Dog Spaying

Kathy · Dog Spaying

Thought I put this here instead of the daily thread. Like CP, I wondered what people's thoughts are on the matter.
I know that many rescues are adamant that dogs MUST be spayed and it's irresponsible to breed when there are so many unwanted dogs looking for homes. I've given this a lot of thought over the years and haven't really come to any conclusion for myself.
On the one hand, it can't be a natural thing for animals, but we've domesticated them to such an extent that they bear little resemblance to their wild ancestors. On the other hand there are a lot of unwanted dogs out there.
Most responsible dog owners would take measures to make sure that accidents don't happen but how many responsible dog owners are out there?
I've worked with dog rescues and it's generally the "don't give a s**t" brigade that give rescues all the work.
As you know, I purchased from a responsible breeder because I knew exactly what type of dog I wanted for temperament (proved to be right on this count). I've also 2 rescue dogs and had many in the past. My 3 male dogs are neutered, my female pedigree isn't. I've got the facilities and location to keep her "safe" but I wouldn't trust the boys not to go if they could smell a bitch in heat (apparently they can detect this over many miles).

Do you think all dogs should be neutered/spayed?

alison

Interesting one.

My mum had Topsy speyed this year, after 2 litters. We would have liked her to have another one, but due to another really contentious issue, tail docking, we didn't.

We took the decision as some of the dogs who are at the stables are entire, and run around not too supervised, and Topsy can be a bit of a tart. She has had the morning after pill twice. If she was having a litter it was going to be with a picked father, not a random one.

Becki

I am probably going to have my 2 done, mainly for the same reasons as Alison. My 2 don't go to the stables, they stay at Ali's so I took them while they were in season. Thestables dogs don't bother with them, even the entire ones, because they don't go over there. However 1 of the liveries had an entire jack Russel and it chased Jessie to the field at the back of Alisons. This is where I got annoyed because they were being constantly supervised and this person had no idea where her dog was!

Kathy

I've been reading some views on another dog forum, the majority are totally against it unless it's for health reasons, not even for temperament
problems (a behavioural specialist can sort these out they say).
I will get Rosie spayed within the next year if I don't decide to have some pups from her. She's in season every 6 mnths and is pretty miserable throughout, turns into a psycho dog. All my dogs (and I've had a few) have always been neutered and they've been happy, healthy, long lived animals.

Lizzie

We've always had our dogs speyed (we've always had bitches...) because it just makes life so much easier, for them and for us. We live on a farm where there are 8 other dogs, 6 of which are entire males, so we'd be asked for trouble leaving our girls un-neutered. Also, according to the vet, it protects against 'breast' cancer in later life. Up until we got Millie, we'd always let them have one season before getting them 'done' but the vet told us that there is actually no advantage to doing that, so Millie was speyed before she had a season at all (no bloodstained sofa covers this time Smile

).

We've never had a pedigree dog and I strongly believe that there are enough unwanted mongrels in the world without adding to the number, so it just seems the most sensible thing to do all round.