Ziggy out Hamish in!

No sooner had Ziggy left the building then Hamish arrived. His owners going for a great trip to America lucky sods!

Hamish is an Airedale terrier, the king of terriers no less! A fine looking animal you can see why they were used as police dogs years ago! They take a little getting used to at first as they are very different to a lot of dogs. They stand and walk straight and they have large mouths which can be a bit intimidating when they bark or growl!

Hamish has been with us before and I admit I wasn't so keen on him then as he was entire (not spayed) and he was a bit arrogant! His owner always wants to do the best by him and we had a discussion about having him spayed and she had been put off by some daft talk by others about having him done at 18 months when he had settled down! I hear all this rubbish and it amazes me that they don't see the harm that it does to certain dogs!

There are loads of un-castrated male dogs that are perfectly fine and don't have any issues at all. However there are great many dogs that exhibit very bad behavioural issues because of the hormones flying round their bodies!

I recently lost a good customer over this issue as their dog was one of the most stressed I've ever encountered! He slept with his eyes open when he gave in to sleep that is and he hunted for towels or blankets to hump with a determination that was scary to watch! He also had a terrible habit of eating dirty tissues but that's another story! The owners said that they had contacted his breed society and they stated that they had bitches that hump and they didn't think castration would make any difference! What utter crap! You see an animal come into adulthood and you allow him to get sexually aroused on a frequent basis but never allow him to do anything and that makes sense! My god, what planet are they on! Have your dog done at the earliest your Vet advises and remove a terrible curse from him! Tell a teenager they cant mix with the opposite sex and see what happens!

Anyway, Hamish was booked straight in and done before he came to us and I am amazed at the difference in him! he is calmer and more lovable and i have really bonded with him! He is very mouthy but i suspect his Dad play fights with him and so this isn't Hamish's fault and perhaps we can get that unwise activity to stop!

Other than that he is settling down nicely and on his walks he is still trying to hump other dogs but this is learned behaviour from not being done earlier and we will try to calm this down! I will let you know how we get on!

Cheers Steve