Puppy Care 101: Chipping, Spaying, and Neutering

Are you thinking about adding a puppy to your family? With the right planning, we think the more the merrier!

In addition to vaccinations, a new puppy requires additional first steps to give them the best start you can. Namely, chipping and spaying/neutering. 

Chipping

If you adopted your puppy from a shelter, they were most likely already microchipped. If not, it’s a simple procedure that can be done in your vet’s office. A tiny microchip - a transponder that carries a unique identification number - is injected painlessly under the loose skin between your dog's shoulder blades. The chip itself is only the size of a grain of rice, but when scanned, will bring up all relevant contact information for your dog. This means that if they were to go missing, anyone who finds them can have them scanned to find out where they belong. 

This process only works, however, if you register your chip information with a national pet recovery service database. If your puppy was chipped by a shelter, you’ll need to update their microchip data to include your contact info rather than the shelter’s. Similarly, if you move or change phone numbers, that should all be updated in your microchip account as well.

Spaying & Neutering

As a new puppy owner, you’re going to hear a lot about spaying and neutering, and for good reason. Overcrowded animal shelters are full of homeless pets with nowhere to go. By encouraging dog owners to spay or neuter their pet, shelter and veterinary health professionals are attempting to reduce those numbers. With fewer homeless pets on the streets or in shelters, there can be room for surrendered animals or those who need to be rehomed for other reasons. 

If you are adopting from a shelter, be sure to ask if they offer a discount on spay or neuter procedures; many do in order to make it easier for new puppy parents to take this vital step. Talk to your veterinarian as well; opinions vary on when a puppy should be spayed or neutered, so he or she can offer input on timing. 

In addition, spaying and neutering can have positive behavioral effects and reduce unsafe scenarios, such as a male dog going to great lengths, like tunneling under fences or leaping over gates, to get to a female in heat. A neutered male is also less likely to engage in natural instincts like marking territory or showing the extreme dominance that can come from testosterone surges. Likewise, an unspayed female will usually bleed during the onset of heat, causing messes in the house at a time when putting her outside is not a great idea because she could become a target for a wandering male. Finally, several health benefits related to spaying and neutering have been studied, including a significant risk reduction for certain cancers, prostate disorders, and uterine infections. 

Once these important first steps have been taken care of, you can enjoy life with your new puppy knowing that you’ve done the best you can to get her off to a safe and healthy start. As always, if you find you need some guidance in working with your puppy during those early days, our trainers have worked with thousands of new puppy parents and are always available for a Manners consult.