I woke late this morning, failing to “spring forward” per our ludicrous, federally mandated altering of Earth’s rotation. All was dark beyond the window, a month’s progress into the present season erased literally overnight. “Ay, Lord,” might one of Wendell Berry’s creatures say, “It just ain’t natural!”
My whippet’s scheduled hysterectomy (today) was no coincidence. The plan was to put it off as long as possible, and I did.
I wanted Rina through her first heat for the sake of normal development. I’ve read, though it might be false, that a dog’s bones and joints benefit from being allowed to fully mature. She had her first heat last August, and I trust she’s a grown dog now.
I also wanted to give Rina a season’s field experience, in hopes that wholesale removal of her reproductive organs wouldn’t somehow dull her drive to hunt. I have no proof it would, but it seemed a silly risk to take so early in her career. She got her year in the field, and it was a good one. If she loses any interest in the chase at this point, I’d be shocked.
Rina’s surgery was a compromise and a concession to a number of facts of my life, the least of which happens to be Rina’s potential for breeding. This is not to say I take that potential lightly.
I spent the weekend with friends (the Coulsons, mentioned here before) who breed Harris’ hawks. They have one of mine, a favorite I would still be flying had they not been in need of him after hurricane Katrina. This will be Charlie’s second season as a breeder, and there are three of his mate’s eggs rolling now in an incubator. In a few months, the occupants of those eggs will be chasing game with abandon, imbued with their parents’ appetite and natural ability. They will be the fifth generation of hawks hand picked for those traits, and they are likely to excel.
Rina is also the product of selective breeding, and of a much longer effort. She may descend from like animals living thousands of years ago. Given the resources to search, her parentage in modern times might be traced, name by name, for two hundred years. Most recently, she is the product of husband and wife team Deborah and Maurice Bahm (Debmar Whippets), dedicated breeders of successful racing and coursing hounds.
Rina’s place in the context of the Bahms’ work, and of those who came before, is now frozen, fixed into the framework of her one life. Rina’s contribution to the breed, if any, will have to come by reputation and example. Her parents and select siblings now bear the burden of their future.
As guilty as I feel about this today, with Rina looking whipped and feeling low, I could not justify another choice. I am not a dog breeder and have no aspirations to that. I am a hunter, and Rina’s continued fertility would only inconvenience that pursuit. If someday I have time and space and rabbits enough, I might put a pair of dogs together and make a pack. But that day won’t come within the span of one whippet’s life; that much of the future I am counting on.
Until then, I trust Steve to make some more Tazis and Deborah more whippets and Tom more good Harris’ hawks. That ought to be enough to tide me over.
My whippet’s scheduled hysterectomy (today) was no coincidence. The plan was to put it off as long as possible, and I did.
I wanted Rina through her first heat for the sake of normal development. I’ve read, though it might be false, that a dog’s bones and joints benefit from being allowed to fully mature. She had her first heat last August, and I trust she’s a grown dog now.
I also wanted to give Rina a season’s field experience, in hopes that wholesale removal of her reproductive organs wouldn’t somehow dull her drive to hunt. I have no proof it would, but it seemed a silly risk to take so early in her career. She got her year in the field, and it was a good one. If she loses any interest in the chase at this point, I’d be shocked.
Rina’s surgery was a compromise and a concession to a number of facts of my life, the least of which happens to be Rina’s potential for breeding. This is not to say I take that potential lightly.
I spent the weekend with friends (the Coulsons, mentioned here before) who breed Harris’ hawks. They have one of mine, a favorite I would still be flying had they not been in need of him after hurricane Katrina. This will be Charlie’s second season as a breeder, and there are three of his mate’s eggs rolling now in an incubator. In a few months, the occupants of those eggs will be chasing game with abandon, imbued with their parents’ appetite and natural ability. They will be the fifth generation of hawks hand picked for those traits, and they are likely to excel.
Rina is also the product of selective breeding, and of a much longer effort. She may descend from like animals living thousands of years ago. Given the resources to search, her parentage in modern times might be traced, name by name, for two hundred years. Most recently, she is the product of husband and wife team Deborah and Maurice Bahm (Debmar Whippets), dedicated breeders of successful racing and coursing hounds.
Rina’s place in the context of the Bahms’ work, and of those who came before, is now frozen, fixed into the framework of her one life. Rina’s contribution to the breed, if any, will have to come by reputation and example. Her parents and select siblings now bear the burden of their future.
As guilty as I feel about this today, with Rina looking whipped and feeling low, I could not justify another choice. I am not a dog breeder and have no aspirations to that. I am a hunter, and Rina’s continued fertility would only inconvenience that pursuit. If someday I have time and space and rabbits enough, I might put a pair of dogs together and make a pack. But that day won’t come within the span of one whippet’s life; that much of the future I am counting on.
Until then, I trust Steve to make some more Tazis and Deborah more whippets and Tom more good Harris’ hawks. That ought to be enough to tide me over.
11 comments:
Nice shot. It doesn't enlarge, though. If you get a chance, email it to me.
All our hounds are altered.. living full time in a 34' motor home with 4 dogs- and a cat- doesn't make for an ideal whelping situation. Fortunately, we know people who *do* have the ideal situation, so I don't see us ever being suddenly without hounds. When we find our little piece of New Mexico, our philosophy will undoubtedly change.
Hi Dan,
I've got the full res. version of that image at home. Send me your email address (mine's matthewmullenix AT yahoodotcom). I will send it to you tonight.
Glad to hear you are not seeing any lack of drive in your altered dogs.
When are you coming back our way?
Hey Matt,
Once again, I find that we tend to ask ourselves the same types of questions regarding our dogs, although the timing may be different. When we got Maxine (our mini-dachshund), Susan & I had already decided that she would be "fixed" (now there's a euphemism for you, when the procedure actually makes the dog "broken" in a certain controlled sense), and for the same reasons: we don't have the time, the space, or especially the drive to be dog breeders right now. Occasionally, I have irrational twinges of regret: she's a beautiful dog, straight out of a William Osborne painting, and an enthusiastic hunter. Maybe we've deprived the world of the perfect dog! But then I come back to my senses, and realize that other people are breeding the perfect dog -- while Max may be irreplaceable to me, in the big picture, she's a fairly typical dachshund. To one degree or another, they're all attractive, and I've never heard of one that wouldn't hunt if given the opportunity. (Despite their popularity as pets and show dogs, dachshunds -- and perhaps most hounds -- have not lost their hunting drive. The same cannot be said for many bird-dog breeds, where it is very important to buy from hunting stock rather than pet/show stock.)
I absolutely agree with Steve and Dutch on the mandatory-sterilzation legislation: it might (might) be well-intentioned, but it's so poorly thought through and so draconian that it reminds me of the Soviet-era attempts to "pacify" native peoples in Siberia by destroying their unique dog breeds. But just as it makes good sense for people like Steve and Dutch and the Bahms to breed the dogs they want, it makes equally good sense for some of us reluctant suburbanites to leave the breeding to others who are better situated, more knowledgeable, and generally more apt to succeed.
Bottom line: Don't feel guilty about your decision. Enjoy Rina for what she is -- a good companion both at home and in the field -- just as I do Maxine.
Mark
Postscript: Not content with one perfect dog, Susan & Ellie convinced me to get another dachshund. Anja (or Anya, we haven't finished negotiating the spelling) is about 9 weeks old. The local rabbits will have to be even more on their toes next year...
Mark: Many thanks for your thoughtful comments. I can always count on a good reply from you.
Congratulations on your new hound!
Hello-
Just a note - Rina is a knockout beautiful dog.
Yours is a heartfelt >personal< writing.
And your decision is a personal decision too, as it should be: it's your decision and yours alone. (My lobbying against mandatory laws is incidental.)
The hardest bit I think, that what impresses the most, at least for me, from an instance with an older bitch of mine, after it was recommended she be spayed, was the definiteness of it.
As definite, and infinite - as the dedication one has to the lives shared.
Rina is a knockout. Wish her recovery swift and sure and back chasin' whatever she wants again soon.
-margory
Margory, many thanks for your kind comments!
As I told Steve, had rina's surgery been mandatory, I would have fought it!
:-)
Margory, many thanks for your kind comments!
As I told Steve, had rina's surgery been mandatory, I would have fought it!
:-)
Wonderful post, freedom of choice and a decision grounded on logic.
Nice.
Soo wants to know why I will spay the females yet leave the boys intact.
It’s her contention that it’s a “guy thing”.
After much consideration, I told her that it’s simply a matter of aesthetics.
She's handed me an article on neuticles?
Not sure what they are but the article is great for keeping the coffee rings off of the desk top.
Gregg
What a beautiful photo of two extraordinary hunters!
Deciding to neuter or not, or breed or not, is no walk in the park, especially when you have a fine dog. I've had second thoughts every time, no matter what the decision. It helps knowing that someone else is doing a good job of making more.
I just flew with my SAR bitch from PA to Oregon in order to arrange the conception of her second, and last, litter. What we'll be doing this summer is raising puppies and vetting possible buyers and not a lot else. This is why we breed a litter about once every three years. Two litters is plenty for a bitch's lifetime, especially if she has a career to consider -- and if she's worthy of breeding, she should be a career girl.
I agree that working dogs should mature physically and mentally before being sterilized. I've never seen a reduction in drive after the surgery, though the youngest any of mine have been neutered was about 13 months, and now I'm leaning towards a good deal later. They need to get to full bone growth, too.
My God! That is a GREAT picture! The writing is beatuiful (as always) but that picture.....
I can tell it saddens you but we make decisions based on what suits our lives. There was no way I wanted an intact dog living in my house...although I'd have been mighty mad if I'd been forced to neuter him. I wanted it to be our choice.
I think there a lot of people our there with intact dogs who have no good reason for leaving them that way. Just in case they want puppies? They think they'll sell the pups and make tons of cash? The think they're cool if they have a stud dog?
But I also mourn the passing of the common mutt. They're so hard to find now.
I have to relate it to horses, again, sorry! I've never sent a mare out for breeding in my whole 30+ years of horse ownership. I never felt the need to bring another horse into the world when there are already sooo many out there. So that's my 2Cents worth...and give your Rina a pat for me!
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