You’ve read all the tips for toilet training. You understand the theory. So why does this happen?

There’s actually quite a simple explanation and a not-so-simple solution. Be prepared for some basic neurology!

Why A Puppy Holds Pee Until Inside

The explanation has everything to do with how our nervous systems work. By oversimplifying, I’ll put it into two basic categories:

1. The voluntary nervous system
2. The autonomic nervous system

The voluntary is you in control of your body, walking, talking etc. At the start, this isn’t what a puppy is using when they urinate. They’ll learn this later.

The autonomic nervous system is attending to all our basic functions. A bit like the computer I’m using, it’s chugging away in the background doing major tasks while I use a simplified interface to type. The essential fact today is that this system can be further divided into two arms: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

I have no idea why they’re named this way, but that’s not important. What matters is to know that these two arms are in opposition like a seesaw: when one is high the other is low.

The Sympathetic Nervous System

The sympathetic nervous system is our ‘fight or flight’ network. It’s activated during stress or danger. When there’s high sympathetic tone, you have:

• suppressed gut function (which is why you feel butterflies in your stomach)
• increased heart rate, dilated pupils and sweating (humans)
• increased blood supply to the brain, lungs and muscles
• shut down of rectal and bladder function

This last one is obviously the key point here. The result is either an absence of ‘feeling the need to go’ or with even higher sympathetic tone, letting it go uncontrollably.

We all know this. When you have a stressful day, you often forget to eat, drink or go to the toilet. A bad fright and you might even wet yourself.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System

A state of high parasympathetic tone is our body in ‘maintenance mode’ when we have:

• feelings of hunger and thirst
• low heart rate and blood pressure
• reproductive behaviour
• regular urination and defaecation

This is the resting state, and it’s clearly what we need puppies to be in when we want them to toilet. So hopefully you can now see the explanation as clearly as me.

Even if a puppy knows to pee outside, they physically can’t if they have high sympathetic tone.

Getting A Puppy To Pee Outside

The reason puppies hold on outside and then pee immediately once they get back in is that the house is their happy place and the yard is not. As soon as they come inside, their parasympathetic tone increases and only then do they feel the urge to urinate.

Your job is simple in theory: make outside a happy place too.

In practice this is not so simple. They need to spend enough positive time out there to make it no longer stressful. There are issues like:

• wet grass
• bad weather
• unusual noises
• the sky above
• impatient (or absent) people

You certainly can’t just shove them out and wait for them to pee. Your task is to get them to relax and enjoy it instead of wishing they were safe and sound inside. You’ll need treats, protection from wet, cold or heat, and fun stuff to do.

The older a puppy is acquired, the harder it will be. You want them to be able to adjust quickly, which is often best between 8 and 12 weeks. But you can do it for all ages, it just takes longer.

Once they start going, it gets easier and easier. Eventually you can just open the door, they run out to pee, and then run back for their reward.

This is your reward too, for all the hard work!

You might also like: Simplified Toilet Training Advice

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

In my vet practice we support raw feeding, but that doesn’t mean we don’t also have a watchful eye. I’ll cover the risks first. By knowing them and their solutions, you can do it more safely.

Afterwards, I’ll feature some of the first evidence to show a benefit for raw puppy foods.

Risk 1: Imbalance

Vets are a little obsessed with puppies getting a balanced diet, and if you know our history you’ll understand why. In the days before commercially balanced foods, many people got it horribly wrong. Prior to the parvo age, one of the leading causes of puppy death was an unbalanced diet.

We still see it from time to time (a milder case is featured here ). It happens when muscle and organ meats are fed out of proportion to a puppy’s calcium requirement. It’s sufficiently difficult to get right that you can’t just add back calcium powder either.

The solution can only be one of three things:

1. Using commercially balanced diets for at least 75% of the total energy requirement
2. Getting a veterinary nutritionist to formulate a diet for you (that’s an actual vet*)
3. Buying a commercially balanced raw food for puppies, if you can find it

Which brings us to risk #2.

Risk 2: Contamination

This is a sensitive topic right now but at least it’s obviously real. Pet meat is poorly regulated, and therefore you can expect all of these to be found in it at some stage:

• the wrong species (e.g. horse instead of cow)
• chemical residues illegal in human meats
• salmonella, campylobacter and other harmful bacteria

Salmonella in dog food isn’t just dangerous to puppies. It has also been shown to easily spread within in families and infect children¹.

I’m afraid that until the whole pet industry is better regulated, we need to be wary even of the pre-formulated, balanced raw meat diets here. If you do want to use one, personally I would choose the larger companies likely to have better quality control..

The solution has to be paying extra for meat processed entirely within the human supply chain. There will still be risks with any raw meat, but if you stick to beef or lamb, contamination rates are very low.

Risk 3: Fussiness

A fussy dog sounds like a joke. It’s no joke to anyone who has one.

My experience with fussy dogs is that they learn to be picky by being offered raw meats or home-cooked foods. Suddenly the biscuits don’t seem so good any more.

The solution is to set an absolute line in the sand by making clear boundaries that your dog can understand. ‘Only this much and no more’, or ‘only at this time’, etc. It’s just like getting kids to eat their meals. They can’t learn that hunger striking gets a tastier option or they’ll do it again and again.

Now to the benefits.

Is A Raw Diet Good For Puppies?

Done well, there are probably some positives to feeding puppies raw foods. These could include:

• better skin & coat health
• improved gut function
• improved appetite

I say probably because up to now the evidence has been lacking. However I want to point you to a recent paper from Finland about raw puppy diets and skin problems later in life. Its results are shown here, and I’ll do my best to explain them afterwards.

Note that this is about prevention; a raw diet is very unlikely to fix your dog’s skin problem.

Raw Puppy Diets & Atopy

The common skin allergy of dogs is called atopic dermatitis. You definitely know a dog with this, even possibly your own. They get ear infections, itchy bellies, or lick their feet constantly. Diet is certainly not the main cause, but it might play a small role.

This study (linked below²) looked at the percent of adult dogs with atopic dermatitis based on their diet when they were 2 to 6 months old. The numbers across the bottom are the amount of each diet being fed. When there’s a statistically significant difference between dogs with and without skin problems, the bar is marked with an asterisk*.

What you can see is that there are multiple points where the likelihood of skin allergy is associated with:

• a lower percentage raw diet, or
• a higher percentage dry food

Ingredients Linked With Better Skin

The study authors went further and asked about specific ingredients. They found these three were associated with less skin problems:

• Raw tripe
• Raw organ meats
• Human meal leftovers

Why might that be? The authors suggest the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ whereby an overly clean and sterile early environment might lead to an immune system more prone to allergy.

This makes sense when you look at the three ingredients:

• Raw tripe will have the animal’s gut flora still present in many cases
• Organ meats are also likely to carry bacterial contamination
• Human meals are incredibly diverse (usually in a negative way of course)

A Raw Diet Plan For A Puppy

So let’s put all this together into a reasonable plan for a puppy diet.

Firstly, note that the actual amount of improvement is small, so nobody should feel that they have to feed any raw food at all.

Secondly, note that you don’t need to feed 100% raw to see a benefit. The authors recommend a diet:

• at least 20% as raw food
• below 80% as dry food

And in fact that’s a good place to stop. I would not go below 75% balanced commercial food. This is both to keep the diet adequately balanced and to avoid stomach upsets. One thing premium food is very good at is keeping the gut happy.

Thirdly, which ingredients? Raw tripe sounds ideal if you can get it, remembering to buy as fit for human consumption. It’s probably quite cheap too.

Human leftovers might be OK, but please look at our page on dangerous foods for dogs first. If you feed leftovers you need to do it in a very structured way, such as at a certain time in their bowl to avoid setting up bad habits like begging.

As for offal, it’s harder to do safely. You could add some liver or kidney, but no more than weekly to keep vitamin A levels down. Thyroid glands in mixed offals can cause excessive thyroid hormone levels. What you end up using will depend a lot on what you can easily buy and trust.

I also add raw bones from 10 weeks of age. It’s a personal choice, which you can read about here.

So in summary I’m advocating a diet that still relies mostly on good quality balanced commercial dog foods, but tweaks them a little by adding a small amount of selected raw foods. This approach is a typical ‘vet’ compromise, and I am resigned to it pleasing exactly no-one. But it’s what the best evidence** tells us.

As the owner of an atopic dog, it’s what I’ll try with my next puppy. And if better evidence appears in the meantime, you can bet that it will be posted here.

Big disclaimer: whenever you choose to go away from a 100% balanced, cooked diet, I can no longer guarantee complete safety.

* A quick note about online nutritional advice. It’s not a level playing field because the law uses something called ‘the reasonable person test’. In other words, if you follow ‘Joe Blow’s You-Beaut Diet For Puppies’, and your puppy dies, you may not be able to sue him. That’s because the courts will probably say that a ‘reasonable person’ would not be expected to trust this diet. Of course, if Joe Blow is a vet, then a reasonable person would be expected to believe him, and you can sue him. This is why vets generally play diets with a very straight bat, and the outlandish ones are not published by vets.

** The study is not without its flaws. By asking owners to remember their puppy’s food some years back, it will introduce a measure of recall bias. In other words, owners of adult dogs with and without skin disease might not recall the puppy diet in exactly the same way. It also relied on an owner assessment as to whether skin disease existed or not. This would be a problem if people who choose raw diets judge skin disease even slightly differently to those that don’t. Lastly, bearing in mind that significance is defined as less likely to have occurred by chance than one in 20, by asking about 46 different food variables, it’s nearly inevitable that some will achieve significance even by chance alone. Definitely more work is needed here to drill down on these individual ingredients in an intervention study.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

1. Behravesh, C. B., Ferraro, A., Deasy, M., Dato, V., Moll, M., Sandt, C., … & Urdaneta, V. (2010). Human Salmonella infections linked to contaminated dry dog and cat food, 2006–2008. Pediatrics, 126(3), 477-483.
2. Hemida, M. B., Salin, S., Vuori, K. A., Moore, R., Anturaniemi, J., Rosendahl, S., … & Hemida, M. B., Salin, S., Vuori, K. A., Moore, R., Anturaniemi, J., Rosendahl, S., … & Hielm‐Björkman, A. (2021). Puppyhood diet as a factor in the development of owner‐reported allergy/atopy skin signs in adult dogs in Finland. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine Full text.

The first was from a frustrated ex- Cavalier owner who has been waiting over 12 months to get a Golden Retriever puppy. According to the breeders she’s talking to, she’s not even any closer.

The second was from the owner of a new (second) Golden Retriever puppy. She said that due to unprecedented demand, her breeder is only selling to people she’s sold to before. 

Clearly, these two observations are flip sides of the same problem. So before I give you some suggestions, let’s look at what’s happening.

Why Are Puppies So Hard To Get In Australia?

There appear to be three reasons why puppies are in short supply.

First: The Pandemic

Everyone blames COVID, and they’re not completely wrong. As lockdowns hit across Australia in 2020, many families simultaneously decided it would be the perfect time to get a puppy. This led to a sharp increase in demand, but no way to increase supply as quickly.

However, this can’t be the whole explanation or we would have fixed it by now. And in fact, vets had noticed puppy prices rising rapidly for several years before COVID.

Second: A Reduced Puppy Supply

This relates to the disappearance of backyard breeders. Now this must be a good thing because everyone knows that backyard breeders are bad, right?

Right?

In fact, not so fast. In my privileged inner city bubble, I saw very few bad, and lots of very good backyard breeders. Families who wanted to do it just once, or others with just one pair who had a litter every one to two years. They took our advice, weren’t trying to get rich, and brought lots of healthy and well-balanced dogs into the world.

They’re almost all gone now. That’s thanks to some well-intentioned rules on who can breed dogs plus an increasingly judgemental tone especially on social media. But even this isn’t the whole story.

Third: Changing Breeders

Go to any dog show and look at the age of dog breeders. I experienced this personally in 2010 when I wanted to get a second Border Terrier and found that Tinker’s breeder had died. With him went his kennels.

The older breeders who did it for the love of the breed are now a rare breed themselves. There are still good younger breeders coming through, but seemingly not in the same numbers.

Getting A Puppy in 2021 & Beyond

So what to do?

Well, the worst thing would be to fall into the arms of pet stores. The few remaining have benefited greatly from the nationwide puppy shortage and they don’t need any more help. No matter the marketing, their puppies mostly come from places we describe as puppy farms.

As I said before, you need to consider the long term consequences of a pet shop puppy very carefully.

You also need to watch out for the scammers. Visit this regularly updated page to see how bad it is with Cavoodles and you’ll also get some idea of what to look out for.

What I advised the frustrated Golden Retriever seeker to do was to think again. They wanted a Golden Retriever because their friends had one, and they’d fallen in love with it. That is a great reason to choose a breed, but it also shows you something else.

There are many other breeds you will fall in love with if you meet them too. And like I always say, within a day of getting to know any dog, it won’t matter what they look like. You will love them for who they are.

So What Are The Best Dog Breeds In Australia?

There’s not just one breed for each dog owner, but you also need to know what it is you want. For this, I have prepared you a gift.

Visit this page and you’ll find I’ve assembled a list of only 130 dog breeds. Why 130 when there are there are probably 450? Because these ones are everyday dog breeds you can probably own yourself. Most have breeders right here in SA.

You’ll see that I’ve sorted them into categories.

For example, I like dogs who are:

• low maintenance
• small
• full of attitude

Therefore, I can choose from almost any of the Terriers & Schnauzers and the smaller Spitz breeds.

Many people want dogs that don’t shed. They should look at the Low-Shedding Breeds, and so on.

No matter what you want, you will find that there are at least five or ten breeds that all seem OK. So how do you make the final decision? Three ways.

First, Ask Your Vet

Please don’t ask your vet to choose you a breed from the whole list. That’s impossible. But if you email with only five or ten on a shortlist, your vet is likely to be only too happy to help.

They’re going to talk about things like temperament, health and lifestyle differences.

You’ll find this causes your suitable breed list to shrink even further. Now it’s time to throw out the net…

Second, Dog Shows

Another way to broaden your horizons is to visit the local dog shows. This is especially effective on the ‘best of breeds’ day if there are multiple days like the Royal Adelaide Show. It’s one of my favourite treats of the year. I get to see all the breeds assembled in one place and talk to the breeders, who always seem eager to discuss their dogs.

Third, Contact The Breeders

Now using the breeds you’ve shortlisted, go to your breed association and get the contact details of all the registered breeders. You can find SA details here.

Send a friendly email or make a call asking about upcoming litters. Be warned that some may have puppies right now and you’ll need to have thought about your timing in advance.

Even if you get a positive response, you’re not done yet. You need to go out and meet the breeders and their adult dogs to make absolutely sure that this is the dog for you. Don’t be offended if the breeders spend as much time making sure you’re the right owner for their dogs! That’s a good sign.

Then spend your waiting period learning all you can about them. The result of all this is that you may end up with a breed you’d not even heard of before you started looking. But I almost guarantee that you’ll get a lot of satisfaction from going that extra mile.

You Might Also Like: Monthly Costs Of Dog Breeds | 21 Long-Lived & Low-Cost Breeds | List of Good Family Dogs

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

They either:

• go out too soon
• exercise too much, or
• turn walks into bad experiences

All three can have lasting consequences, but each one is easy to prevent.

When To Start Walking A Puppy

According to most vets, the earliest age to walk a puppy is when their second vaccination becomes protective. This will vary from 11 to 14 weeks, depending on the vaccine type and protocol used by each vet.

It is a little-known fact that puppy owners have some control over the first time they can go out walking. Vaccines used by breeders tend to be the ones that only protect at the oldest or latest age. However, there’s no reason you can’t choose an earlier one.

At Walkerville, our strategy for years has been to offer free puppy checks to try to catch these puppies in time. Otherwise, they would come in at 12 weeks like the breeder told them, and the pups would miss at least two weeks of outside socialisation time.

It’s important to point out that global vaccination guidelines dictate a 16 week parvovirus shot despite earlier protection being claimed by local manufacturers. Our approach to this dilemma is to advise owners that the risk between the second and third vaccine is extremely low, and easily outweighed by the urgent need to socialise.

How Far To Walk A Puppy

When you start walking it’s important to listen to your puppy and take it slow. The worst thing you could do right now is take the joy away by trying too hard too soon. Your entire focus should be on making walks fun, not long.

There is no single answer to how much or how far a puppy should be walked. Online calculators are available, but they are much too simplistic and fail to take into account individual needs or weather conditions. Over exercising is also common due to the mistaken belief that it will help puppies settle at night.

Therefore, if all you do is get to your driveway before your puppy stops, that’s OK. Maybe with a few treats, you can coax them a bit further the next time, or their curiousity will do it for you. Whatever you do, don’t pull them by the collar; they have to want to go.

If you suspect that anxiety might be stopping your puppy, get in touch with your vet straight away.

Once pups get brave enough, they often go too far unless prevented. Like kids, pups have very little stamina and will suddenly sit down and go no further. Therefore, start with very short trips, and only extend them when you are certain they can make it back. Of course, it doesn’t matter so much if your puppy is easily carried!

Pro tip: I always toilet train my puppies when outside using a leash, so that they stay in the right place and get accustomed to leads before starting walks.

Overexercise & Joint Problems

Many new owners have been warned about the risk of elbow and hip dysplasia caused by exercising too early. This applies especially to owners of young Labradors and Golden Retrievers. Here is some peace of mind.

The evidence behind overexercising puppies shows that the most critical age occurs while still at the breeder. Afterwards, as long as you keep them on a leash, a gentle walk should be purely beneficial.

Walking a puppy too much probably only occurs if you allow them to run and jump, or push them to achieve a target distance or time. Remember: it’s the outing that matters, not what they do.

Avoiding Bad Experiences

Good puppy socialisation is all about avoiding early bad experiences while maximising positive ones. You’ve already heard me warn you not to over-tire your puppy or push them too hard. Here are some of the other walking mistakes I see:

• Walking so far that the soft pads become worn through
• Using walks to meet other dogs on leash (read why here)
• Walking along busy or loud roads too soon

In fact, there are so many ways a pup could get a fright. Fear causes instant setbacks which can take weeks to undo. Therefore, have a look at this checklist of potential scares and take each one carefully at first with lots of treats.

Whatever you take away from this article, please don’t think that I’m trying to stop you getting out. Failing to expose a puppy to their world within their sensitive period is guaranteed to cause harm. The dangers of which I speak are easily avoided with a little care.

Coming soon: How Far To Walk Adult Dogs: it’s a whole different ballgame (hehehe).

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

So let’s start with a few myths that need busting.

How NOT To Settle A New Puppy

Don’t…

• use a crate: it’s way too soon. All you will do is make sure they will never want to be in a crate again.
• think it’s because they need to toilet. Your pup is distressed first, and needing to toilet second.
• fix it by co-sleeping. Having your pup with you overnight now only makes it harder to change later.
• expect reassurance to work. Sure, when you go in they settle down, but they’re no better straight afterwards and possibly even worse.
• try to tire them out. Young pups have a natural wake-sleep cycle. What you do during the day doesn’t have much effect on nighttime until a dog is older.

So let’s stick to what works. It starts with understanding the problem.

Why Puppies Cry At Night

New puppies are unsettled overnight due to their sudden and forced change from a natural to an unnatural environment. Puppies are never alone in nature unless something is wrong, and your new pup understands this innately.

Their distress is caused by separation from not just their mother, but also the other pups and the nestbox they were raised in. Importantly, this perception is mediated mostly through smell, although sight and sound also play a role.

To help new puppies cope, we need to keep this in mind, but also be realistic about how much we can improve them in the first few days.

How To Settle Pups & Stop Crying

I’ve been advising new puppy owners every day for nearly 30 years and they always come good if you do it right. Here are my tips:

The First Night

Don’t try to get it right on day one. Taking a puppy directly from the breeder into isolation is setting yourself up for failure. The first night should be either in your bedroom or you should sleep out where your puppy will be.

Letting a puppy sleep on your bed exposes them to the danger of being crushed. I would set up a bed on your floor within easy reach so you can console them as needed. Prepare for an unsettled night.

Why Can’t Puppies Sleep In Your Bedroom For Ever?

Humans are unreliable, and we need pups to learn this harsh fact early. Most people who work with dogs agree that puppies who become accustomed to sleeping with owners have more trouble separating later.

Co-sleeping would be fine if we could guarantee to our pups that we’ll never leave them. But we’ll go to work, go on holidays, even go into hospital at times. If you set them up at this sensitive age to expect you to always be there, that expectation may stay for life.

We’re only going through this pain so you have a happier dog later. Like with every new puppy experience, the earlier you make the changes, the easier it will be.

Creating A Nest

Start by imagining what they’ve left behind and try to recreate it as best you can. Create a warm, quiet den in a small room, a corner or under a table wherever they will feel most secure. Try putting soft toys or puppy-sized filled socks in the bed, possibly a warmer, and avoid noises and draughts.

Music probably isn’t much good, but a human voice may be soothing, perhaps an audiobook read by a calm, even voice. A familiar smell is best and although one of your unwashed T-shirts might be OK, a piece of blanket from the breeder is ideal.

Using A Crate At Night

A quick word on the bed, too. The most success is had with a pen that is large enough to enclose a comfy bed and a toilet area. This is not crate training, where toileting is excluded, as it’s too early for that. We’re just trying to contain them to one area so the toilet training isn’t lost overnight.

You can also set up a small room or create a pen out of furniture. The important thing is to cover any parts of the floor outside the bed with something you want them to toilet on.

Should You Leave A Puppy To Cry?

The second nights and on are best with the pup in their new bed. They will cry and you will face the terrible dilemma of whether to go in or not. However, no matter what you do, it’s going to be bad.

Go in every few hours to clean up and check on your pup, but don’t make a fuss. Just be calm, keep the lights low, and expect the crying to start again as soon as you leave.

How Long Does It Take A PupTo Settle?

Usually, the first separated night is completely unsettled. You may hear crying all night, on and off. Because your puppy is awake, they will wee and poo frequently, and then tread it everywhere. You’ll really doubt yourself.

The second night should already be better. Most pups will cry for around half the time. By the third night it should be just a few hours, and an average pup is quiet for the fourth.

Once they are settled, you will actually need to go in at least once overnight to take them out to toilet! This is when you can swap the pen for a bed-sized crate.

An Alternative: The Walking Bed

If crying will be a problem for housemates or neighbours, or if it isn’t for you either, here is a slower alternative. Start with the pen in your room. They should settle faster this way.

Once they are OK, start moving it each day, maybe only by 30cm (1 foot) each time. The pen is going to walk itself out the door of your room so slowly that your pup will barely notice.

At least that’s the theory, but it mostly works. The end result is the same: a pup that can sleep separately without being distressed.

Other Animals

When we talk about the evidence-based ways to settle new pups, there are two clear answers. The first is other animals. Pups who sleep with another animal settle better on average.

Look at this graph. This study measured how often owners stopped trying and let their pups in to the bedroom. Forget DAP, which I’ll mention in a minute and focus on the orange squares and blue triangles.

These are puppies that slept with another animal, typically a dog. Note how rarely they failed compared with the solitary pups.

There is a catch, though. The pups will become dependent on the other animal, the same way they would on you. You can counteract this by separating them when possible during the day, even for short periods.

DAP or Adaptil®

The second evidence-based way to stop puppies crying is DAP, or dog appeasing pheromone. This scent is released by nursing mothers and so it is logical that replacing it might help (DAP is also promoted for inappropriate reasons in my opinion, but that’s another story).

Now look at the next graph. It shows a comparison of how often owners were woken up on successive nights between pups wearing DAP collars and those with placebo collars.

If this evidence is to be believed, this is the most significant single intervention you can make to settle a new puppy.

The study does have two problems: the subjects were pet shop puppies, which are associated with higher levels of anxiety, and the study was run by the company itself. However, the size of the effect is so great that even with these concerns, I am certain that the results are valid.

A second study backs up these findings by observing improvement after DAP in gundog breeds such as Labradors, Golden retrievers, Spaniels and Weimaraners.

I recommend an Adaptil Junior Puppy Collar for every new pup, and especially those bought from pet shops or similarly unsettled places. The best time to fit it is prior to adoption, but later should still help.

Stay Calm

Here is a very similar graph from the same study showing how many pups caused disturbances such as whining, howling, or scratching at the door. Once again, it appears to show a striking effect of DAP, but this time, I want you to look at something else.

By Day 5, the DAP pups have settled, and then one un-settles. Read what the researchers said about this:

However, one puppy relapsed on night 6, after three quiet nights, after an excessively punitive confrontation with its owners over house training; this puppy continued to wake them up by whining…

This is my final message: no matter how tired you are, no matter how frustrated or angry, you must hold it together and stay calm. You will do lasting damage otherwise, and nobody wins.

But let’s not be negative, as failures like these are rare. I see new successes every day and I hope I’ve helped you become another one!

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Sources

Gaultier, E., Bonnafous, L., Vienet‐Legué, D., Falewee, C., Bougrat, L., Lafont‐Lecuelle, C., & Pageat, P. (2008). Efficacy of dog‐appeasing pheromone in reducing stress associated with social isolation in newly adopted puppies. Veterinary Record, 163(3), 73-80

Taylor, K., & Mills, D. S. (2007). A placebo-controlled study to investigate the effect of Dog Appeasing Pheromone and other environmental and management factors on the reports of disturbance and house soiling during the night in recently adopted puppies (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105(4), 358-368

It sounds too good to be true. Can a harmless treatment undetectable to you or I really work to ease anxiety?

The answer is, of course, that it depends. You certainly aren’t going to get it out of the box and suddenly everything is OK. How well it works for your dog will mainly depend on:

• what type of problem you’re trying to treat, and
• what else you’re doing

What Is Dog Appeasing Pheromone?

DAP is one of the rare mammalian pheromones, and is released by nursing females during the first few weeks of the puppies’ lives. It seems to act to encourage relaxed behaviour in the nest.

DAP is sold as Adaptil in three forms:

• a plug-in diffuser, which lasts around a month and treats 90m²
• a treated collar, which also lasts 1 month
• a spray bottle for daily use around the house or on wearable items

You’ll see that different studies used different products. I’ll try to make this clear as I go.

Problems With The Evidence

I’ll present the evidence under headings for each condition or problem. While there are some excellent studies among the 20 available, there are also two large problems:

1. Many studies or researchers are directly funded by the company that owns the molecule
2. Many studies are not placebo-controlled

Of course, just because a career or a study depends on the whims of a pharmaceutical company doesn’t mean the science will be bad. It just introduces a risk of bias. This will come up especially when I talk about puppies later.

One thing companies definitely do not do often is publish studies that don’t give the desired outcome. This is a subtle form of bias because if we remove studies that say something doesn’t work, it can make uncertain efficacy seem certain.

The lack of placebo control is a bigger problem. I will just say that any behavioural study without a placebo group is very likely to find that the drug works, whether it does or not. You can read why here.

For this reason, I have discarded 8 studies (listed below) that all found benefit without comparison to placebo. These are often the same studies being quoted at you to say Adaptil works. You might be surprised by what’s left.

Adaptil For Separation Anxiety

There is no high quality evidence that Adaptil works for separation anxiety in dogs. The one good study¹³ found that a DAP diffuser did not improve behaviours such as barking, scratching, whining, howling, trembling, nor heart rate, eye or ear temperature of dogs.

Normal dogs were separated from their owners in a laboratory setting and observed for signs of anxiety.

My view: the results could have been different if dogs who suffer from separation anxiety were used instead. However, separation anxiety is usually severe by the time a vet is consulted, so I am not surprised that a mild treatment like DAP had no measurable effect. Of course, it is harmless to try as long as it’s not used instead of a more effective remedy.

Adaptil For Barking

One study¹¹ on dogs in a shelter provides indirect evidence that Adaptil can reduce the intensity of barking. Dogs exposed to a person walking by or a friendly person barked less often and the average loudness was reduced compared with placebo. Peak loudness was unchanged.

My view: although the study has some statistical problems², it seems likely that the effect is real. Just a warning though: barking is a complex problem, and Adaptil would probably only help in those dogs where it is caused by anxiety.

Adaptil For Firework & Thunder Phobia

There is only minimal evidence that Adaptil helps dogs with sound‐induced fear and anxiety. Two very problematic studies (discarded^5,8) are often quoted but neither are placebo-controlled, and both use other treatments simultaneously.

One better study uses normal dogs and exposed them to thunder sounds at 83.9 dB (thunder itself can be up to 130dB). They found that a DAP collar reduced global measures of anxiety and active signs of anxiety and increased the use of a den. However, have a look at their experimental schedule.

My view: as all of the placebo dogs and then all of the treatment dogs were assessed together, I would not be surprised if the researchers were able to tell which dogs were being treated with DAP and which were not. This is called a detection bias. I will say that intentions were good, and the researchers are well-respected in the field.

I also suspect that if dogs who suffer from noise phobias were used (which for welfare reasons is impossible) and the noise intensity matched that of thunder, the effect would have disappeared. Read here about treatments for dogs scared by firework and thunder.

Adaptil For Puppies Crying At Night

Two studies have found positive effects of Adaptil collars on recently adopted puppies. The first¹² fitted collars to purebred puppies and found a benefit only in Gundogs (mainly Labrador retrievers, Weimeraners and Spaniels). Those receiving Adaptil cried for a median of three nights versus nine for the gundogs in the placebo group.

The second study³ pre-fitted Adaptil collars to puppies prior to sale from pet shops. A striking effect was observed where all 32 treated puppies settled within three days. Two thirds of the 34 puppies receiving placebo were either still disturbing their owners in two weeks or only stopped when being allowed into the owner’s bedroom or to sleep with another dog.

The same authors published a later study of the same puppies⁴ showing fewer signs of avoidance and uneasiness when facing unfamiliar people and new environments, although the effect was not as striking.

You can view these studies in more detail in our guide to helping puppies sleep overnight.

My view: There is a potential conflict of interest in the two pet shop studies because “the owner of the company that produces the commercially available canine and feline pheromones was a coauthor”². I certainly think this is worth considering, but the study design appears sound, and I find the results hard to ignore.

The purebred study is in partial agreement. The reason for the smaller effect may be that pet shop puppies are known to experience higher levels of anxiety. They suggest this could be due to the increased number of translocations, the lack of a home environment, and the average of 2-3 weeks spent in the shop.

Summary: based on these results, I recommend Adaptil collars for all pet shop puppies, Gundog breeds and any that do not settle quickly.

Adaptil In Puppy Classes

One study fitted Adaptil collars to puppies attending puppy preschool classes. At various points during the classes, treated puppies showed lower fear, lower excitability and higher learning. In addition, dogs in the DAP groups had a higher degree of socialisation at followup phone calls, compared with dogs in the placebo group.

My view: effects were not so great that collars should be considered essential in classes. However, for fearful, excitable or anxious puppies they are highly recommended.

Adaptil For Travel

There is no high quality evidence that DAP assists dogs who are anxious about car travel. As always, there’s no harm in trying but you might want to consider some of these options too.

Lastly, two other specialist uses are worth mentioning. Adaptil diffusers have been shown to increase the quality of mothering behaviour in breeding dogs with young puppies^8,9. Adaptil as a diffuser^5.7 or spray¹⁰ was also associated with reduced signs of anxiety in hospitalised dogs.

It might seem harsh to have excluded so many studies in this review of Adaptil. However, in such an important welfare issue we have to apply the evidence rigourously. I see far too many dogs in which Adaptil has been tried for wildly inappropriate reasons, and for far too long when much better treatments are available.

The company that own Adaptil are sitting on a gold mine, and in my view if real therapeutic benefits existed for the questionable problems, the research would have come out by now. And if it hasn’t, well it’s time. It’s a great treatment as long as we stick to its strengths and stay realistic about what it is unlikely to do well, at least on its own.

Next week: Feline Pheromones in the spotlight

References Used

1. Denenberg, S., & Landsberg, G. M. (2008). Effects of dog-appeasing pheromones on anxiety and fear in puppies during training and on long-term socialization. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 233(12), 1874-1882
2. Frank, D., Beauchamp, G., & Palestrini, C. (2010). Systematic review of the use of pheromones for treatment of undesirable behavior in cats and dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 236(12), 1308-1316
3. Gaultier, E., Bonnafous, L., Vienet‐Legué, D., Falewee, C., Bougrat, L., Lafont‐Lecuelle, C., & Pageat, P. (2008). Efficacy of dog‐appeasing pheromone in reducing stress associated with social isolation in newly adopted puppies. Veterinary Record, 163(3), 73-80
4. Gaultier, E., Bonnafous, L., Vienet‐Lagué, D., Falewee, C., Bougrat, L., Lafont‐Lecuelle, C., & Pageat, P. (2009). Efficacy of dog‐appeasing pheromone in reducing behaviours associated with fear of unfamiliar people and new surroundings in newly adopted puppies. Veterinary Record, 164(23), 708-714
5. Kim, Y. M., Lee, J. K., Abd El-aty, A. M., Hwang, S. H., Lee, J. H., & Lee, S. M. (2010). Efficacy of dog-appeasing pheromone (DAP) for ameliorating separation-related behavioral signs in hospitalized dogs. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 51(4), 380
6. Landsberg, G. M., Beck, A., Lopez, A., Deniaud, M., Araujo, J. A., & Milgram, N. W. (2015). Dog‐appeasing pheromone collars reduce sound‐induced fear and anxiety in beagle dogs: a placebo‐controlled study. Veterinary Record, 177(10), 260-260
7. Mills, D. S., Ramos, D., Estelles, M. G., & Hargrave, C. (2006). A triple blind placebo-controlled investigation into the assessment of the effect of Dog Appeasing Pheromone (DAP) on anxiety related behaviour of problem dogs in the veterinary clinic. Applied animal behaviour science, 98(1-2), 114-126
8. Santos, N. R., Beck, A., Blondel, T., Maenhoudt, C., & Fontbonne, A. (2020). Influence of dog‐appeasing pheromone on canine maternal behaviour during the peripartum and neonatal periods. Veterinary Record, 186(14), 449-449
9. Santos, N. R., Beck, A., Maenhoudt, C., & Fontbonne, A. (2020). Influence of ADAPTIL® during the Weaning Period: A Double-Blinded Randomised Clinical Trial. Animals, 10(12), 2295
10. Siracusa, C., Manteca, X., Cuenca, R., del Mar Alcalá, M., Alba, A., Lavín, S., & Pastor, J. (2010). Effect of a synthetic appeasing pheromone on behavioral, neuroendocrine, immune, and acute-phase perioperative stress responses in dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 237(6), 673-681
11. Tod, E., Brander, D., & Waran, N. (2005). Efficacy of dog appeasing pheromone in reducing stress and fear related behaviour in shelter dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 93(3-4), 295-308
12. Taylor, K., & Mills, D. S. (2007). A placebo-controlled study to investigate the effect of Dog Appeasing Pheromone and other environmental and management factors on the reports of disturbance and house soiling during the night in recently adopted puppies (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105(4), 358-368
13. Taylor, S., Webb, L., Montrose, V. T., & Williams, J. (2020). The behavioral and physiological effects of dog appeasing pheromone on canine behavior during separation from the owner. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 40, 36-42

Discarded: Not Placebo Controlled

1. Gandia Estellés, M., & Mills, D. S. (2006). Signs of travel‐related problems in dogs and their response to treatment with dog appeasing pheromone. Veterinary Record, 159(5), 143-148
2. Gaultier, E., Bonnafous, L., Bougrat, L., Lafont, C., & Pageat, P. (2005). Comparison of the efficacy of a synthetic dog‐appeasing pheromone with clomipramine for the treatment of separation‐related disorders in dogs. Veterinary record, 156(17), 533-538
3. Hermiston, C., Montrose, V. T., & Taylor, S. (2018). The effects of dog-appeasing pheromone spray upon canine vocalizations and stress-related behaviors in a rescue shelter. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 26, 11-16
4. Kim, Y. M., Kang, B. T., Gu, S. H., Yoo, J. H., Park, C., Jung, D. I., … & Park, H. M. (2006). Comparison of Acupuncture with Dog-Appeasing Pheromone (DAP) Application in separation anxiety of hospitalized dogs. Experimental Neurobiology, 15(2), 81-87
5. Levine, E. D., Ramos, D., & Mills, D. S. (2007). A prospective study of two self-help CD based desensitization and counter-conditioning programmes with the use of Dog Appeasing Pheromone for the treatment of firework fears in dogs (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105(4), 311-329
6. Osella, M. C., Bergamasco, L., & Costa, F. (2005). Use of a synthetic analogue of a dog appeasing pheromone in sheltered dogs after adoption. Current Issues and Research in Veterinary Behavioral Medicine, ed. D Mills et al, 270-273
7. Osella, M. C., Bergamasco, L., Odore, R., Beck, A., & Gazzano, A. (2015). Adaptive mechanisms in dogs adopted from shelters: a behavioral assessment of the use of a synthetic analogue of the canine appeasing pheromone. Dog Behavior, 1(2), 1-12
8. Sheppard, G., & Mills, D. S. (2003). Evaluation of dog‐appeasing pheromone as a potential treatment for dogs fearful of fireworks. Veterinary Record, 152(14), 432-436

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

Traditional sources like breeders and shelters have long waiting lists. The only quick and easy way to get a puppy is from a pet shop. I perfectly understand if you’ve thought about it. But before you make the commitment, there are a few things to consider.

This is an honest, open discussion of what you can expect from pet store puppies. If after reading you want to get one, you’ll have have a good idea of what to look out for.

Also read: Help! I Can’t Get The Breed I Want!

The Source Of Pet Shop Puppies

Most of the puppies sold in Adelaide pet shops come from puppy farms interstate where such breeding is allowed. The problem is that it’s rarely clear from the paperwork or the shop. Therefore, an absence of information is enough to raise suspicions. 

Additionally, many puppy farms are large businesses quite capable of making themselves appear legitimate online. It often takes a bit of detective work to find out the truth.

Why does it matter? Because of the next issue…

Health Issues

There’s no question that many puppies from pet shops turn out to be excellent dogs, but vets observe a higher rate of physical and mental illness. Some of this may derive from the shop, but a large part is believed to be due to how they are bred.

Giardia is an important protozoal gastrointestinal infection that is both serious and easily spread to people. It should not occur in well-bred dogs, but we see it very commonly from pet shops. I know of one new owner who was hospitalised, and many puppies who died or were sick for extended periods. 

Coccidia is another protozoal infection that is more easily overlooked but just as serious. Any puppy that does not always have normal poo should be suspected of having coccidia or giardia.

Anxiety is more common in puppies bought from pet shops. We suspect this is due to four factors:

• An impoverished breeding environment
• Early separation from their mothers
• Transit at a sensitive age
• A lack of 24 hour care in the shop

Anxious dogs usually retain some traces for life. This affects both trainability and quality of life.

Also worth mentioning is inbreeding. We don’t have evidence, but it appears that pet shop puppies are more likely to have genetic diseases. The suspicion is that puppy farms replace breeding dogs with others bred from their own puppies rather than buying in new stock.

Shop Management

I have personally observed Adelaide pet shops not housing puppies adequately. Here are some red flags:

• Pens and cages made from wood, which make disinfection all-near impossible
• Puppies of different ages being housed together, risking vertical disease transmission
• Inadequate space for the number of puppies being housed, preventing emptying and cleaning of pens
• Puppies being left alone at night, either in the shop itself, or out the back
• Staff unqualified for animal husbandry

Regrets

One thing I don’t want you to discover without being warned is regret. In the moment of buying a puppy, with the kids all excited, it’s easy to not see the future.

If things go well, for the next 15 years you’ll be taking your dog for walks, going to the vet, visiting friends and spending time at the park. Everywhere the first topic of conversation is going to be your dog. Before you buy it’s worth making sure that you’re going to be okay answering the common question of where he or she came from.

You will undoubtedly face some judgment and even open hostility, but most people won’t care. It’s more about picturing how you’ll feel inside and whether the kids will feel the same way in the future. This is one of the reasons I advise heavily researching the origin of your puppy so you don’t find out later.

Price

A very practical consideration is the high price you will pay for convenience at a pet shop. Although breeders are definitely expensive, they still are generally cheaper than the pet stores.

Most vets I know consider it more than ironic that the puppies that seem to require the highest level of veterinary care are also more expensive to buy. It certainly doesn’t seem to be a case of “you get what you pay for”.

If you feel you can buy a pet shop puppy and avoid the problems listed above, I’ll support you. For example, a locally bred puppy held in a caring and well-maintained environment is probably going to be OK.

Of course, I will always fully support you to achieve the best health and welfare outcomes for your puppy. So even if you think I might judge you, I’m really only here to give him or her their best life.

If you’re having second thoughts, visit our page on where to get puppies in South Australia. It shows you how to find breeders as well as adoptions from shelters. Waiting times can be as little as one month.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

Is this the single most important question of dog ownership? Could getting it wrong be the reason why so many dogs end up unhappy or worse?

I’m not going to solve it, because in 2021 that still isn’t possible. What I can do is show you some tantalising recent science that’s starting to give us glimpses of the truth . And what is said is probably also true for how cats hear us.

By the end of this article, you should be better at:

• Choosing a good name for your dog, and
• Giving commands a dog can perceive, not just hear as noise

Dog vs Human Perception

First, some theory. What sets humans apart is our exceptional ability to communicate. When I did psychology there was a ferocious debate between two camps:

• Those who believed our language skills emerge as a general result of our intelligence
• Those who believed that we are ‘hard-wired’ to learn language

In other words, is language software or hardware? Today, the consensus is that it’s both. Intelligence gets us a long way, but our brains do appear to have in-built language structures. That’s why any toddler can master all the complicated rules of grammar without seeming to get enough to work on. 

If true, this matters a lot for dogs. If we have brains dedicated to language, what they hear will be very different from us.

The best way I can explain it is to compare a musician’s experience with the rest of us. Functional studies show that a larger number of their neurons are dedicated to music processing. Therefore, although we all hear the same tune, only the musician is likely to hear:

• the key it’s in
• the actual note values
• the individual instruments
• whether it’s in tune

The difference between dogs and humans is likely to be even greater. We need to throw out any assumptions about what dogs are hearing, and try to only use hard evidence to make decisions.

Canine Speech Discrimination

Here is all the available evidence for how dogs hear human words.

1. Dogs can discriminate ‘ga’ versus ‘ka’¹
2. Dogs can discriminate between ‘a’ and ‘e’² and ‘a’ and ‘i’³
3. Their name before a command reduces the response to a new command but not a known one⁴
4. The addition of a new word reduces the response to both known and new commands⁴
5. Dogs who know ’sit’ respond better to ‘sik’ than ‘chit’⁵
6. Dogs do not discriminate a change in the first vowel in a command (e.g ‘beck’ vs ‘back’⁶
7. Short rising notes are more effective than one longer continuous descending note⁸
8. Dogs hear a vowel change in their name more than a consonant change (e.g. Digger will respond better to ‘pigger’ than ‘dogger’)⁷

Point 6 seems contradictory, given that (unlike us) dogs hear vowels better than consonants. However, it’s either saying that dogs miss many details that we think are obvious, or that when it comes to commands they choose to obey similar sounds.

Choosing A Good Dog Name

Now let’s make the best evidence-based dog name for your new puppy!

• Use different vowel sounds from commands (e.g Pitt and Sid are not great choices)
• Choose names that everyone can say in a distinctive and consistent manner
• Create ’singsong’ calls (most dog owners do this instinctively)
• Use the fewest words needed
• You can even start names with a vowel*

* For example, one of our nurses’ dogs called Akira doesn’t answer to ‘Kira’, showing he hears the difference

For helping dogs hear their names around other dogs or people:

• Use different first letter and vowel sounds (e.g Loki & Tinker!)
• Avoid names that rhyme with household members (e.g. Johnny & Bobby)
• You might even check this list of common Adelaide dog names if you plan on visiting dog parks or beaches

I don’t think it matters if you choose one or two syllables as dog owners tend to lengthen or repeat names when they need to.

Let’s not forget that there are a lot of other factors that influence how well dogs understand our voice. Some are:

• Our emotional state
• Our voice character
• Local distractions and noises

And lastly, it would be criminal of me to not mention the obvious: that dogs probably get most of their information from non-verbal cues. Dogs rely on gestures, facial expressions and lip movements more than we realise.

Thanks for reading! If you (like me) have already chosen names that don’t fit all these parameters, it really doesn’t matter that much. Names that come from the heart create their own special connection. And the fact that you’re reading this means you’re interested in being the best dog owner you can.

Related: Dog Colour Vision, Visual Acuity & Near-Sightedness

1. Adams, C. L., Molfese, D. L., & Betz, J. C. (1987). Electrophysiological correlates of categorical speech perception for voicing contrasts in dogs. Developmental Neuropsychology, 3(3-4), 175-189
2. Athanasiadou, P. (2012). Studying speech sound discrimination in dogs (Master’s thesis)
3. Baru, A. V. (1975). Discrimination of synthesized vowels (i) and (a) with varying parameters (fundamental frequency, intensity, duration and number of formants) in dog. In Auditory analysis and perception of speech (eds Fant, G., Tatham M. A. A.), pp. 91-101. Waltham, MA: Academic Press
4. Braem, M. D., & Mills, D. S. (2010). Factors affecting response of dogs to obedience instruction: A field and experimental study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 125(1-2), 47-55
5. Fukuzawa, M., Mills, D. S., & Cooper, J. J. (2005). The effect of human command phonetic characteristics on auditory cognition in dogs (Canis familiaris). Journal of comparative psychology, 119(1), 117
6. Magyari, L., Huszár, Z., Turzó, A., & Andics, A. (2020). Event-related potentials reveal limited readiness to access phonetic details during word processing in dogs. Royal Society Open Science, 7(12), 200851
7. Mallikarjun, A., Shroads, E., & Newman, R. S. (2020). The role of linguistic experience in the development of the consonant bias. Animal Cognition, 1-13
8. McConnell, P. B. (1990). Acoustic structure and receiver response in domestic dogs, Canis familiaris. Animal Behaviour, 39(5), 897-904

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

While the paper isn’t perfect (more on that later), it does provide the first evidence for Yorkies on choosing a time of desexing with the fewest health problems. The study compared dogs neutered at different ages for their rates of:

• hip dysplasia (HD), cruciate ligament injury (CCL) and elbow dysplasia (ED)
• lymphoma (LSA), mast cell tumour (MCT), haemangiosarcoma (HSA), osteosarcoma (OSA)
• urinary incontinence (UI)

All of these have been suspected to be linked with the age of neutering. Here’s what they found (only bold values are significant, my summary to follow):

UI was not reported in any of the spayed females.

If this table makes no sense, it’s mostly because there are no abnormal findings. Have a look at this one for Golden retrievers as a comparison. 

Summary: The Best Yorkshire Terrier Spay & Neuter Times

There is minimal evidence that Yorkie health problems are influenced by the age of neutering. Owners of either sex are therefore free to choose the age of desexing that suits them best.

Recommendation: 6 months for both sexes.

This is so far the only science we have for the best desexing age in Yorkies. Your vet, breeder or online group may have a different opinion based on their experience or personal beliefs. It’s perfectly reasonable to take their advice into consideration as well.

Problems With This Study

The authors do not mention the well-known increase in lifespan associated with desexing male and female dogs, which tends to counteract most concerns about specific cancers. The following comment in the paper is a clue that it might also have been true for this population:

Across all breeds the mean age of last entry in the record for neutered males was 5.5 years (range 3.71–6.54), for neutered females 5.7 years (range 4.21–6.97), for intact males 4.9 (range 4.15–7.11), and intact females 4.7 (range 3.41–6.32)

The study tries to also look at the rates of mammary cancer & pyometra in females, but cannot give an accurate assessment for two reasons:

1. the mean ages listed above are far too young to pick up most cases
2. pyometra and mammary cancer are rarely referred to university hospitals

Regardless of any concerns, the authors are to be applauded to bringing into focus one of the most common questions from dog owners. For the Yorkshire Terrier at least, they’ve made the decision a lot easier.

Related: Best Desexing Age For 35 Breeds | Desexing Choices For Dogs | Costs Of Desexing

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

While the paper isn’t perfect (more on that later), it does provide the first evidence for Westies on choosing a time of desexing with the fewest health problems. The study compared dogs neutered at different ages for their rates of:

• hip dysplasia (HD), cruciate ligament injury (CCL) and elbow dysplasia (ED)
• lymphoma (LSA), mast cell tumour (MCT), haemangiosarcoma (HSA), osteosarcoma (OSA)
• urinary incontinence (UI)

All of these have been suspected to be linked with the age of neutering. Here’s what they found (only bold values are significant, my summary to follow):

There was a single case of UI in the females spayed < 6 months and in those spayed 6-11 months.

If this table makes no sense, it’s mostly because there are no abnormal findings. Have a look at this one for Golden retrievers as a comparison. 

Summary: The Best Westie Spay & Neuter Times

There is minimal evidence that Westie health problems are influenced by the age of neutering. Females spayed early had a higher incidence of urinary incontinence but the numbers are far too small to be meaningful.

Recommendation: 6 months for both sexes

This is so far the only science we have for the best desexing age in Westies. Your vet, breeder or online group may have a different opinion based on their experience or personal beliefs. It’s perfectly reasonable to take their advice into consideration as well.

Problems With This Study

The authors do not mention the well-known increase in lifespan associated with desexing male and female dogs, which tends to counteract most concerns about specific cancers. The following comment in the paper is a clue that it might also have been true for this population:

Across all breeds the mean age of last entry in the record for neutered males was 5.5 years (range 3.71–6.54), for neutered females 5.7 years (range 4.21–6.97), for intact males 4.9 (range 4.15–7.11), and intact females 4.7 (range 3.41–6.32)

The study tries to also look at the rates of mammary cancer & pyometra in females, but cannot give an accurate assessment for two reasons:

1. the mean ages listed above are far too young to pick up most cases
2. pyometra and mammary cancer are rarely referred to university hospitals

Regardless of any concerns, the authors are to be applauded to bringing into focus one of the most common questions from dog owners. For the West Highland White Terrier at least, they’ve made the decision a lot easier.

Related: Best Desexing Age For 35 Breeds | Desexing Choices For Dogs | Costs Of Desexing

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.