This Guy Says It Is Usually 'company Policy' For Dogs To Be Required To Be Fixed.

This is assuming companies even allow dogs on the road in their rigs in the first place. Is this also true when bringing your dog with you on a route through Canada? He claims that your dog must be fixed to enter Canada. Is he full of bologna still?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHn3_v7m4pk

Please see the time mark at 5:30 at the link above about the spay/neuter remark. My guess is that unless the company specifically states this under their pet policy on their webpage then this guy is "smoking something" and not Marlboro.

Is this guy lying right through his "Cat Diesel Power" hat?

Does your own dog-allowing company even care about whether Rover was castrated or Geisha was spayed? Don't trucking companies have much bigger "fish to fry" than to worry about that? This guy on the u-toob video means they are going to start micro-managing your animal's reproductive capabilities? "How anal!" some people might think. What if I want to breed or show my pedigreed dog someday? AKC rules will not allow fixed animals at their official events as shows, trials or conformity and opposes all rules, regs and laws about this. Does Jim Palmer have a spay/neuter policy? They make no mention of it at their own site. They seem very liberal on pets in general after reading them up at their own Web site. I don't even want to call trucking outfits up and start asking them these kinds of questions. I don't want to even put ideas in their heads for placing even more tight controls on such petty things. I feel it's sometimes better to ask drivers about company things than to ask company managers. Come on now, brothers! A driver is another fellow driver's brother and best friend. Company owners and top brass are not your allies, I don't think.

Now, I can see having vaccinations/shot records/vet health/rabies certs all in order. I don't want to be bitten by a rabid mutt myself. The various states and Canada will require all this jazz anyway. You have to have all this stuff in order even when you and Fido travel in your private automobile across state lines. I just can't imagine myself travelling with a pooch missing some manhood parts. How embarrassing! It makes America look like a bunch of politically-correct bon-bon-eating wooses. How would you like it if your company were to castrate you as an employment requirement so truckers don't "make a lot of extra unwanted babies" by "truck stop prostitutes"?

PS - Oh, by the way, now I have considered a pair of boxers instead of a Shepherd. Smaller, compact, good-looking (maybe not as handsome as a Shepherd) they still make great little watchdogs. Strangers won't dare mess with a driver with a boxer or two for company. I have read they are a great breed choice chosen by many a driver.

I have a show dog and have friends that are pretty deep in the purebred dog and field trial business/hobby. Canada, from NY's border, from what I understand, rarely even checks Rabies certificates when crossing the border. Good idea to have when traveling. Requiring an dog to be altered to cross country borders would effectively kill the show industry.

PS - Oh, by the way, now I have considered a pair of boxers instead of a Shepherd. Smaller, compact, good-looking (maybe not as handsome as a Shepherd) they still make great little watchdogs. Strangers won't dare mess with a driver with a boxer or two for company. I have read they are a great breed choice chosen by many a driver.

When my Aussie crosses the bridge to doggie heaven, I think I'm going to try a GSP or a Shiba. I love my herding breeds but mine is fairly shy. My uncles boxers are absolute clowns, I'll bet you'll love them.

Dogs are not required to be spayed or neutered, they are required to have a rabies vaccination (unless less than three months old).

Canadian Border Services Agency: Importing or Travelling with Domestic Dogs

I don't know about being required or not but definitely may be helpful especially when dealing with cats. Spayed/Neutered cats are less likely to want to leave the comfort of their 'home'. Also a fixed cat is far less likely to spray.

I don't know about being required or not but definitely may be helpful especially when dealing with cats. Spayed/Neutered cats are less likely to want to leave the comfort of their 'home'. Also a fixed cat is far less likely to spray.

This was my first thought. Intact animals, both dogs and cats, mark their territory. New drivers tend to forget that the company truck is not your home and company policies are made to improve your quality of life, but they are privileges. Each company has the right to have a different policy, and I recently checked out some of the trucks that were turned back into prime and "torn up" wasn't even the word to describe. One dash had claw and teeth marks!!!

Prime has a pet policy but limits the weight to 30 pounds for both dogs and cats for company drivers plus a $1000 pet "deposit" that I've been told most never get back. The contract I signed for the cat simply said I needed to vaccinate and said nothing about fixing the animals.

Ravenwoods i think its great you are so enthusiastic about bringing your beloved pet. But I seriously think you should go to a dealership and take a look inside some of these trucks. I have my cat whose litter box and food dishes take up too much space....along with the large bags of food, kitty litter, and water bottles... I'm not sure I would take a dog along. I worked and fostered for a dalmatian rescue so I love dogs. Big dogs. I have seen a man with two great Danes who let his dogs sleep on the bed, he slept in the top bunk and all other supplies were basically stored in the passenger seat area. Personally I don't know if I can live that way

Plus large dogs would more easily distract a new driver. Just by sitting on the passenger seat he could block your mirror or try to jump on your lap while driving. After a long hard day when you are absolutely exhausted, he could be freaking out and barking at every trucker who walks by or brakes that get released causing little sleep.

My trainer had a cute little dog who was raised on the truck and never did this stuff until the truck stopped. My own cat was 10yrs when I brought him on the truck and he has adjusted, but he was always more behaved than my other animals were.

I know for a fact that my precious Dalmatian would never have been good on a truck. She'd run away, chase truckers, and take up half the truck.

Not trying to discourage you. Just giving food for thought.

Very well. This guy in the video could just be talking thru his hat about company 'fixing' policies.

He could just be an advocate of everybody fixing their pets and he's just trying to scare every driver/pet-owner into doing the same.

I am glad there are really no border laws requiring it. Having health certs, microchipping and rabies vaccine up to date is fine by me. Even as a non-trucker all my dogs were maintained that way always.

I had my male Lab given a vasectomy years ago to keep his girlfriend from getting pregnant. This keeps his parts intact but makes him sterile. That's all. It takes a little bit of work to find a vet who will do that procedure and they charge somewhat more than spay/neuter fees. Vasectomy won't disqualify the animal from AKC events.

When my Aussie crosses the bridge to doggie heaven, I think I'm going to try a GSP or a Shiba. I love my herding breeds but mine is fairly shy. My uncles boxers are absolute clowns, I'll bet you'll love them.

Michelle, I have been asking questions about dogs for truckers on CL as well in that site's Pet/Animal forum lately.

Some people there don't recommend a boxer, not for trucking reasons, but claim this breed has trouble breathing and cannot tolerate hot weather well because it is a blunt-muzzled breed. I must now set my sights on long-muzzled breeds. I need a healthy animal as well as a trucking dog.

Next I will consider the Rottweiler.

Lab retrievers might be OK. I have owned them in the past. But they really don't make the best guard dogs or watch dogs. They are too kindly to most strangers. A good security dog should be aloof of people they don't know.

The trouble with German Shepherds these days is that many of them are imported and cost an arm and a leg as puppies. I can't fancy paying over $1,000 for an AKC pup with no training and housebreaking.

A trucker should try to get an adult dog that has already been trained and housebroken if he can. Who wants to deal with a nuisance pup on the road?

I am a bachelor. No wife. No children. Nobody can take care of the animal at home except somebody I pay to pet-sit, perhaps. This could even be a responsible roommate who could pet-sit and house-sit (in lieu of paying his share of rent) for the bachelor trucker while he is on the long haul. If he works, a telecommuter (work at home person) would even be ideal.

Thinking this whole dog thing thru and how to make it work for truck driving is gonna take a lot of research and homework on my part.

Basset hounds and bulldogs, though popular in the cab, are too lazy and too ugly for me. The bulldog also has breathing troubles.

Think about shedding too. Hairier dogs will be harder. Its not like you can wash laundry every day...the sheets curtains and floors get covered. The hair clogs the air filters so you need to change them more.

You don't necessarily need a guard dog on the road. Any barking dog will draw attention. A barking ****zu would gain attention... From pet friendly truckers who want to let it lol