Breeding my baby??

[pricescope]

I have lived in 4 European countries where fixing was not ...marketed. Dogs live longer lives there, seeing 13 yeas old healthy dog is not rare, they are less obese than in Canada, they play together in dog parks and do not fight all the time as you may think they would. Behaviour is driven by hormones in pack animals for the most part, my personal believe is that a dog looses big part of his/her personality if not intact.

If anybody can provide a link to independent (not sponsored by Vets or Breeders associations) research that shows intact dogs have more health problems i would be glad to visit it. For now i believe each general anaesthesia and surgical invasion are not good for the health.

As for abused and abandoned dogs - that's not a European problem only, people can be jerks everywhere. Puppy mills are the problem here, in North America as much as anywhere.

You are welcome to ignore this post, actually i am asking you not to response as don't expect anyone to agree and have no time to ague my point - it was made to provide you with an independent view of an observant who actually has lived in both cultures being very interested in dogs and even involved professionally.

 

[cara]

Pyometra apparantly is an infection of the uterus that bitches are susceptible to after being in heat, at least according to wikipedia, not the most reliable source. I''m not really arguing that pyometra is a reason to spay your dog, but you asked...

I don''t know which countries you might be referring to, but Greece at least has a cultural resistance to neutering dogs and a huge stray dog problem. I met a woman who volunteered for a dog group there and her job was to intake stray dogs, clean them up and feed them, euthanize the sick ones and neuter the rest, and either release them back to the streets or ship the good pet-like ones to Germany for adoption. She said they got lots of starving injured dogs that were beyond saving. I guess if there was a culture in which everyone looked after their dog and kept them from escaping and was willing to raise the "accidents" it would work, but that seems like asking a lot of people.

It seems most of the objection to spaying or neutering is to the organ removal and accompanying hormonal changes and not the act of sterilization, which could be accomplished with either tubal ligation or vasectomy but leave the hormone-producing organs intact.

If the objection is to the sterilization itself - what other method of population control is more acceptable? Doggy abortions and puppy-euthanizing? Starvation or poisoning after the stray dog population grows to unmanagable levels? Dogs, like many creatures, are fully capable of reproducing beyond the carrying capacity of their environment, and lacking predators, they would be limited by starvation if people don''t intervene.

 

[fire&ice]

First, I have to "buy a dog" because I am allergic. I have to know what I am getting. Though this was indeed my motivation since childhood, I am now sold on the breed''s temperment & characteristics. Most breeder''s of Standard Schnauzers don''t breed for money. The breed to improve THEIR line.

Second, Pricescope''s post is based on scientific fact - as are others about neutering for health reasons. Intact male dogs are more suseptible to prostrate issues, cancer in that area, anal gland/anus problems, etc. On the flip side, an intact male will be less obsese (testosterone is a natural appetitie inhibitor plus maintains muscle mass). Intact males can live longer because of this. They can tend to have less dry skin issues, etc.

As far as females, I would tend to spay because the risk of pregnancy alone is risky. Though female to female dog agression can increase with spaying, a dog in heat can show agression towards humans. Big controversy here - man adopted two female rottwieler''s that showed no agression towards humans. The two became in heat. Boy enters back yard with dogs. Boy was mauled to death. Animal control has stated that the dog''s being in heat may have triggered the attack. Why - don''t know.

Manderine, regarding the "cultural issue". I see no *reasons* given for the cultural difference except that they just don''t do it. What is the cultural difference/perception? Clearly here in the US, we do it for the health reasons stated above - and mostly for control of overpopulation.

 

[ljmorgan]

I have seen some of the strangest arguments in this thread!

Mandarine if you really want to breed your baby, go ahead! He''ll be just fine after breeding, although there is a small risk of increased aggressive behavior in males.

I have to say I spayed my female chihuahua, and I fully agree with and encourage pet owners to spay and neuter pets. However, I think some people here haven''t really thought the issue through very well, and I''m not sure why some people don''t understand why spaying and neutering isn''t accepted in all cultures. Does everyone understand they are removing genitals? Everyone listens to their vet that it is essential to their pets health without really thinking about why. YES, if you spay your female dog, you reduce the risk of uterine cancer and infections, because the uterus is gone. In female humans if the ovaries are removed, ovarian cancer risk is removed. If a woman''s uterus is removed, she eliminates her risk of uterine cancer. But we don''t typically choose to do that as females, simply to reduce our risk of cancer. The same for male dogs -- yes, removing the testicles eliminates the risk of testicular cancer. The same applies to human males -- but men aren''t running to chop off their naughty bits to elimininate their risk of testicular cancer. Folks if you really want to get into it, you can remove all sorts of body parts to eliminate specific types of cancers.

Vets really push those risks to push people to spay and neuter their dogs, when really they''re most concerned about animal population control, as they should be. The other reason that people choose to spay/neuter their pets is for convenience -- not having to deal with male aggression, and not having to deal with a female dog or cat going into heat.

I don''t think anyone needs to act like Mandarine is doing some terrible awful thing. I fully support spaying/neutering but at least I am honest about the reasons. If you don''t chop off your dogs bits to eliminate testicular cancer, and you don''t plan on letting him roam free to impregnate other people''s dogs, you are NOT a bad person -- honestly that is just a really bizarre argument.