New Chastity Belt For Dogs

Preventing pregnancy in an unspayed dog is a huge challenge -- that is, unless your dog is wearing her chastity belt.

Yes, a chastity belt. It sounds medieval – and there is some metal mesh in the construction of the Pet Anti-Breeding System (PABS) -- but dog trainer and inventor Dexter Blanch tells Paw Nation he's just keeping up with the needs of dog owners' today. Made to buckle on the rear end of a female dog in heat, the PABS allows her to get rid of waste but blocks an interested male dog from making too close a connection.

We talked to Blanch from his home in Shreveport, La. to find out more about his "holistic" approach to preventing pooch pregnancies:

When we heard about this, we laughed, but it sounds like it could work.
That's everybody's reaction, and actually I can understand it, really.

How did you come up with the PABS idea?
I've been a dog trainer for 41 years and I knew it was a needed product. But it really hit me one day when I was hunting with one of my registered female dogs and we came across a bunch of male dogs. She was a young dog and was learning so I needed to keep her in the field but her heat cycle came at the wrong time, and I was like, wow, suppose something were to happen.

Can you break down for us how the PABS actually works?
It's a lightweight polypropylene that covers the rear end of your pet at all times, and it covers it with a mesh area. She can defecate over the top of it, she can urinate through the mesh. But nothing can penetrate to copulate to impregnate to overpopulate!

How hard is it to put on?
It's not difficult at all. It comes pre-assembled. You get your two back legs, and once you bring the tail through and snap the cross-straps, adjust the cross straps and the waistband, and you do your back adjustment and your collar, she's fitted. And it's not made to fit tight. You don't want it to be irritable to your dog or induce her to bite. You want it to stay loose, but she can't pull it off, and the male can't pull it off. The product weighs less than 12 ounces even for a Newfoundland, so they kind of don't even know it's on them.

How difficult is it to keep clean?
It's not hard. Sometimes you take it off to wash it, but I pick up my dog's poop when we are out for a walk anyway. A real dog lover won't have a problem with it.

What has been veterinarians' response to this?
To be honest with you, I haven't gotten a great response from vets because it's going to cut down on some of their work. There's an animal scientist on my team, and she found me. She did help with some of the testing.

Are you suggesting this replace spaying?
No. This product fits into the scheme of dog owners who want to avoid surgery or may want to breed one day. Breeders want breeding stock, and this product would save them a lot of time and it doesn't isolate your dog or give her those psychological problems that can happen if she's isolated away from the pack.

Intrigued? Check out the PABS for Pets site for more information (or to buy one for your canine).

Tags: dog health, dog products, dog trainers, DogHealth, DogProducts, dogs, DogTrainers, spaying