’t smell like a male anymore… He smells more like a female shortly before the heat, other females see him as competition, other males try, to dominate him. So with the loss of manhood, they have made him the “laughing stock” of the other dogs and he is forced to fight other dogs for the rest of his life.
Alternatively, one can sterilize the male dog, sever the spermatic ducts and thus achieve infertility. However, he remains a proud macho, that was what they wanted when they decided on a male…
Chemical Alternatives
- Heat suppression by injection in the female
- Can lead to sterility, can affect later litters (monofertility, etc.).
- Definitely makes you lazy and fat…
- Chemical castration of a chipped male
works after approx. 6 weeks, lasts approx. 1/2 year, the effect depends on the testosterone production of the male, after approx. 12 months the effect stops at the latest. But should only be administered twice. During this time, you can place more value on consistent training, after which a chip is no longer necessary. The chip has been proven to change the genetic material, so males should not be used for mating even after a chip.
And Now My Opinion
Neutering is always an intervention in a healthy body and there is no reason to neuter dogs unless it is medically necessary. These include prostate adenoma, testicular tumor, hypersexuality with prolonged food refusal, and serious weight loss in males.
Mammary tumors or disturbances in estrus heats more than twice a year in the bitch, old bitch with ovarian cysts. I think it’s better to spay a bitch than a male.
From the USA comes the bad habit of spaying and neutering bitches before the first heat and males in the first year of life so that they don’t get mammary tumors/prostate tumors.
But: You wouldn’t even think of “eviscerating” yourself or your husband/wife or your children because there might be a disease of the genitals at some point, why do you expect your dog to do it?
Anyone who owns a male dog should train him properly, then he can save himself the castration. Human laziness and a lack of insight into the consistent upbringing of a dog is often the reason for castration.
Common arguments: my dog pulls on the leash, he fights with other dogs when he’s out with the kids…
Your dog also pulls on the leash after neutering, why shouldn’t it pull again afterward? Just because you are unable to control your dog does he have to donate his testicles?
And children on a dog leash, well, that’s how it looks to me when a dog walks a child, a child doesn’t belong on a leash, and a dog only on an adult’s leash!
A female gets hot twice a year, of which she is about 1 week in the standing heat, so ready to breed. If you know the approximate intervals between your female’s heats, you can take precautions and separate the dogs! 2x a year 1 week, what’s that! This saves a surgical intervention, which does not always have positive consequences!