Spaying A Female DogSpaying a female dog is the only permanent, 100 percent effective method of birth control for the lady Golden Retriever in your life. It's also one more way to make sure she leads a long and healthy life. The spaying procedure is an ovariohysterectomy, which is surgical removal of both ovaries and the entire uterus. It permanently stops the heat cycle, which ends your dog's ability to reproduce. Check Out These Spaying BenefitsHeat cycles bring hormonal changes that can lead to personality changes in your female Golden Retriever, but spayed females have a more uniform and predictable temperament. You can take them anywhere, anytime, and that's a plus in anyone's book.Here are some additional spaying benefits for you to consider:
Possible Problems After Spaying a Female DogAfter a dog is spayed, she'll be on a hormonal roller coaster for the first week or so.
This is common and does not mean that you have a big problem. You can limit her access to the house (maybe more crate time), and walk her more than usual. Everything will be back to normal soon. Sometimes a dog's metabolism slows down a bit after spaying. But all you need to do is decrease her food and increase her exercise. Getting fat is not an inevitable consequence of spaying a female dog. Just One Litter?There is absolutely no benefit to letting your dog have a litter before being spayed. Motherhood will have no permanent or beneficial effect on a dog's personality.When breeding a litter of puppies, it's much more likely that you'll lose more than you'll make. Do the math, factoring in time, equipment and veterinary costs. It's also a lot of work! Want to teach your kids about the miracle of life? Rent a video. If that's not enough, consider fostering a pregnant dog from a local humane society or rescue group. These organizations are constantly looking for foster parents to help provide a more natural "home" environment when these four-legged moms are close to delivering. You may be able to witness the delivery at home, although there's a good chance you'll go out for a movie one night and come home to a box full of puppies! What's the Best Age To Spay Dogs?Spaying a female dog can take place as early as six weeks, but that's usually only done by shelters and humane organizations so they can send puppies to their new homes after making sure they're unable to reproduce.In addition, many breeders are having early spay or neuter procedures done on their pet-quality puppies before selling them at about eight weeks.
You don't want to wait too long, though, as you'll miss out on one of the biggest spaying benefits. Studies have shown that you can reduce a female's incidence of breast cancer by over 90 percent if you have her spayed before her first heat (which usually occurs between 6 and 12 months). To take advantage of all these factors, most pups are spayed around five to six months of age. Spaying a female dog at an older age (but less than eight years old) involves the same procedure as for younger ones, but younger dogs heal faster. If you wait until your dog is geriatric (eight years of age or older, for Goldens), she has a higher risk of problems with anesthesia due to underlying metabolic diseases. National Spay DaySpay Day USA takes place each year on the last Tuesday of February. Created by the Doris Day Animal League in 1995, Spay Day USA became a program of The Humane Society of the United States when DDAL combined operations with The HSUS in 2006.During Spay Day USA's first 13 years, participants spayed or neutered an estimated 1,387,000 animals.
An increasing number of communities also offer a free spay day sometime during the year to help reduce the unwanted pet population. Many clinics and veterinarians provide a spay-neuter certificate to prove the deed's been done, so you can get a discount on your dog's license. Over four million cats and dogs are killed in US shelters each year. That's about one every eight seconds! There are simply more pets born than there are people willing and able to care for them. Please don't be a part of the pet overpopulation problem. Make spaying a female dog a priority in your home. Search here for more information on Golden Retrievers |
Don't be surprised if you have a few housebreaking mistakes the first two weeks after spaying.
In general, spaying a puppy becomes safer after she's had all her 
Many shelters and Humane Society clinics throughout the US offer low cost or free spay and neuter programs on Spay Day.
