Neutering and the male perspective

ORIGINAL: DPU

jojo the pogo
I live in Indiana. It's a giant hillbilly state.

Now I am laughing my head off..I don't believe you got away with saying this.

Pauledwina...thank you, my vet never presented this option plus in another post I state I have not seen any behavioral changes in my dogs as a result of castration.

I was born in New York.  Most of my family lives in New York currently.  I have a hard time dealing with Indiana mentality.  In my humble opinion, it's kind of limited.  Not everyone.  After all I did find my husband here, but the majority of his family is from St. Louis and Chicago.

Ok faramir, you mentioned it first -- I find it interesting you (perhaps not Boromir) are so active in discussing the human take on this issue, perhaps I should just take the hobbit side and remind all that size isn't everything? (unless we're talking hairy feets and in that case you lose?)
 
And if those are the best example of orcs you can find ... then you haven't been nearly far enough from home.
 
(no one keeps koboto dragons for pets like they should any more)

Neuter/spay is part of proper domestic animal husbandry. Ranchers do not allow their cattle to mate without control. We have way more animals in this country than there are good homes  to house them. 100 years ago? Sure, no one thought about spay/neuter. And a lot of puppies didn't make it 1 year old. Predation, disease, accident, fighting, culling.
 
Now, we have a modern surgical procedure that avoids all of those. If a person can find the Google page, there are more than enough links to the medical and ethical reasons for spay/neuter if forum discussion is not enough. And most of what I have read about not spay/neutering is based on human feelings transposed on to domestic animals. IMHO, spay/neuter is all about caring for domestic pets and livestock.
 
The only reason I can accept to not neuter or spay for an immediate future is if the dog is worthy of breeding, and that's a whole other book of information to go through. And, after that, one neuters or spays. I like to point out an example of a woman I knew with a pure Yellow Lab from a long proven pedigree. A star line, if you will. Perfect temperment, CGC, and therapy dog. And spayed, never having had a litter. And it was all for her welfare and the welfare of dogs in general, for a variety of reasons.
 

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

BTW, my dog thinks that the *best* diet for her would be unlimited access to coffee and fecal matter. Do you think I should switch her?

Most three year old children think that the best diet would be Koolaide and candy.

There is a reason that the adults are still in charge.

Best post on the thread thus far, jennie.

we love our dogs, in large part due to the emotional depth we see in them...very close to human...especially certain intelligent and sensitive breeds...and particularly if we work to develop their emotions with lots of love and attention.
 
is it so unreasonable, that there are people like myself who have difficulty doing to our dogs, something that we would not consider doing to ourselves or our children?

ORIGINAL: angeltrudelle

But a threat of being cut off changed his mind real quick

 
LMAO.  Yeah, that one is pretty fool proof.
 
My sister and I were talking a few months back about my late mother.  You see, mom only had sex 4 times in her life, resulting in us 4 kids.  I was sure she had never actually said the word sex, but I was wrong.  When my sister got married, mom told her never to deny sex to her husband.

ORIGINAL: faramir
so, if you found out that your son was at greater risk for cancer or perianal hernias, you would neuter him too?

 
Faramir, think of how much more money WE would have if we had been neutered at a young age.  []

billy, i wish your mother had been my mother-in-law

I think maybe the question of vasectomy vs castration should be a separate thread since it seems to be confusing the issue of neuter vs not neuter. It all started innocently with some of us expressing a like for our dogs' balls and the appearance of an intact male. This quickly got lost in the original question of why some people won't neuter. I mean, we who like our dogs' balls aren't anti-neuter right?

Paula

ORIGINAL: DPU

jojo the pogo
I live in Indiana. It's a giant hillbilly state.

Now I am laughing my head off..I don't believe you got away with saying this.

 
I spent a large part of my childhood in Indiana.  Her comment is consistent with my experience, especially the southern part of the state.  Absolutely beautiful, but a little backward.

I mean, we who like our dogs' balls aren't anti-neuter right?
 
this might be the weirdest statement I have ever seen.
Lol...sorry but I had to say that. I certainly don't "like my dogs vulva"....their big brown eyes maybe, their soft ears...but I really can't conjure up anything akin to "like" for the testicles of any male dog I've ever owned. They're there...in my show dogs it's important they're there...but "liking them"??? [sm=wink3.gif]
 
The OP's question was about NOT NEUTERING...and the observation that it seems common among men. I think any discussion about why people who do not neuter is pretty on topic.

ORIGINAL: probe1957

I spent a large part of my childhood in Indiana. Her comment is consistent with my experience, especially the southern part of the state. Absolutely beautiful, but a little backward.

 
Now you have the insulted the Baptist population in Indiana.  Careful, the KKK may be on its way.

Actually, Faramir, I love my dogs precisely because they aren't much like humans at all. I find their behavior fascinating and I find it extremely interesting how/why we humans have chosen to live with these non-human animals. I learn alot about myself from interacting with my dogs, but the reason I do learn so much is that they are so unlike the humans I deal with in the rest of my life. They have emotions, but they aren't like my emotions. They have thoughts, but they aren't like my thoughts. They have intelligence, but it isn't like my intelligence. And that very fact forces me to think differently myself, to try to wrap my mind around how their minds work.
 
Dogs are domestic animals. If it wasn't for humans, they wouldn't be here and we'd still just have wolves and the various wild canid species. Just like chickens and cows and igs. Yet no one seems to be that up in arms over castration of steer or gelding horses. Or maybe I just don't hang out enough with sensitive ranchers. []

When my sister got married, mom told her never to deny sex to her husband.

 
My MIL says the same thing, that it is a sin to deny him. Guess, I'm goin' to hell.

Dogs can be vasectomized - it is just not a widely practiced procedure. Personally I prefer the look of an intact dog myself. All my dogs are castrated at the moment, but I cannot garauntee I won't vasectomize in the future. Understand that vasectomy just makes them infertile, but does not affect any secondary sex behaviors or complications thereof.

Paula

When I was a kid, we had a dog named Sam. We got him from the humane society. When he hit maturity, he was a big guy (probably 50-65 pounds). He decided to start humping (and FINISHING) on yard toys, fence posts, and kids. It was obscene, so Mom decided to find the money, take him down to the vet's office, and have him neutered. They did a vasectomy. Stupidest thing any vet has ever done. The dog ended up clearing the fence and being hit by a car, b/c the neighbor's dog was in heat. Castration is probably the BEST option for JQP, IMO. Of course, if you want your dog to still act like a he's intact, but worry about the population problem, it's a GREAT solution. Sam was obviously not a well trained dog.