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Quote by: Plasma Snake Isherwood, how do you feel about neutering dogs? I think its a sadistic practice that's only there so that our domination extends just that much more over them. |
Not to be overly blunt, but I find this attitude to be ignorant, foolish and sad. Dogs are not wild animals... as a species they have become wholly dependent on us to protect them. The only 'sadistic practice' is the necessity to euthanise tens of thousands of unwanted dogs in this country every year. I have two dogs now, following the two who lived out their lives with me. All were rescued and all were neutered and spayed, and they've lived nothing by happy, healthy lives. When each of them in turn lives out their life, I'll very likely save another pound puppy and immediately have them spayed or neutered.
The only logic for not doing them that favor is if one wants to responsibly breed dogs... for some reason other than simply providing puppies. While still - somewhat - a dog show fan, I'm becoming less enamored of the whole dog show scene, in which dogs are bred strictly for specific conformation. I enjoy seening beautiful breeds, but the inbreeding of Champions is slowly destroying many genetic bloodlines.
I much prefer watching Agility competitions, in which talent, teamwork and spirit - usually discovered in rescued dogs - is more important than carefully inbred conformation.
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Now onto the fun stuff... my two knuckleheads. I have a smallish, 13 yr-old male Golden {mumble mumble} mix - my guess is maybe some setter - named Britain. Bright orange with white stars on his chest and face, he still runs gallantly around the dog park trying to keep up with my 3 yr-old female... uh.... coyote?... named Mali. My guess is she's Golden Lab mixed with, maybe, Whippet. A short pale lab coat on a 50 lb whippet-like body and a sweet coyote face. She's a rocket, a ball-seeking missile.
I rescued Britain as an 8 week-old pup, and for the next two years I dispared that he had a brain in his head. Turns out he was exactly the opposite... too damn smart for his own good, and as he got out of his terrible twos, he turned out to be incredibly trainable. He's also a bit of a surf punk. An alpha dude who, in his youth, felt obliged to challenge any and every new male dog who showed up at the dog park. "Hey dood, this is
my beach!" Not your typical golden, to say the least.
I tried all the standard conventional wisdom... flatten him to the ground, command voice, teeth, yada yada. What eventually worked was the 'Time Out'. He started a fight, without fail the leash went on, he goes in the car, and I go back to playing with my other dog for the next 15 minutes while he mournfully watched from the car. Took three times and he figured it out. From then on, I'd watch his body language when another male came over to sniff him up and the moment that lip rose, I'd bark out his name and he'd promptly trot over to me, sit right at my feet and stare up at me with a big grin... y'know, like, "Who me? Nah, I wasn't starting anything! Honest." Good boy
Even now, at 13, the lil dood still shows attitude if he thinks another male is taking a few too many social liberties.
When I had to put down Britain's previous female packmate, Asia - (you seeing a pattern here
) - I rescued Mali from the pound when she was about 1 yr-old. She was a tad shy, and it became apparent that she'd never been raised with other puppies. She didn't have a clue about how to play with other dogs, and often took enthusiastic solicitations for play as aggression and would react by defensively fighting back. Now three, she's come an incredibly long way, playing joyfully with many of the park regulars. She prefers a good long chase, although she sometimes freaks out the other runners who, despite going flat out, can't escape the constant cheek resting playfully on their shoulder. She's very fast.
If you hadn't guessed, I'm a dog park denizen and we're blessed here in San Diego with an abundance of such parks. The three of us go daily, sometimes twice on weekends, and most of my social circle revolves around the other owners I've met there. The majority of those folks are clear eyed dog lovers who know dogs, the behaviors inherent in various breeds and understand that that dogs are not little people.
Hence my firm opinion on spaying and neutering.
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