Dog and bitches on heat

[Mairyhinge]

Ok, please bear with me, I've never had a young dog before so please don't laugh as this might be a stupid question.
My boy is 10 months old, and not neutered ( neither will he be for quite some time, if ever).
If he's off lead playing and running and comes across a bitch on heat, will he automatically mate with her ( or try to). ?
If you've a bitch on heat do you keep them on a lead? If we are out and a dog on lead approaches I put him on so he couldn't do anything.
As I said it sounds daft but I don't want any angry dads at my door!
Is the responsibility of keeping the bitch unpregnant the owners?

Also can bitches only get pregnant when on heat? Another stupid question- because my friends bitch is getting ready for her first season and I don't want him catching her out sort of thing.

Why will you never neuter him? I didn't take my dog out when she was on heat. Thought it was just common sense.

I keep my dog on the lead on, when she's on heat. Just in case, as I think that boys tend to go for her straight away. I don't want any puppy accidents, at the minute!

Why arnt/wouldnt you getting him nutured?

If a bitch is in heat yes he will automatically try if there us a bitch in heat in your neighbourhood he will escape to get her

Keeping your dog under control is your problem if he goes after a bitch on the lead your unlikely to be able to get him back.
if he injured the owner or dog trying to get at her you'll be at fault

While I believe bigger breeds need more time to mature before nutering so they can grow to their full potential if your not intending to breed then there is no reason to keep his balls and a chance it could save him from cancer
If you are intending to stud him out consider what his breed is and how many of them are in rescues

if your not intending to breed then there is no reason to keep his balls

There are lots of reasons. Not least scientific studies that show there is an increased amount of unprovoked aggression and fear responses from neutered dogs than unneutered ones - contrary to what most people expect.

I always think the argument that owners should chop bits off their dog just because they are not intending to use them is daft. There are (good) reasons to neuter or spay SOME dogs. This ain't one of them.

and a chance it could save him from cancer

Wrong. There are increased risks of cancer in neutered dogs than not neutered. In particular, bonce cancer is 4x more common in neutered dogs than intact ones. Intact dogs are more likely to die from trauma or infectious diseases than neutered dogs - so by all means neuter if this is a risk for your dog (e.g. an intact male that takes to escaping and roaming by a main road might be a good candidate - though I would argue for better house security first).

bone (not bonce)

Ensure you have excellent recall. My dog always recalls fine, regardless. It would be incredibly stupid for any inheat bitches owner to let the bitch off the lead anywhere a male could turn up and I'd never allow my dog to approach an onlead dog anyway, so there should be no issue.

My friend had a very different experience however. Her dog had a sudden recall failure when he smelt his first bitch in heat when he was 10/11months old. She went and got him back apologising profusely, saying she couldn't understand it, he'd literally never done it before. The owner said his one bitch was in heat. So she walked him away on lead, in the opposite direction to where the bitches had come from, through a woodland, over a quiet road and into a field (over 1mile away from the bitch in heat) before deciding it must be far enough and letting him off lead. He bolted straight back across the field and road, through the woodland, and found where the bitches had been walked too and started trying to make puppies. My friend was so horrified and traumatised by it all she booked him to be neutered the following week!

After that incident he kept trying to escape the garden and even when taken somewhere totally different to walk was trying to search out a bitch and his recall had gone to pot. So she went ahead with the neuter as he is a) no longer able to recall if he thought there was potential of a bitch anywhere near by, b) a large active breed who could not have been satisfied with on lead walking and c) she felt his desperation to escape and find a female was putting him at high risk of harm, d) she would never have forgiven herself if he got a bitch pregnant and the poor bitch need the doggy morning after pill.

The increased risk of bone cancer is because people get their dogs done before their skelington has fully matured if your dog has been allowed to grow to their full potential at their own pace with the correct hormones then the risk is no more than normal

And a dog that has not been allowed to mature with his hormones and interacting with other dogs will off course be scared and aggressive

Are you aware there is such a thing as a vasectomy for dogs? Don't want him to reproduce them do that instead you can keep his balls and know you won't get accidental puppies

A big point of being a responsible owner is to stop unwanted litters accidents happen

That's true duprasi for bone cancer. There are also increased risks for hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma and mast cell cancer in neutered dogs.

The behavioural studies looked at early neutered dogs (between 6-12 months old) and later neutered ones (over 12 months old). They found early neutered correlated with the most fear/aggression but that later neutered also had higher instances than intact dogs so there may be more than just maturing with the hormones in tact at play.

Ultimately, I think we agree that a fundamental responsibility of any dog owner is to prevent unwanted breeding. I just disagree that there is no reason to cut his balls off if you don't want puppies. Vasectomy is a great example of there being multiple ways to achieve the same result of no pups.

I think it comes down to a balance of the owner and dog's situation and the dog's behaviour. There is no one answer for all but instead, ideally, owners would take a look at the science, talk to their vet and come to a decision based on the dog they have.

A dog that shows some fear in early months may do better to remain in tact. A golden retriever (a breed with a high propensity to cancer) may also do better that way. Swimming's example seems like a good one showing that neutering was the best for the owner (and ultimately the dog) because it removed a major source of stress and risk from their lives.

In the Op's case, they are new to having a young dog and may find that neutering is a better option for them than stressing about controlling the dog. It's all about risk assessment and coming up with the best (least bad) option.

The APBC has a great summary of the pros and cons of neutering...
www.apbc.org.uk/system/files/private/apbc_summary_sheet_of_castration_risks_and_benefits.pdf