The Unkindest Cut

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March 3, 2008· Filed Under Our dog  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Our peppy little Manchester Terrier puppy has been causing us a few problems recently. The other day he lunged at a child in a toy shop while I was looking at something with my son. I suspect that Atman, our dog, came within a hair’s breadth of biting the child. This was worrying. Then, on another occasion the pup escaped from our apartment and dashed upstairs where another dog lives.

The other dog’s owner saw our little terror and tried to grab him. Atman the nipper had a go at nipping her too.

Another slight problem, but pretty normal for a dog, is that he starts barking every time he hears someone passing our door, including in the depths of night.

In addition to these, er, behavioural problems, the little chap only has one testicle, and we are not sure if the other one is in there or does not exist. The vet has recommended that he be operated on to either find the missing ball, so to speak, or, chop the existing one off, citing the fact that single testicled dogs do not good fathers make. The emasculation of this little chap fair makes my eyes water. Poor little thing.

In fact this operation is worring me quite a bit. I don’t want the little fellows character to change too much, as I believe can happen after such surgery and I’m a little concerned that he is really only being subjected to this operation to calm him down a little and turn him into an animal more suited to city life. I know it’s not exactly a lobotomy, but in some ways it feels a little like it is.

The fateful day is almost upon us as he has been booked in for the op this coming Wednesday. And this surgical intervention does not come particularly cheap either at 400 Euros.

I think it may be fair to say that male Manchester Terriers are perhaps a little too lively for city life and would be much more at home in a house with a nice rambling garden, which we don’t have, alas.

Hopefully my most prolific commenter and fellow dog owner Gege’ Bau may have some advice to offer before the pup is subjected to his fate.

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3 Responses to “The Unkindest Cut”

  1. Gege Bau said on March 4th, 2008 6:03 pm

    Your most prolific commentor?!? I’m genuinely honored!
    Well as you pointed out, I’m a fellow dog owner. I’ve never been without dogs in my life - right now we have seven, all of them foundlings or adopted from shelters. All of them are neutered, and I can reliably say that losing his balls will in now way alter Atman’s (cool name, by the way) personality. If anything, he might eventually calm down a bit - which I imagine would be a GOOD thing for an apartment-bound terrier. Neutering your dog is not only a good thing to do for his health, it is also an aspect of responsible ownership. The world is full to the brim with unwanted dogs and cats - mostly because most people wrongly project their own fear of castration onto their pets.

    Two of our dogs, Monroe and Zappa, are jack russell terriers - I know what terrier terror can be like! Terriers are definitely not “starter dogs” - they have the intelligence of a 6 year old child and the stubborness of a mother-in-law. It is essential that you establish yourself as Leader Of The Pack ASAP! There are all sorts of training methods, one I like is from the Monks of New Skeet. They have a few books out, I’m sure you can find them on Amazon. I’m not into training dogs to do silly tricks - they, and I, find it undignified. But I do believe that dogs, like children, should be tought good manners. In humans it’s called ‘buona educazione’, in dogs they like to call it ‘obedience’, just to puff up the owners’ egos.

    Whatever you do, don’t go freaking out if lil’ Atman tries to nip someone. Yes, it’s something that you’ll have to address, but a nip from your terrier is NOT the same thing as being shredded to pieces by a rabid pit bull. Don’t let anyone try to make you think that it is. 9 times out of 10 the pup will nip for a good reason… he didn’t appreciate some rambunctious kid tugging at his ears, or he thought maybe someone was trying to swipe his treat toy. Definitely behavior that must be addressed, but no cause to go nuts.

  2. AlexR said on March 4th, 2008 7:05 pm

    Hi Gege’,

    I thought you might have something to say, and I’m glad you did.

    You’ve certainly managed to put my mind at rest. Many thanks for that.

    I was genuinely frightened that our little pup, who is great fun, would be transformed - but now I’m not too worried.

    We have a friend with a Jack Russel pup, and this little blighter has no fear of our dog, even if Atman is twice his size! But then I always knew that Russels were brave little blighters! Great fun too.

    As for training, although I’m not into training either, I shall have a look into what can be done to sort out the little problems. I actually came across a rather nice blog the other day, and I’m going to have a ferret around and see if there is anything useful there. I think there might be. I shall check out the book you suggested too.

    Thanks once again for putting my mind at rest!

    All the very best,

    Alex

  3. Gege Bau said on March 4th, 2008 7:12 pm

    Glad I could help!

    Be careful about ferreting around for dog information! You’ll confuse the s*** outa poor lil’ Atman!

    So when are you going to post a photo of the young Atman???

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