Early Age De-sexing

Puppies Downunder

Early Age De-sexing is a contentious topic for many so we would like to explore both sides of the argument and shed some light on why we support early age de-sexing.

We have been breeding dogs for over 45 years and have been de-sexing for the past 14 years.

In our experience, we have found there have been no negative side effects as a result of our early desexing.

We have sought expert advice from a number a specialists and the consensus is the positives overwhelmingly outweigh the negatives.

We de-sex our puppies in line with the best practice and ethical breeding. Our practices are supported by Animal Welfare Victoria and the Chief Veterinary Officer of Victoria who are the highest authority on animal health at the moment and have set the highest standards in the world for animal care.

As a consequence we are fully backed by the Victorian government with a commercial license. They believe our actions are in the best interests of animal welfare and we do not do anything that is harmful to our animals in the short term or long term.

There are veterinarians which are opposed to this practice, however, our experience and the advice from our specialists argue the benefits outweigh the negatives.

We breed small dogs so the arguments against Early Age De-sexing (EAD) do not impact our breeds to the same extent. The evidence argues most of the issues with EAD relate to larger dog breeds.

The incidence of incontinence is 3% in females but this is difficult to measure as in our experience females often urinate for a number of reasons so this is difficult to isolate to incontinence being the only reason.

Females come on heat at 6 months of age so can fall pregnant at a very young age. This is detrimental to the health of the puppy and will have Long term negative implications for the animal if it falls pregnant. It is difficult to avoid if your puppy is not desexed and it is vulnerable to undesexed males at parks or that enter the property with or without permission. We therefore control this before the animal leaves by desexing at 8 weeks so this does not occur.

Dog breeding is a very lucrative industry at the moment so there are many people who wish to profit from the practice of breeding. We have the highest standards for our animals and we have invested significant resources in the form of 45 years of experience, infrastructure, and over 15 staff to help us care for our animals. As a result of our practices we are 1 in only a handful that have received a license from the Victorian state government to breed because of our standards. We ensure when our puppies leave here they will not be bred in terrible conditions by people who have no knowledge or standards, and are merely undertaking the activity for the purpose of making profit.

Please refer to the following RSPCA EAD Research Report and article from Petcare which provide some explanation regarding the pros and cons to EAD

We hope this has shed some light on Early Age De-sexing and help you make up your mind where you sit on the matter.