I hate this topic. I've decided that I'd never s/n (spay or neuter) a dog unless there was an immediate health reason to do so.

I hate it when women tell me that it's a "man thing" that we don't want to neuter our males. I hate it when people give me statistics on the health of dogs telling me that it will prevent a male from getting testicular cancer. If women were to have radical mastectomies at the age of three it would end breast cancer. But I don't see lines of women signing up.

I hate it when people tell me that it will cut down on unwanted litters. I've got a six-foot block wall with chain link gates and my dogs don't get out. Then they tell me about the "irresponsible owners" and how many unwanted litters are born every year. I don't give a damn. I'm responsible and in over 20 years of owning dogs I've not been responsible for one unwanted litter.

My favorite litany is how many behavior problems it will solve. BULLSHIT!! Behavior problems originate in a dog’s brain not his balls or her ovaries. If you have behavior problems train your dog or get some of those goldfish I’ve mentioned before. Surgery isn’t a substitute for training. I’ve never seen surgery be anything but a fix for behavior problems for a few weeks. Then the old behavior comes right back.

And finally I hate it when people tell me how safe s/n is. As someone who’s lost a dog to anesthesia during a neutering operation, I’ll say that you’re a liar. When dealing with humans there are over 1,000,000 "medical mistakes" in the US every year. Approximately 120,000 of them result in deaths. That number of deaths is the equivalent of what would occur if a jumbo jet crashed every day; it is three times the 43,000 people killed each year in U.S. automobile accidents.

I have no reason to believe that vets are any better.

People who deal with pet owners may have reason to argue for neutering but I think that someone who cares enough about his dogs to spend time reading or writing to this board is gonna be more responsible than the APO (Average Pet owner).

I'm reading the comments on this topic with a lot of interest as I am debating wether i'm going to neuter my alaskan puppies. I have a quite a few "politically correct" (spayed) females but have always let the boys keep their parts. Being as I don't have any neutered males I can't comment on how it would affect drive, but I find that spaying the female has no effect on the females working ability, in fact I think it improves it in some as sometimes heat cycles can make females run kind of on/off or flaky. Any of the females I have had spayed are not fighters but will not take any crap off of anybody. As to increasing longevity with neutering I can only say I have some old intact males (14 years)
and know of many others. I would say that the incidence of cancer mentioned in the study of neutered dogs might have something to do with the weight gain that a lot of pet dogs suffer after neutering due to inactivity and overfeeding.
Just a thought.

the working ability they are referring to is protection, and the dog needs its parts to dog protection work.

Good Post Lou,
I really like what you said.... thanks for saying it!

Yeah, I have to agree there. His post was certainly very informative.

Thanks Lou. I'll take your advice and leave him be.

Later

Andy

Hi all, I`m a newbie to the list from the land down under, one of Richards mob, BRaT`s, hi Rich, thanks for pointing me in this direction. I don`t like neutering either unless it`s for medical reasons. I have seen a few good working dogs that have been neutered but also a heck of a lot that do not have much going for them as well. Question, a friend has a 6 month old rottie with one testicle undecended, the vet says " whip em out now as it will cause big problems later on" Any comments?
Dot

At such a young age, wouldn't it affect his growth?

There is not much to add to Lou's reply here. Barring health considerations, or...maybe...use of a bitch for working purposes (K9/drugs, etc.) there is no way I am going to s/n any of my dogs. That having been said, there is also no way we will ever resolve this question to everyone's satisfaction.

My advice to Andy is don't neuter.

Dot,
Let me tell you, this is right up my ally, my pup had this same problem, one testicle did not drop, my vet told me this. We will remove the stuck tectical at 2 years old if it has not come down and leave the other one, because the surgery into the abdomen is too risky at his age (5months at the time) for such a small issue.

Guess what? We were back yesterday and his testical has shown up, so now I get the pleasure of trying to "pull" it the rest of the way down everyday per the vets instructions. Sound fun? It aint but better then sugery!

My Vet is anti neuter as well.. he says that is about the dumbest sugery he preforms "Medical reasons excluded" I have to agree with him, he is from the old world used to train Army dogs in Chech Republic, so I think he knows what it's all about. It's refreshing to find a vet with first hand working experience. The only problem is he won't tell you unless you ask....he says "It's a paycheck issue" hahah at least he is honest about it.

OK,so nobody beat me up about this please!!LOL............I made the decision to spay my 2 year old bitch when I came to the conclusion that I would never breed her due to some conformation faults(cow-hocked,toes out in front).

I figured that since there was no way I would breed her,I was not about to continue to endure her diapering sessions!She is a house dog and I swear she would go through 5-6 boxes of maxi pads in the month long odessy!!!

I truly just didn't want to deal with that anymore!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />