More Than Six Weeks after Neutering
What happens if you bring your fixed dog around females in heat after enough time has passed? In all likelihood, your dog will not offer much of a reaction.
Your pet may sniff the female dog to check if he knows her, but that’s about it. After that, your dog will remain calm and composed. It’s a nice change of pace if you previously had plenty of trouble trying to rein your dog in.
The saying old habits die hard can apply to neutered dogs too. Because your dog got so used to being excited whenever he was around a female in heat, he may continue to act that way long after getting neutered.
He isn’t according to his hormones at that point. Instead, he’s just continuing to display behavior that has become ingrained in him.
That kind of thing tends to happen more in dogs that were only neutered when they were older.
How do male dogs react to females in heat?
If an intact male dog catches the scent of a nearby female in heat, she will become his entire focus. Male dogs may stop eating, increase their marking, become increasingly aggressive and obsess over tracking down the female dog in heat throughout the duration of her cycle.
Can a Neutered Dog Impregnate a Female Dog?
Technically it could happen immediately after the surgery, due to the phenomenon of dormant sperm. Males of most animal species, dogs included, can remain fertile for up to six weeks after operation. Though unlikely, your freshly neutered male dog could get a female dog pregnant if they engaged in sex the first few days or weeks after your neutered dog’s surgery.
After a neutering procedure, sperm will no longer be produced. This means that, except for any dormant sperm those first few weeks after neutering, your male dog is no longer able to father any litters.
For this reason, it is best to take precautions to always watch your dog after their surgery and keep any female dogs (especially female dogs in heat) away from your newly neutered pup. This is suggested regardless as you do not want your dog to lick themselves and accidentally open their stitches after their surgery.
Ultimately though, it would be nearly impossible for your dog to get a female dog pregnant week or more after the neutering procedure. If the neutering procedure wasn’t affective, after all, it is unlikely vets and other animal experts would continue to recommend it.
