2 aussies mixed emotions

Question
I have a beautiful 3.5 year old blue merle male, not neutered, companion dog.I recently saved an 8 month old black tri aussie female, companion dog, I figured it was a good idea at the time but now my male's mindset is to mate, he isn't aggressive yet but he gets worked up more and more,for now they visit but are seperated most of the time because I feel bad for Tazz my 3.5 year old.Question is,is it my only option to neuter the male in order to return to a normal life. We love the new addition and plan on keeping her also, but am I missing an option. Looking forward to your response asap if possible.Thank You, gilles

Answer
Hi Giles

Option A: Seperate them every time she comes into heat -- but you have a real risk of an unwanted pregnancy;

Option B: Fix one or the other or both;

Option C: Well there really isn't one.

With a blue merle there are the health risk (I personally LOVE the merle's and have a lovely little blue merle Chi -- but that's another story) when mating to another dog.  You have to know the genetics and lines behind the dogs for at least 3 or 4 generation to ensure that if you do have pups, there won't be any complications.

On a side note, I'm firmly of the belief of if you have "rescued" or "saved" a dog from a fate worse than death, then have the animal fixed so that they can truely live a life as a companion ... but that's just my opinion.

You sound like you have a good responsible head on your shoulder and I'm confident you'll do what's best for your four-legged family.

Good luck