Bye-bye, ovaries

Well, a few weeks ago I half-heartedly convinced myself to get off the fence about what I wanted to do with my kennel.  Seems like there's been a lot going on in my life lately and I figured I needed to get at least one thing straightened out.  Did I want to keep any of my dogs intact for breeding purposes, knowing that Matt has his mind on racing in the next year or two?  Or did I not want to bother with the hassle of monitoring interactions between the sexes.

I decided on the latter.

Clover came into heat about a week ago, and luckily I had already made her spay appointment at the Anchorage SPCA.  It was for today, for the low (really, truly low for AK) price of $80.  Scheduling her spay was a tough phone call for me to make, since I bought Clover in November with the intent of breeding her in the next few years.  She has already whelped two litters of pups that Ed (Iten) is using in his race team.  She's been to Nome twice.  She has a happy-go-lucky attitude, she's built like a tank, and she can go for miles.  But, I decided after witnessing the DeeDee/Zed litter, I'm too busy to raise puppies.  I don't have the space for them or the time.  The old girl would be better off without those female reproductive organs anymore, so she can run loose in the yard and forget all about what heat pens are for.  Next will be File' (in a few months) and Zinger (Clover's half-sister, who doesn't live here yet).  And possibly Zak, her half-brother...but we'll see.  Maybe we can leave those man-parts alone :)

Soooo, yesterday Clover had her first bath EVER in her life (see the photo in the post below) and she handled it like a champ.  No worries, she wasn't nervous.  She was confused but she trusts us.  Bath, nail clipping, spray with gardenia scented body spray (that was mine)...she was ready for her 10-day recovery period in the house with us.  Matt said that the lady at the SPCA this morning commented on her being the cleanest sled dog she'd ever seen.  She said they are usually "scratch and sniff."  EW!  

She's recuperating in the dog room right now.  Poor Clo.  But she'll be happier in the end -- and so will I!