Female dog Question

[Spidey]

3 weeks ago we became the owner of a female golden lab/german sheppard cross (i think)

Was free from my home town and an unexpected surprise from my brother. I was ok with it since Ive been meaning to get a dog since we moved out to an acreage.

Now I havent owned a dog for 20 years, basically because I didnt want to have a dog living in the city (personal choice)

Now this dog doesnt have any shot, but thats one of my questions

1. Shots. What shots does it need, we never got shots for our dogs when growing up and they were all fine. My brother has dogs too, none of his has shots, no problems. Whats the cost, what are they for, etc

2. Spaying/neuturing - when and the cost. She is about 3 months old so how old should she be. I dont to worry about puppies and then giving them away.

I think thats about it though. Any help would be appreciated

[dhamilton]

All of these questions (and more!) can be answered with a quick 2 minute phone call to your local vet.

[Spidey]

All of these questions (and more!) can be answered with a quick 2 minute phone call to your local vet.

Id rather get it from here. Ive heard good and bad things about certian vets. Oh they need this and this and this, jjst to get some extra money today.

One told me today she needs shots in case she gets breast cancer??

[elnady]

Hello,

Here is the answer your questions:

1- Shots. The usual rabbis shot. The vet will tell you it should be once a year.. to be honest mine get his once ever two years. Also if you live up north there is a shot (sorry I can’t remember the right name) for some illness that transmit though raccoon and deer pee in a pool of water (which the dogs might drink out of), we give this shot to our dog camping all the time and this is really big up north (not in the city). The vet might try to sale you on kennel cough but really it’s not necessarily.
2- Spaying at that age (3 to 6 month) is the best. Cost about $200. Not sure if you know this or not but the female dog will get a “period” if they are not spayed.

A do recommend a book called “the Monks of new skate” one of the best books out there. And remember socialize… socialize… socialize very important for the dog. Also puppies can’t hold them self for long. After ever meal or drink take them out to do there business, you can calculate how many hours a pup can hold themselves by age (in month) +1, so your puppy can hold herself (3+1)=4 hours.

Good luck

[Spidey]

Hello,

Here is the answer your questions:

1- Shots. The usual rabbis shot. The vet will tell you it should be once a year.. to be honest mine get his once ever two years. Also if you live up north there is a shot (sorry I can’t remember the right name) for some illness that transmit though raccoon and deer pee in a pool of water (which the dogs might drink out of), we give this shot to our dog camping all the time and this is really big up north (not in the city). The vet might try to sale you on kennel cough but really it’s not necessarily.
2- Spaying at that age (3 to 6 month) is the best. Cost about $200. Not sure if you know this or not but the female dog will get a “period” if they are not spayed.

A do recommend a book called “the Monks of new skate” one of the best books out there. And remember socialize… socialize… socialize very important for the dog. Also puppies can’t hold them self for long. After ever meal or drink take them out to do there business, you can calculate how many hours a pup can hold themselves by age (in month) +1, so your puppy can hold herself (3+1)=4 hours.

Good luck

Thanks for the spaying answer. Some places quoted us $400 and I said thats to much.

When we called about shots they said a bunch of different shots and different ages, etc. All $50 a pop, so all said and done another $400.

I want to take care of my dog, but Im not giving them shots for everything that they can get. Rabies for sure, but like I said we had dogs for years and nothing ever happened to them because they didnt get shots

We are sociallzing with her like crazy. with 3 kids she is kept busy and will be an inside dog until spring, but after that she will be weaned from the house to be a 100% outside dog

Shes getting better at training, she now goes to the door for the most part

[IronMac]

One told me today she needs shots in case she gets breast cancer??

You must have heard wrong. Spaying does help to prevent a female dog from developing breast cancer:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....2+1638&aid=460

[IronMac]

Thanks for the spaying answer. Some places quoted us $400 and I said thats to much.

And from whence do you get this idea that it's too much? I just read about someone here in Toronto who was quoted a price of almost $600.

Some of the cost may depend on the size of the animal.

[elnady]

IronMac.. you are right about this point.

Spidey,,, I'm not sure of Alberta but here in the GTA you REALLY have to shop around with vets... some of them will offer a shot for $50 and others will charge you $100.

Go with the Rabies.. once every two years is more than enough. Forget about all other fancy shots they are trying to sale you.

BTW for kennel cough (my dog pretty much gets it once every sping) give the dog the solid honey (they sale them in any supermarket) it works magic. the shots worth $hit and it doesn't work.

sociallzing with Kids are wonderful, my daughter (15month) ride my dog now and he is cool with it. on the other hand sociallzing with other dogs is very important.

I hate to say that but be careful with Vets they will try to use the guilt factor to sale you load of crap, including the "special food".

[Spidey]

And from whence do you get this idea that it's too much? I just read about someone here in Toronto who was quoted a price of almost $600.

Some of the cost may depend on the size of the animal.

Whence I myself said thats to much. I found a vet in a smaller town that actually understand "farm" dogs and they quoted $190, and said she wont need many of the shots that dogs get because she wont be at dog parks, in kennels, etc,

Funny thing is all of our dogs lived to be very old, and never had these series of shots that are claimed to be needed today

[elnady]

And from whence do you get this idea that it's too much? I just read about someone here in Toronto who was quoted a price of almost $600.

Some of the cost may depend on the size of the animal.

I know,,, my dog x-Vet kept pushing us to fix our dog (he is not fix nor I wanted to fix him) and when my wife asked how much he said my dog is over 1 year old (he is 5 now) and the vet wanted $900! I can get a vasectomy for less the $900! (not that this will ever happen)

[Spidey]

IronMac.. you are right about this point.

Spidey,,, I'm not sure of Alberta but here in the GTA you REALLY have to shop around with vets... some of them will offer a shot for $50 and others will charge you $100.

Go with the Rabies.. once every two years is more than enough. Forget about all other fancy shots they are trying to sale you.

BTW for kennel cough (my dog pretty much gets it once every sping) give the dog the solid honey (they sale them in any supermarket) it works magic. the shots worth $hit and it doesn't work.

sociallzing with Kids are wonderful, my daughter (15month) ride my dog now and he is cool with it. on the other hand sociallzing with other dogs is very important.

I hate to say that but be careful with Vets they will try to use the guilt factor to sale you load of crap, including the "special food".

There arent a ton of vets, but some of them the prices vary so much its scary.

Im thinking rabies and distemper, the rest Im not getting done. One place said oh shes already missed her one set of shots, so she wont need them now. So why did she need them in the first place.

As it is shes got a great life compared to living under a shed behind an autobody shop.

She does socialize with other dogs when we go for walks. The neighbours have dogs and come around and play when we walk. They are both labs so the do lots of running

In theory I dont have to get her fixed, I could easily give the puppies away. if people are paying for dogs, I could easily give away golden lab puppies. But I dont want to add to the already over burdened pet population

[IronMac]

Whence I myself said thats to much. I found a vet in a smaller town that actually understand "farm" dogs and they quoted $190, and said she wont need many of the shots that dogs get because she wont be at dog parks, in kennels, etc,

Funny thing is all of our dogs lived to be very old, and never had these series of shots that are claimed to be needed today

A dog is a dog. The procedure is the same whether or not it's going to living outside in your yard or in an apartment in the city. But don't get the idea that the price will be the same, as I said, it depends on a variety of factors such as age, size and weight of the animal.

And, yeah, in the old days, they'd simply be put down or shot if there was a problem.

[Spidey]

A dog is a dog. The procedure is the same whether or not it's going to living outside in your yard or in an apartment in the city. But don't get the idea that the price will be the same, as I said, it depends on a variety of factors such as age, size and weight of the animal.

And, yeah, in the old days, they'd simply be put down or shot if there was a problem.

in the old days, dogs were still taken care of. But there were no such things as operations for cancer or spending hundreds of dollars each month on medication if they had issues. Just didnt happen on the farm.

of course on the farm dogs were work dogs as well.

[ricoboxing]

i paid something like $200 to get my dog spayed. that was over 8 years ago though. actually i think it was $180. shop around.

[CSK'sMom]

Lepto is the shot that elnady is talking about. Think seriously about adding it Spidey, it's on the rise and being in the country you might be more prone to it. Coons carry it and can infect bodies of water with it, the dogs get infected from swimming or drinking the infected water. We did both of ours, even now in the city, for it because we have coons that come into the yard from time to time and we have a pond and stream.

Spidey, ask around if you have a large animal vet in the area. Most will have limited office hrs and will do farm dogs. When we were on the farm our large animal vet sold me the vaccines to do the dogs myself. They also "get it".