Wioleta

Reading this thread, I've been wondering about that too. Permanent sterilization definitely has its appeal, for pets and humans alike. But is it really necessary to completely remove everything?

Wworm

well we certainly are no expert, we just keep our ears and eyes open. it seems in these parts, in order to go to daycare i had to be neutered. they don't take non-neutered or non-spayed dogs, and that is in most daycare situations here. otherwise prob my person may not have had me done.

the other thing is that when you are running around dogparks and off-leash with other dawgs like i am, it seems it is 'looked down upon' to bring your non-neutered or non-spayed dog to come play too. don't get me wrong, i do have playmates in these parks that are not neutered or spayed. but their owners have to be very careful.

and the way it was explained to us, is something like... if a male dog is non-neutered, even if he is not aggressive, he could be more humpy, which then makes him a target of other dogs' aggression. also something like the fact that that dog is unneutered, he is more of a target of aggression from other male dogs than if he's neutered. another person put it like this-- if there's a dogfight, it is always the unneutered dog's fault, it's the one that will be blamed. we dunno if all this is true, but this is apparently the way of thinking.

also in SF it is actually illegal to have a male pitbull that is not neutered. S.F. sterilization law successful in reducing pit bull population - SFGate This article explains several reasons for this. One reason does appear to be reducing aggression.

unfortunately, we can contribute something to this question of vasectomy. my pal had a vasectomy only, not castrated, which is much more severe. he's my golden doodle pal, about 2 yrs old. it is unclear exactly what happened. he went to the dogpark where there are 30-40 dogs in a pretty nice area here, lots of responsible dog owners and great dogs. but he has a reputation for humping other dogs. we don't know if this happened on the day of the attack, but he got severely attacked by a rescue German shepherd there. the shepherd went for the neck and there was blood everywhere, he required several hours of surgery but is expected to recover.

of course we feel for our friend. but interestingly, a lot of the other dog owners are blaming him for not being neutered. for 'carrying a scent' that brings out the aggression for other dogs, or else for humping that dog and angering it. it's a longer story than this, but all i'll say is that it has turned into a lawsuit here. we will see what will end up happening, i guess, as far as a judge/jury's decision on this. tho it just got filed so we probably won't know anything for a year or two.

--Worm

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Mikey T

there is actual no precedent for this opinion it is well know that neuter and spay females hump as well and Humping is a typical part of dog play. So as with anything else context is all important.

Vectisvagrant

[QUOTE... if a male dog is non-neutered, even if he is not aggressive, he could be more humpy, which then makes him a target of other dogs' aggression. also something like the fact that that dog is unneutered, he is more of a target of aggression from other male dogs than if he's neutered.
--Worm[/QUOTE]

A young male dog has I believe around 8 times the hormone levels that he will have in later life ' a teenager', this can lead to aggression from other entire dogs who react to the hormones & challenge the younger dog.
Neutered males can also give off a smell that is confusing to bitches & dogs as they don't know what it (he) is, & if the neutered male is very unfortunate he can end up smelling rather like a bitch on heat , which leads to 'a lot' of interest/confusion from other dogs & not always friendly.

Soundtrack

Yes, unfortunately testicles are regarded by many as the root of all evil in the canine world. One wonders how dogs managed to get along at all before neutering became routine.

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Esther

we don't want anymore unwanted puppies round here so we spay and neuter
there's too many euthanized because of the kill shelters where we live due to these little "oopsie" puppies.
To each his own.
But we will continue to do so

Herzo

I don't know about the vasectomy but I have heard of a new way to spay a female, just don't remember what it was or where I heard this.

Scully

Going back to the above thought for a second -- and I'm not trying to be an ass by asking; I'm truly curious.....Are there responsible breeders in our part of the world who would sell their dogs to non-showing/non-breeding pet homes without a spay neuter contract? Maybe just have a non-breeding agreement, stating that the owner agrees to not suddenly decide to breed at any point in the dog's life, but not specifying that their method of avoiding a breeding would be a spay or neuter? Since I know that the good breeders try their best to ensure their dogs go to homes they truly trust, it just kind of seems to me that the whole spay/neuter agreement sort of implies that it is recognized that mistakes can happen even to responsible people, and sterilization eliminates that small chance. Or maybe that is just in my mind, which I know thinks very differently than many folks. Like I said, I am curious, because honestly, I have never had a problem with signing a spay/neuter contract, and therefore never really thought to have a discussion with a breeder about other options. [There was no contract with Scully ( came from BYB ), and Larsen was neutered as an adult before coming to live with us, so Ninja is actually the only one I had to agree to spay.]

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Esther

first basset in our house was from a reputable breeder. show dogs. the works. no spay/neuter contract. she just asked that if she was bred, that she be bred to one of their dogs

Scully

Interesting. I guess it always seems to me that breeders might get a reputation of not being responsible if they did not require their pet puppy buyers to sign a spay/neuter contract. (And I'm not implying that I automatically find it irresponsible.) Perhaps that requirement is less commonplace than I realized, even amongst the reputable breeders. Like I said, I never really discussed the possiblity of being exempt from signing one, given that I have not had strong feelings against it.

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