Thought this would be an interesting subject...

Not Spaying/Neutering is Selfish IMO

My girls are both spayed. Trouble was spayed at 6 months. We had signed a contract with the animal shelter when we adopted her promising to spay her and put up a spaying deposit that was returned after she was spayed (we would have done it anyway, but the deposit helped cut the cost).
All of my dogs for the last nearly 40 years have been female (my own, not my fosters) and all have been spayed.

Coco was spayed when my mom adopted her...much too young and she now has the medical problems that go with that. Would have preferred the rescue either leave it to us or we could have put up a deposit as they did with Trouble. Our vet blew a gasket when he saw a 7 wk old puppy having been spayed. Now he and I deal with the consequences.

Why spay/neuter? Running the risk of sounding like an arogant b...I consider myself a responsible pet owner. I love my girls and don't want to take even the remote risk of their suffering because of my action (or lack thereof). I think anyone who doesn't spay/neuter is a selfish...well, we'll leave it as selfish.

All my pets have always been spayed and neutered at 6 months. The only dogs I leave intact are those that I will be showing and possibly breeding.

I personally saw a lot of mammary cancer, testicular cancer and pyometra cases when I worked at the vet clinic. I also witnessed a lot of pregnancy related death from people breeding irresponsibly. That was enough for me. When my dogs are done with showing/breeding they will be spayed and neutered ASAP!

*Quote by Dr2little*I also have to add that I absolutely believe that to keep a dog intact and not intend to breed is cruel. Think about what matters to an animal, any animal...food, water, sex. If you don't intend to breed, respect the fact that not allowing a dog to do what their hormones tell them that they should, is at the very least unkind, and for some torturous.

I agree with what you are saying here. However, I am keeping my guy intact because I have seen enough proof in all the years of working in the animal field that they grow better and bigger with testosterone in the first 2 to 3 years depending on the breed. I will eventually have my guy neutered but I am very responsible with him and he is never left unattended not even loose in my yard without me being there. I can control my boy and feel as if I am benefiting him and his health by letting him mature before I chop his testicles off. Unless I adopt from a shelter is the only time I will have a fixed male before they are 6 months. Otherwise my males will remain intact for the first 2- 3 years of there life. BUT a FEMALE is a different story if I owned one, she would be gettting spayed before her first heat. I'm not dealing with that mess!

Well, Hershey is the only male, my mom has ever owned, and she neutered him, because well, he couldn't have pups.. duh! And then the females she never bothered to spay, because she thought she would breed them... stupid idea! she never did though, it was all talk thank god.

Forgive me if I'm wrong (there are several ACD people on here, so I may be), but wasn't it your dog who ran off on a hike for several hours?

I'm certainly not saying you aren't doing the right thing for your dog - I'm not a vet, so I don't know. But as I said earlier, I have known wonderful dog owners who are so, so careful with their dogs, and yet sometimes they still get loose. Whether or not that risk of breeding outweighs any health benefits/risks is clearly a personal choice, and one you are certainly free to make. But I do think it is impossible to say that any dog is completely, always under control. JMHO

Dr. Thank you.
Until recently I assumed that dog lovers cared for the well being of all dogs....only recently have I understood that "my dog" or "my breed" is the only real concern of too many owners. Over 2 million dogs are being euthanized each year and one out of 15 dogs at this moment are in a shelter. 60% of them will be "humanly" killed. Yet spaying/neutering is OK for someone elses dog, but not mine.

I have a very hard time looking at this subject dispassionately but cannot understand how anyone who was not a serious professional breeder would take even the slightest chance they could be the cause of more needless killing.

Sorry, but that doesn't go far enough. As long as the exception is made for "breeders", we will still have the problem of over population, killing thousands of innocent puppies, kittens, dogs and cats. Back yard breeders and those who just need to make a little money are just as much a part of the problem as the irresponsible pet owner who doesn't spay/neuter.

It's too bad that there are not breeder licensing laws in this world.

Yes, I will admit that sometimes we make mistakes and that was one of stupid ones I made . It was actually and hour or more that I lost him because of how far in we were on the trails.I let him off to play with a neutered male Anatolian Shepard and that owners dog took off and Caiza followed suit. That was a first time for both and the LAST time for my dog. Just because he is intact doesn't mean he can't still socialize anymore. Where I walk has a huge dog park that we stopped going to but still walk through because that is the way into the trails I walk. Plus, these two took off over a mountain top and I'm 99% sure Caiza got disoriented and had no choice to follow the other dog, heck I would have to . Like I said you live and you learn. There are plenty of people who have dogs intact that I see walking loose, doesn't make them any less of an irresponsible dog owner if they were fixed IMO... you just have to know your dog and unfortunately I learned that I can no longer "trust" Caiza 100% to be free so he remains on a 25 ft flexi leash when we hike. That was the first and last problem I have had with him and his recall was never a problem until that particular day. There are several other people on this forum who have intact dogs because they also believe that dogs grow better with the added hormones so you think there dogs don't enjoy being free once in awhile to?


Here is some of my "original" post to Not sure if you read it......
I have always N/S my animals in recent years but now own a 21 month old "intact" ACD and my reasons for him being intact was initially to show him but that didn't work out because he was a jerk in the show ring as he matured. So, we have dabbled in protection/schutzhund work and he is now an official house pet and my hiking partner and constant companion I wasn't planning on neutering him until he was fully mature around 3 years anyways. However, not having an intact male for awhile now I am seeing why I have always had my males fixed before they were a year old.There brains are just not where they are supposed to be!

My Shepherd x is intact only because of health issues we are Very careful with him.My cocker x Copper is spayed we had it done as soon as we could after getting her She was 2 years old.My Pomeranian puppy just turned 6 months and he had a appointment made but then we had a storm and I couldn't get him there so hes going in on Tuesday to be done.