It's a Dog's Life

We have a pack of dogs living at our place. One female schnauzer, one male pharaoh hound and two female pharaoh hounds. None of the dogs have been desexed, but none of them are going to be used (again) for breeding.

I say (again) because the schnauzer and the older pharaoh hound have both been mothers. If a thousand dollars or so fell into my bank account I'd certainly take the two oldest girls off the the vet to have there breeding ability fixed for good. This hasn't happened, so we'll have to continue on as we are.

Having undesexed bitches in the house with a male dog has some issues that must be dealt with. When a bitch is in season, it's messy. It's hard on the male dog, and it plays havoc with the hierarchy of the pack. We find it works best to keep the girl in season safely confined, and the male dog kept where he won't be too distracted.

It's funny sometimes to watch our pharaoh hound boy pining for the schnauzer, but it's not so funny when the bitches decide to try to sort out the hierarchy with a fight. If the girls have been fine together, we can let the three loose together in the house. If one's in season though, it's not work the risk.

The pharaoh hounds are mother and two of her kids. The boy's from her first litter and the girl's from her second litter. The pharaoh girls are always OK together, and the boy's always OK with the other two pharaoh hounds, unless the girls are in season. As you can imagine, it gets a little bit tricky around our house sometimes.

When one of the girls are in season and are around the time they're ready to be mated, the boy pharaoh goes completely off his food. The pharaoh hound isn't the kind of the dog that tends to be fat anyway, so it's a little bit of a worry for us, having him not eating. Once the girl's 'safe' again, his appetite comes back, fortunately.

Living with more that one dog in your house is extremely interesting, watching how they work things out. It can end up with a trip to the vet though, if we get it wrong. It's possible to let the dogs go, to sort it out themselves, but sometimes it's easier and less painful if the humans take charge.

When a person brings dogs into their life, it becomes their responsibility to look after the dogs as best they can. So, if you want dogs, you have to be the boss, the chef and the mediator. Are you up to it? I hope so, for your sake and for the sake of your dogs.