My Lance almost got "lucky today!!!

Lara's mom · 05-31-2010

There is a woman in my building with an intact small female yorkie. She is in heat BIG TIME!!! She has not put her dog into doggy panties. My little lance at only 7 months old saw his opportunity and "went for it." I managed to break it up before they locked but, my question is, if you have an intact female in heat, is it not your responsibility to ensure that unaltered males can't get to her? Where I live, all the dogs run around in the park together.

My other question is, if they had locked and puppies resulted from the encounter, would I bare any responsibility?

Todd · 05-31-2010

I'm not really sure but I would assume it would depend on the circumstance. If the dog were both not fixed it's probably equally their faults. Just like when a woman gets pregnant. It's not more the womans fault than it is the man's. Where did this happen? Guess it would depend on if the dog was suppose or allowed to be off lead or not, etc. legalities. Probably wouldn't be taken that far though. I agree that an owner of a female dog unaltered needs to keep off unaltered males, however the same goes for owners of unaltered male dogs. Not one side should be blamed over the other. Both are needed equally to concieve pups. Not one could do it without the other, so the owner of the male dog had just as much responcibility to try and keep their unaltered male away from unaltered females in heat. Hopefully everything turns out alright though. If not, I'm sure you two can work together t fin proper homes for the pups.

cigwyllt · 06-01-2010

I have no idea what the legal position would be in Canada - here in the UK I don't think that the owner of the dog would have to bear any responsibility. My cousin's Scottie was in the garden of their house when a neighbourhood dog who was free to roam broke into the garden and they were caught in the act. My cousin was unable to claim anything from the dog's owners even though he broke the gate to get at the bitch in her own property.

Morally though I guess I'd agree with Todd -in an ideal world both Lance and the Yorkie would be under the control of their respective owners, even if they are in a place where they are allowed to run off lead. If Lance was fully under control you could have called him away and there would have been no problem.

Having said that our dogs are our own responsibility and everyone should be prepared to keep their own dog safe. If I had a bitch in season I would do my utmost to keep her away from other dogs, walk her on a lead, perhaps exercise at a time of day when I would not expect others to be around. I certainly would never let her off lead in a public place with other dogs around. That is simply asking for trouble. The Yorkie owner was lucky it was you and Lance. If the other dog had been larger, the other owner less able to control the dog, who knows what could have happened to her little one.

If the Yorkie was mine she would be straight down to the vets this morning for the morning after pill/jab. Hopefully the owner won't be bringing a litter of crossbreed pups into the world - not even ones with a father as wonderful as Lance.

GSDS4Life · 06-01-2010

I am with Todd on this one.

Yes you would be responsible. Why wouldn't you? Your dog is unaltered and running around off leash. Did you know before hand that this Yorkie was in heat? If so, I would not have had Lance off leash playing at all near this Yorkie. Actually, I would never have an unaltered dog of leash period. Accidents can be prevented. It's up to us owners to make sure they don't happen.

When will you be having Lance fixed?

Cassie'sPet · 06-01-2010

We have this issue going on this our own home. Our male bulldog is being neutered in 2 days and my female border collie is going in 2 weeks after that. Her former owners never bothered with the full gammut of shots so we've had to work on getting those for her first as they use communal masks for anesthetic or had to get Parvo/Distemper boosters for her. But I have Rupert's records of immunizations so I booked him before we all got home from picking him up. I even asked for any cancellations if they came up but no one cancels when you pay a deposit. It's been a long 2 weeks watching Rupert that he can't do his thing on Cassie since she's not interested in being mounted at all. With all that said, it would in my opinion be both owner's responsibility for a litter of unwanted puppies and that's not going to happen here. Seriously, if you're not a registered breeder, having your dog spayed/neutered is the right thing to do.........general personal motto here aimed at all but no one in particular.

Yogi · 06-01-2010

In the States it is different than in Canada. Odds are both parties are responsible for their own pets and any outcome derived from such a meeting. Having intact dogs is the responsibility of their owners. In this case knowing your male is intact you have to take into consideration at all times that this can possibly happen, especially if off leash and running and playing with other dogs. As with the owner of the intact bitch. This did not occur in a dog park, had it, there are generally rules posted no intact dogs permitted.
Being that this was on the complex property than safe to assume if it occurred here in the States, both of you are liable.

lil mutt · 06-02-2010

If there's no rules or laws of your responsibility regarding what happened, you can suggest the owner of the female to fix the dog if he/she too don't want unnecessary pups that can't be cared of.

GSDS4Life · 06-02-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yogi

In the States it is different than in Canada. Odds are both parties are responsible for their own pets and any outcome derived from such a meeting. Having intact dogs is the responsibility of their owners. In this case knowing your male is intact you have to take into consideration at all times that this can possibly happen, especially if off leash and running and playing with other dogs. As with the owner of the intact bitch. This did not occur in a dog park, had it, there are generally rules posted no intact dogs permitted.
Being that this was on the complex property than safe to assume if it occurred here in the States, both of you are liable.

In this case it's the same here.

cookie · 06-03-2010

My two cents: Seems to me that, although, yes it is the responsibility of both owners should an accidental pregnancy result from the two mating, isn't it more the responsibility of the female in heat's owner to keep her away from the intact male? Because the intact male isn't going to try anything with a female who is not in heat.....he can do no harm anyway unless the female is receptive and ready. So the intact male running loose is no danger to anyone, mating-wise. While the female in heat, whether she's ready or not ready, is going to drive the males crazy and cause them to try to mate with her.

JMO!

Cassie'sPet · 06-03-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by cookie

My two cents: Seems to me that, although, yes it is the responsibility of both owners should an accidental pregnancy result from the two mating, isn't it more the responsibility of the female in heat's owner to keep her away from the intact male? Because the intact male isn't going to try anything with a female who is not in heat.....he can do no harm anyway unless the female is receptive and ready. So the intact male running loose is no danger to anyone, mating-wise. While the female in heat, whether she's ready or not ready, is going to drive the males crazy and cause them to try to mate with her.

JMO!

I kind of agree with you on this point. Cassie was in heat when Rupert came home and I know it was hard on him but Rupert needed a home very quickly (long story, glad we got him out of where he was) and I couldn't have Cassie spayed any sooner since her prior owner never did the puppy vax's or anything with her other than a rabies shot once a year, or so the guy told us. She had to start vax's from scratch but when I took her out for her walks even though she was off leash, I know her behaviour, always asked if she happened to meet a new dog and it was a male if he was neutered as my dog was in-waiting for her spay and I didn't want any puppies to find homes for. I only had to leash her once and walk away from one unaltered male but I was very careful "out there" and we all watched them "in here". Cassie would have been spayed long before now if I didn't have to start from scratch with her.

So yeah, I agree that it'll be easier for our Rupert once Cassie is no longer emitting the "here I am" scent!