Arguments For And Against Spaying And Neutering Dogs?

[The Spotted Devil]

If people can't responsibly manage intact dogs then desexing is likely the best option for them, but other pet owners being irresponsible isn't going to impact in any way shape or form on my decision to desex or leave my dogs entire.

Desexing their dogs also won't make those irresponsible owners responsible, it will just stop them being able to breed with their dog. They will still continue to manage it irresponsibly.

Yes I agree.

[OSoSwift]

I personally will not desex my males unless there is a very good medical reason for doing so. All bitches will be desexed when they are either too old to have a litter or have had the litter I want or after 14 months of age.

That generally means my bitches are speyed at around 6 years of age.

I do believe all dogs going through rescue should be desexed prior to rehoming.

I also believe since my dogs do not contribute to pound dogs or roaming dogs people can jam that argument fair up their backside. Me buying my pedigree dogs did not contribute to a pound/rescue dog dieing either.

If someone approached me and demanded to know why my dogs were entire they who get told to F off.

Any puppies I have sold I recommend they leave them until around 14 months of age. If they want to do it earlier I recommend no earlier than 9 months of age. In my breed bitches cycling for the first time after 12 months of age is not unusual.

[OSoSwift]

If people can't responsibly manage intact dogs then desexing is likely the best option for them, but other pet owners being irresponsible isn't going to impact in any way shape or form on my decision to desex or leave my dogs entire.

Desexing their dogs also won't make those irresponsible owners responsible, it will just stop them being able to breed with their dog. They will still continue to manage it irresponsibly.

Yes I agree.

Yes I agree with this

[alpha bet]

For those who grew up in the 60's and 70's will remember that most people didn't bother desexing their pets. Nor did many use boarding kennels or even vaccination - diets were basically left overs, meat offcuts and bones from the butcher - obedience clubs were few and far between and often dogs roamed the streets and learnt their social skills out in the real world. Kids also were taught not to touch a strange dog, not to touch a sleeping dog and never touch a dog who is eating..... all my friends had dogs, sometimes 2 or 3, surprisingly I don't remember any of my friends being bitten and many of us had dogs that lived till 18 years or even more.... strong, healthy and very little need for vets.....

The campaign for desexing didn't really get off the ground until the 80's and 90's and then came the vaccination program. By the year 2000 we have a pet industry pushing their own research to promote an all dry food diet - and now with the introduction of pet medical insurance then the vets can now start really raking in the cash....

Now our animals live shorter lives, seem to be inundated with diseases and genetic faults that costs thousands of dollars to fix. Even the concept of desexing pups at 6-8 weeks is becoming a priority.......

I visited dog people in a few Euro countries 18 months ago and from chatting with them discovered (particularly Eastern Europe) they are looking after their animals much the same as we did in the 60's- their dogs are healthy and longer living.... and the limited research so far is supporting the concept of problems with early desexing and vaccination as well as processed food.

So to answer this question : I think the science is still out on coming up with the answer hence nowdays I tend to advise that people consider desexing after 12 months and with bigger breeds even perhaps 18 months -

As a breeder my own dogs aren't desexed until finished breeding - and I would never desex babies..... instead I maintain contact with the families for an extended period and we have an annual picnic get-together. With 52 aussie pups in the last 7 years, I know where they are and none have had accidental litters - only planned/registered pups.

[sandgrubber]

For those who grew up in the 60's and 70's will remember that most people didn't bother desexing their pets. Nor did many use boarding kennels or even vaccination - diets were basically left overs, meat offcuts and bones from the butcher - obedience clubs were few and far between and often dogs roamed the streets and learnt their social skills out in the real world. Kids also were taught not to touch a strange dog, not to touch a sleeping dog and never touch a dog who is eating..... all my friends had dogs, sometimes 2 or 3, surprisingly I don't remember any of my friends being bitten and many of us had dogs that lived till 18 years or even more.... strong, healthy and very little need for vets.....

It's easy to romanticize.

In the 60s and 70s people didn't think twice about drowning unwanted puppies and kill rates in shelters were extremely high. (I got Turnip, my first dog, when the neighbors appeared saying "sure hate to drown these pups").

As for vaccinations . . . parvo didn't appear until the 1978 and it took a few years for vaccinations to be developed. So pressure for vaccination was low in the 70s. I don't know how active distemper vaccination programs were . . . but I'd guess not very active until the 1990s.

p.s. I grew up in the 50s, so saw the 70s as a young adult. It's easy to think the time of your childhood was problem-free. Kids get shielded from problems, or look right at problems and see nothing wrong.

Edited April 7, 2014 by sandgrubber

[lilypily]

Great topic. My boy is booked in next week for desexing, he will be 18weeks old. I am umming and ahhhing on whether I should or not.

Vets certainly promote desexing earlier. It's more expensive if done at a later age.

[Mystiqview]

As a rescuer I would never rehome an undesexed dog - no matter how old they are. Far too many unwanted puppies born all the time.

As an owner, I would never want an undesexed dog in my house - I've had plenty of experience of undesexed dogs that I've rescued and I definitely don't want the experience for more than a few days at a time.

From a health point of view, many of the dogs I've rescued have had health issues because they were undesexed. I had to put one to sleep an hour after he arrived - vet's assessment said his peritoneal hernia was too far gone. Lost another GSD cross after several surgeries that attempted to remove ovarian cancer. All caused because she was bred from relentlessly and never desexed - she was about 12 yrs old when she died. I've lost count of those that had pyometra happening or something else related to being undesexed.

Whilst you can housetrain an undesexed male dog, it's much harder to do so if they are older when you get them, there are also behavioural issues.

This is my experience - I've had 100s of dogs in my house since 2002, very few of whom arrived already desexed but they all left that way.

Not having a go at your post just addressing some points raised, earlier to quote on an iPad.

My personal opinion, it is up to the person to decide whether they wish to keep their dog entire or not. If they wish to pay the extra dog registration for an entire dog, then that is their choice. Just because someone owns an entire animal, does not automatically make them irresponsible or the do automatically 100% guaranteed to have health or behavioural issues.

I have seen and boarded more dirty early (6 month) male dogs that had no toilet manners and pee on everything. I have seen older and mature entire male dogs who still squat or have perfect toilet manners. You just have to see people walking their dogs down the street - allowing them to pee (marking) on every tree, shrub or vertical feature on their walk. The dog does not need to pee that much. It does it because it can and has not been taught any manners. This is the owners fault - not the dog. Any behavioural problem that has become an ingrained habit is going to be hard to retrain than a dog who was taught correct habits from a pup. Being entire is not necessarily going to make that better or worse,

My entire male stud dog has better toilet manners than the majority of early sexed pet dogs. Why? Because I put the effort in training him from 4 weeks of age (I am the breeder)

A bitch who has been relentlessly bred is naturally going to be in the higher risk category of having issues relating to reproduction. If improper care was given to the bitch, this increases the risk. Again this is not the bitch's fault, but again the owner.

I have had one bitch on her first litter at 2 years old, have complete uterin inertia and requiring c sect. She was desexed as if bred again, there was nearly 100% chance it would happen again. Also she cycled every 4 months. She also got moody and cranky while in season, so it was an all round decision to desex. She still gets moody and cranky when one of my other bitches are in season, so a close eye needs to be kept on her and she needs to be kept away from them. Ovaries and uterus are gone, so it's not that causing her cantankerous attitude.

Some bitches and lines are more susceptible to issues. I know of a particular line who have had whelping/breeding issues. Like people, such things are also seen in family groups. Others are just bad luck.

Irresponsible owners are always going to be there. Desexing is only hopefully going to stop those idiots from breeding their dogs. I know someone who have just bred their Maltese cross to some other Maltese cross. Bitch has crap temperament, bitey noisy little shit of a dog with no manners. The husband said that if the dog would cost them more than $300 they will let it die. Let's hope it does not need a c sect or any other care . Pups will probably not be regularly wormed, maybe only vaccinated and certainly not microchipped (req. by legislation). I know I will be called as soon as there is an issue and will be expected to lend a hand. They are breeding only to get some money. They had a pedigree boxer who had issues ( poorly bred pet really) would not get pregnant, so based on this one experience, they think mongrels are better than pedigree.

Yet they have a cross breed with skin and eye problems bred to gawd knows what.....