Some individuals spay or neuter their dogs in order to reduce the incidence of inbreeding. Others see the need to control their numbers to manageable levels in order to provide for them effectively. However, the major reason advanced is to control the dog's aggressive predisposition and other undesirable behavioural traits in males like roaming far from home during the heat season. Spaying brings about a cessation of production of the hormone testosterone which in addition to the aforementioned traits, results in intermale rivalry. But it gets paradoxical when cessation of testosterone production undermines the dog's sense of security and lowers its confidence making it emotionally brittle and prone to aggressiveness to compensate. In addition, there are other factors that cause aggression like masculinisation of the brain, prior learning experiences and individual personalities. Therefore, its not a quick fix. A qualified practitioner should give an opinion on what underlies the dog's aggressive tendencies. Whats your take?
I've been battling with the idea myself if I need to have my dog spayed or not. Clio is an indoor dog so I really don't allow her to roam outside our house on her own since there's a higher risk of picking up disease and the neighbors have lots of male dogs. She's almost 11 months old and I think she's still too young to have puppies of her own. She already had undergone her first heat a few weeks ago. Maybe this is only for dogs that frequently are being allowed to go outside.
We have 3 dogs - 2 males and 1 female. Barbie, the 3-year old female was suggested by the vet to be spayed. However, when we learned the details of the procedure, my husband vehemently opposed the idea. Our main concern is how to prevent pregnancy of Barbie since we have no intention of breeding dogs. So what we do now is to keep Barbie in a cage when she is in heat. No worry about it because the male dogs would start to act strange before the actual period comes so we are on the lookout. Besides, we keep tabs of Barbie's period so we have a good estimate of when she would be in heat.
One of the main reasons that there are so many unwanted dogs in dog pounds and rescues is because of overbreeding of dogs. The problem does not lie with dog breeders who are doing responsible breeding with their dogs. Since they sell puppies, they will only breed as many dogs as there is a market for so they do not end up with unwanted puppies.
Howeever, many people just get a free puppy from somewhere and then do not have that dog spayed or neutered, and then they may end up with a litter of puppies, which they then try to find homes for . Since these dogs are usually given away to other homes who only repeat the cycle, then we end up with unwanted dogs who are dumped when people move, and end up being put to sleep in some dog pound.
My thoughts are that if a person has a dog that is kept in their own home and yard, and not aloowed to have unwanted litters of puppies, there is no necessity of neutering unless the ownr prefers that.
Many neutered dogs lose their energy once they are no longer producing their natural hormones.
However, if you have a dog that runs around at will, and can contribute to the excess dog population, then it is best to have them neutered or spayed, and that will also often help the dog to stay at home better.
