Dog Spay and Neuter: Discussion

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

This topic was brought up in another thread. I didn't want to highjack it so I thought I would post a new thread. There are a lot of opinions regarding it. But with so many new puppies and new puppy owners on this site I thought this might be a relavent topic to discuss.

Please keep things NICE, this topic can get heated. But we are mostly adults here so lets live up to that title and not turn this into a fight.

I'll go first:

I don't like spaying and neutering my own dogs. I HATE early spay and neuter, meaning a dog altered under four months of age. I have one intact male GSD and one neutered Papillon. I kept my Rat Terrier intact till he was 9 years old then neutered due to prostate issues.

In my opinion and experience as a trainer/behavior consultant most issues with dogs have little to do with their sex or hormones but rather the issues start with the owners. I rarely recommend spay or neuter to a client if he/she hasn't already done so. There are always exceptions though.

So what do you think?

 

[danischi24]

I don't bother with neuter as I keep my dogs home but I spay at 6 months unless I'm planning to show or breed. There are too many unwanted puppies around without me adding to it. I also get the people I know to spay at 6 months because I don't want to see their unwanted puppies either.

 

[nzpouter]

always got it done when not intended for breeding, we saw a few b!tches died from pymethra and dogs turn agro when they reach 3-4 year old.

 

[SunnyDawn]

We got ours as rescue dogs from the pound and they automatically do it but after we saw how beautiful the dogs were when grown I was very sad that we could not experiment with any litters from them. I'm ok with anybody's choice though. I do agree that behavioral problems have very little to do with this choice though. I think if people are hoping it will "fix" a dog's bad behavior then they will be very dissapointed.

 

[tammyd57]

I only spay or neuter if my pet's health is compromised by not being neutered. In the past 20 years or so I have only had to spay one cat because she had health problems when she came in season, (actually she went just a bit bonkers and wouldn't eat or anything else for 2+ weeks at a time, she's all better now).
I keep my dogs and cats contained to my property or house and there is never a chance of unwanted babies.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

I spay and neuter all of my dogs and cats. I would feel terrible contributing at all to the pet overpopulation crisis, with all the wonderful dogs and cats who die awful deaths in shelters every day. Having done a lot of work with fostering rescue animals, I simply could not make the choice to bring more puppies or kittens into the world.

I do believe it's all right for responsible breeders to continue breeding their dogs to keep the breeds alive, but puppy mills, backyard breeders, accidental litters, and people trying to make money off their animals... That's why there's such a problem in shelters today. I feel like, as an animal lover and one who strives to stop needless death and suffering whenever possible, I have an obligation to dogs and cats everywhere to have my dogs and cats spayed and neutered, and to hopefully encourage others to do the same.

 

[Southpaw970]

I am all for spaying and neutering. I worked at a vet clinic for 11 yrs. I saw many cases of female dogs getting huge cancerous tumors on their mammary glands and others having to have emergency surgery for a pyometra (infected uterus). Spaying them prevents both of these problems.

My mom did not spay her Cairn Terriers. Both of them developed pyometra's 2 yrs apart and had to have emergency surgery at the ages of 12 and 14. I assisted in the surgery for the last one and her uterus was so friable it was almost impossible for the doctor to tie the arteries off. He was able to do so, but she never fully recovered from the infection and the stress of the surgery and died 3 days later.

Male dogs can have prostate problems and also get testicular cancer if they aren't neutered. Neutering them before 6 months of age keeps them from marking their territory and from wanting to roam. It can also help with some aggression problems.

If you do want to keep you dogs intact to breed them, I would still recommend having them spayed/neutered at some point before they become too old. It is no fun worrying about your geriatric pet having to go through emergency surgery for something that could have been avoided.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[MelissaR]

I have to respectfully disagree with you. There is a base physiological difference between an intact and an altered male dog - their testosterone levels. Testosterone is a mood altering hormone and plays a role in behavior. The difference it can make in a dogs personality will vary, but there will always be testosterone-related behavior that will have to be managed.

I agree with you when you say spaying/neutering usually won't fix the issue - even if it is based on reproductive behaviors. The reason spay/neuter doesn't work is that the dog has learned the behavior. Taking away one of the things that may stimulate the behavior doesn't make the dog "unlearn" it.

With that said, I have to live with the reality of the unwanted pet population problem because I work in rescue. I've had to walk down the aisles of the local animal control and look at *literally* thousands of dogs that will be euthanized through no fault of their own. The statistic for the breed I rescue is that only 1 in 600 will make it out of a shelter/animal control facility alive.

My feeling is that if a dog isn't being bred by a respectable breeder or doesn't have a medical condition that prevents it, there is absolutely no reason for a dog to not be spayed/neutered. None, nada, zip. Early spay and neuter is a necessary procedure for puppies coming out of shelters and rescues. It ensures that the adopted dog will not reproduce and compound the unwanted pet population problem.

I'll step off my soapbox now...

 

[Crittercrzy]

Quote:
DITTO

 

[easttxchick]

My dogs are ALL spayed or neutered-even though I have a fenced in back yard and even if they are a small house dog. NO risk of my dogs contributing to overpopulation of more unwanted animals.