Are you "pro" spay/neuter or not?

I have one spayed female, and one unneutered four year old male. Furthermore he is unneutered in direct violation of his rescue contract. And that is the way it is.

Im pro choice so to say. I dont think the average joe schmo pet owner should have a intact dog. But for some one who can control, look after becarful with a intact dog. I see no reason not to keep them the way you want. Blaze is unaltered, he is a normal happy go lucky 7 year old dog with out a care int he world. healthy as he can be. No ounce of agression with him, never a issue with marking, dominance, territory issues with other dogs. he welcomes all dogs to be his next BFF lol

I work in a shelter, have for years - I've seen it all. And for that reason - I AM pro-speuter. Although, I have NO problem with someone responsibly keeping an intact pet. However - I see no reason if the pet is not of breeding quality, and there is no medical reason why it shouldn't be done - why it just wouldn't simply be done.
My males were neutered at 10 months, and 6 years (when I got them from their rescue groups) Neither marks, or humps (often...sometimes, Casey just can't help himself around fluffy, white dogs...)

I must be in the minority too.

*raises hand* For showing - dogs have to be intact for conformation. Logan's not being kept intact to breed, he's being kept intact to show.

Like everyone else I am pro responsible pet ownership. I neutered my dog at two and a half. Not because he was a bother but because it made it easier to rent around here. I could've easily lived with him for the rest of his life having him intact but it also wasn't a huge thought to just send him in to get snipped either.

If the owner is responsible and the dog is a non issue why lop off parts of your dog? If the coming into heat, or marking is a problem and you wish to fix great. If your dog is a non issue and the owner responsible what is the big deal?

Kaiden will be 6 this year. He hasn't sired a litter in years. I have no plans on using him again. But he doesn't mark, has never humped (outside of covering a bitch) has no aggression issues and is very easy to live with. Why would I put him under and remove his testicles? Sport on the other had was fixed very quickly (would have liked to let him mature and then fix) as he was Sprinkly McSprinklepants.....

Both of mine were spayed at 6 months. I want it to be done before they ever go into heat. I'd like to think I would wait longer if I had a male, but I would want it done before humping/marking became an issue. I can't stand when dogs feel they need to hump everything in sight and pee every 2 feet they walk. But I've never owned a male dog so maybe I've just met weird ones.

for my own dogs... YES s/n absolutely. it's not something I wish to deal with.

for other's dogs... you do what you want and what you think is OK.

I am NOT at all for forcing people to spay or neuter EVER. No matter how irresponsible or silly people may be I will not ever force them to do this EVER.

although I am in a camp by myself because I am not outraged at most breeding practices. There are only two dogs we will EVER seek out a breeder for. A hunting lab and a Dane (an the dane still could come from a shelter) all others will come from elsewhere. "elsewhere" is to be determined.

I have no desire to breed so my dogs will be all be neutered or spayed but I won't push my view on others in this instance

Humping and peeing can be prevented without neutering. It can also be stopped without neutering if the dog already developed those behaviors. It's just a matter of training like anything else. Logan marks. We're working on it, and he's getting much better. He wasn't a terrible marker to begin with, but it still has improved a lot in the time we've been working on it, and it will eventually stop completely. He doesn't hump either...well, he does hump Gavroche, but it's not just for the hell of it. Gavroche humps Logan too, and Gavroche is neutered

I one thousand percent agree with ^^^^^^^^^ None of my males marked where they were not suppose to nor humped.

I think it is partially training but let me tell you, some dogs are just a lot more aggressive as far as marking and humping go than others. We've always had intact males except for Trey and he was done as an adult too. We had ZERO problems with humping or marking until we got Beau. Actually Beau was fine until Nard hit sexual maturity then all of a sudden Beau is humping everything and marking. I know neutering helped his sire (who was also having this issue) tremendously so I would be lying if I said it wasn't part of the motivation to neuter Beau.

Overall I'm pro spay/neuter. My own 3 year old bitch is intact, but she's an indoor dog, the only one in the house, is crated when I leave her alone at home, and when I go out she is always within my sight or on a leash. She'll likely be spayed soon, but I'll continue to be just as careful with her.

That being said, a lot of people aren't as mindful of their dogs as I am, and as I'm sure most Chazzers are. The people whose dogs escape from the house/yard all the time, the people who take their dogs for walks without leashes yet can't be bothered to train a recall, the people who want multiple dogs in one house without separating them during heat cycles... those are the people who I encourage to spay/neuter their pets.

I'm sure a lot of the marking/male behavior could be corrected with training, but for me not having to deal with it at all has just been easier. yeah, I'm being lazy

As for intact males humping/marking, I never had a problem with Dakota. Dash is spayed and Eve will bite his face off if he so much as sniffs her, so we can't really tell with our own girls, but with fosters Dakota plays nicely, if a little bit rough and pushy. I think it depends on the dog.

Personally I'd love it if my dad would neuter Dakota because he has a tendency to act like an asshole when he's excited or stressed, and I know the extra testosterone in his system isn't making a high drive male any easier to manage. Overall I think it'd mellow him a little, and since he's just my dad's pet, I think mellow would be better.

Trent tried to mark indoors once - at Petsmart, over where another dog also just marked. That was 7-8 months ago, when he first started the behavior. It was corrected, and every time after that I watched him like a hawk when he was out with me to prevent inappropriate marking. He hasn't done it again, and he goes out with me, whether to Petsmart/Petco, a supply store, appliance store, video store, etc., a couple times a week.

But I completely agree that some dogs are, indeed, more adamant about it than others, when it comes to marking behaviors and humping. And many times, neutering does cure it. I just don't have a problem personally with training as an alternative. I will admit, though, it can be extremely tough to train some dogs to stop.

If you are showing or breeding, or if there is a health problem, then sure, keep intact dogs and just be very, very careful. Do your best to train out any undesirable behaviors. Responsible people do responsible things.

Aside from that, I'm strongly pro-speuter. Not that I would try to force my opinion on anyone. I'm just saying where I stand. You cannot get more responsible and knowledgeable than most people on Chaz, yet how many people have still had oops litters? It takes just one slip-up. Human beings make mistakes, even the best of us.

I wouldn't have a pediatric speuter done on my own pets, if I had a choice. But I strongly support shelters and rescues that do. No doubt they'd rather not have to, but we all know why they do it.

I think it will it's a personal decision.

Both of my girls will be spayed, in fact Mina's going in to be spayed on July 19th and Upendi's appointment will be scheduled the day I got to pick Mina up. In my opinion, for my dogs the reduced risk of cancer, not having to confuse them by kicking them off the furniture every time they come into heat, not having to deal with two bitchy girls at once (yes they come into season at the same time, go figure ), etc. make it worth it for me.

Upendi has been in season twice now and both times it has been very hard on her, and she's had false pregnancies both times and I don't see a reason to make her keep dealing with it quite honestly.

I think the only way I can categorize myself is as a pro-choice/intelligent ownership advocate.

Educate yourself on the health issues involved both ways, take your individual dog's needs into account and your own ability or desire to contain with/deal with a reproductively viable dog and make your own informed decision.

it reduces the risk of some cancers, and increases the risk of others. Not saying its a reason not to do it.

I did have dekka spayed after her c section. But I would never fix a young dog for the cancer risk unless it was a breed/line known for mammary cancer. I had her fixed for my own convience. She always came into heat before 'big' events

How are false preganacies hard on your dog? Honest question Kat is going through a minor falsie right now. But other than some boobage she is the same dog she has always been. I had one who wanted to nest and stole toys away to her crate for a few days. It was interesting lol but never was hard on her. If I had a dog that had issues I would spay too.. just can't think of any lol.