Tomorrow is spayday

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle is 6 months old today, so to celebrate she is getting spayed and micro chipped tomorrow. My vet will do small dog spays at 6 months, large dogs have to be 9 months. She is a mini, so at 11lbs she is still small. She gets the small dog spay price too. I really wanted her done at 5 months so I would not have to deal with her in heat, but the vet would not do it before 6 months. Luckily she hasn't had a heat cycle yet. I hope she isn't in too much pain from it. She was in a lot of pain from her last set of puppy shots and since I am the one that took, her she was mad at me for 2 days. She would only let my husband get near her. She growled and snapped at me if I got too close. Once she started feeling better she forgot about it and let me be her friend again. So since I will be the one doing the drop off and pick up for the spay too, I hope she doesn't get mad at me. I'm sure she will feel a lot worse and remember longer this time around.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Good luck to Annabelle and hope she heals quickly and is not too mad at her momma! ;)

Gracie goes in a month. She's a full size pup and so will be ready at 5 months.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Thank you, good luck to Gracie next month.

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Good luck on her spay! I wouldn't worry about her getting "mad" at you as it is my understanding that dogs are not emotionally capable of doing something to "spite us" or "get back at us". Since you will not actually be doing her spay, I doubt she will associate you with the event at all. Her reaction after her shots was likely just a defensive act because she was not feeling like herself :) 

[Amy and Annabelle]

I don't understand why she reacted that way to me and not my husband or anyone else. Just me, the one that took her and was with her when she got the shots. I am her primary caregiver, my husband mostly just plays with her once in awhile. I do everything else, the good and the bad. I did get him to go with me this morning to take her in.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

My oldest son (human lol) had a surgery when he was around 10. I was always the first person he went to when he needed hugs or reassurance. But, when he had his surgery he sounded just like your pup. He didn't want anything to do with me, but wanted his dad. It was an odd feeling and I felt put off. But, it was what he needed then.

[Amy and Annabelle]

That would have thrown me for a loop. My husband is the fun dad. He never did much in the way of taking care of taking care of the kids, but he was always playing with them. When my middle child ate some poisonous berries and I had to give her that syrup of ipecac and make her vomit, he went for a walk. But afterward when she was feeling better, he was there to make her laugh. He is kind of like that with the dog now too.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

I am always perplexed when they say that dogs don't have emotions. My oldest dog seems jealous when Gracie gets attention. If I call her over, he's there to see what she's getting. He slinks away when he is not getting his way - almost if he is pouting. I try not to over think this, but it seems a bit emotional to me. Of course as woman, we think and thrive on emotions. :D

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I am not saying dogs have no emotions, just that they are not capable of complex emotions such as doing something to "get back at us." I think we (including myself) tend to project a lot of emotions onto their behaviors. As Doggy Dan puts it, we use human psychology to try to explain dog behaviors when we should be using dog psychology. 

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Ah ok. That makes sense. :)

[Amy and Annabelle]

I thought maybe it was more fear and not so much being mad at me. Maybe she thought I hurt her and she was afraid of me. Which either one breaks my heart. I probably should buy a book on speaking dog.