Am not pro or con spaying, it's a personal choice to be made by rational, responsible dog owners. Ethical vets should be everywhere, however, to push this moral issue or any other ( how does Dr. Knowitall feel about protection training, I wonder)is unacceptable. I would take my dogs (and my $$$$) somewhere else to make a point.

My fear is Sampson Syndrome but that was the cutting of HAIR, wasn't it?

Gordon, I generally agree with you, but your response indicates a unrealistic view. The over population problem is real. Dogs die in shelters everyday because someone didn't want to have their dog spayed or neutered and also didn't want to be responsible for the things that come with that choice. One of my friends has an animal shelter at her home (she is an ACO) and is often faced with "who dies today".. You get a sick twisted view on the pet market. I have joked that some of the shelters in the area should have the slogan "no one here gets out alive"....

Sadly, I have helped her choose who to take on that final vet visit on many occaisions. Most were not bad dogs, but it comes down to what the public will adopt. People will take an A$$hole small dog, but will not even look at a well trained pit mix or large black dog. There are some realities that vets will push which come from seeing the stream of dogs that are euthanized for no other reason than no homes that want them.

*dogs that leave the shelter are spayed or neutered prior to placement.

So, if you think the vet is wrong to be pro neuter, you need to open your eyes. Come for a visit to Maine and I will give you the grand tour of death.

http://www.spotsociety.org/fatedog.html

The decision to neuter your dog is up to you, I suppose. Though I would like to point out that there is probably a less chance you'll end up with an accident if you have an unneutered male dog compared to if you have an unspayed female, if you keep your dogs properly confined. You can control your dog but you can't control other people's dogs, and usually it's the other people's dogs that come looking for yours. And usually female don't roam as much as males...anyway...

I'd like to focus on the subject of living with an intact male. I myself live with an intact male dog, a Philippine Native dog to be precise, and the most I've had with him are annoyances. When we walk, he stops on each block and marks until he erm...'runs out'. However, I have had this dog since he was born, and he is already turning 8 this June, and I have never had a problem with him. He listens to me extremely well. As you should understand, there are a LOT of unneutered males roaming the Philippines where he and I lived in the past, and I have been able to stop him in midfight. I have once called him when he is running towards a bitch in heat, and he has stopped, turned to me and then to her twice, and then ran towards me. This is not to say that you should allow your dog to run around freely (it was inescepable at the time when we were there); but that a dog's obedience should not 100% depend on whether is he neutered or not.

His marking behaviour is something that I allow on the streets. Whenever I see him lift his leg where he shouldn't, one word from me will stop him. However, because he is intact, I make EXTREME precautions with him especially around other dogs. I watch his every move, always. I do not let him mingle with other intact male dogs here in Canada; if I see a dog on the other end of the leash pull towards my dog, I cross the street and not let them meet. Knowing my dog, he will likely fight to the death, and that's something I don't want him to do with a pit bull or a Rottweiler. I do not let him off leash where he could get injured--although he listens well, he still an intact male and he is still a primitive-type dog, a type of dog notorious for being independent minded, so I don't take the risk. (However he is an extreme gentleman. He has never in his life turned against a female, no matter what that female has done.)

If you cannot go through the lengths of the extra precaution--if you cannot control your dog--if you don't know how to read dogs and see an accident coming from a mile away--if your dog will not come the moment you call him--most of all, if you cannot take responsibility for your dog, especially if he is a big dog, then I would seriously rethink about keeping him unneutered.

Jeesh, I didn't realize this was an old topic. I should really stop replying to my 'search' results. Pardon me.