Neutering and the male perspective

Well, since this thread has gone down this road...

I don't like testicles on dogs. Never did. Don't like 'em on men either, but men wear pants. Can't wait to get my dog neutered, so I don't have to look at his jumbles.

I don't konw if I'm just being paranoid or you're just being obtuse or whether I'm simply reacting to the red print and large font. 
 
My print has always been red...for over 1000 posts actually. The size is a default 3 which out of 7 isn't really large at all. So I'm probably going to lean towards your first option. []
 
ETA...Forgot, my point was your claims that you don't neuter because you find the secondary sex characteristics appealing only really make sense up to their arrival. Once they are present there's again...no reason not to (imo) aside from the reasons I already covered in my first post on the subject.
 
Your comment about liking your dog's testicles, tho odd (imo)...makes more sense. To each their own...lol.

Definitely a male thing to decide to not neuter, or in my example spay, a dog!   I had numerous debates with my father-in-law about taking his golden retriever pup (female) to get spayed.  He also, for some strange reason, thought it would be wrong for him to deny her choice of having babies. ...he finally came around to my arguements when he realized -- it's not going to be her choice!  and he'll be the one left with having to find GOOD homes for the puppies.

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

I don't konw if I'm just being paranoid or you're just being obtuse or whether I'm simply reacting to the red print and large font. 
 
My print has always been red...for over 1000 posts actually. The size is a default 3 which out of 7 isn't really large at all. So I'm probably going to lean towards your first option. []

ETA...Forgot, my point was your claims that you don't neuter because you find the secondary sex characteristics appealing only really make sense up to their arrival. Once they are present there's again...no reason not to (imo) aside from the reasons I already covered in my first post on the subject.
 
Your comment about liking your dog's testicles, tho odd (imo)...makes more sense. To each their own...lol.

Yeah your posts have always been red haven't they? Eh...hormones maybe.

Paula

.Forgot, my point was your claims that you don't neuter because you find the secondary sex characteristics appealing only really make sense up to their arrival.

For clarity I NEVER said I don't neuter. I do neuter, I'm in rescue. I said I am seriously considering vasectomy in the future. I NEVER EVER SAID I don't neuter.

Paula

I have a house full of males, both canine and feline...almost all neutered (only one not neutered is the newest addition to the family, but he will be as soon as Gracie is over her heat and can be spayed they will go in together). They all still hump, so that wasn't my reason. But I have had a few men tell me how wrong it was of me to have them fixed but say it would be okay to spay the females.
 
Boss is a pittie and not a very nice one all the time... because of his abusive background I have no way of knowing if it's temperment or from the abuse.. did I want to take the chance and let him make puppies that could one day end up in the news for aggressive behavior?? NO!!!!!
 
I am glad to know it reduces health risks, both in the way of cancer and being hurt or stolen should he run off to look for a bitch in heat.
 
I tease him often about his shrivlies what I call the little skin sack left after his neuter).. does he care? NO! does it make him feel like less of a man? NO!

im still curious why the question on berserkers age and whether it is bad for my dog to not be nuetered?

Gypsy's grandfather was neutered at NINE years of age.  He was crawling OVER the tops of the runs to get to bitches several runs away.  Talk about Am Staff determination! Billy lived several more years without problems.

Gypsy is still intact since she was shown for several years. I am HYPER responsible and she will NEVER have puppies unless I say so! In a couple of years she will probably be spayed.  Dealing with a bitch in season is...well, a bitch. Gypsy also turns into a frothing at the mouth man hater when she comes into season.  Male dogs are suddenly the enemy when they come anywhere near her (within one hundred feet!). She is also clingy and moons all over us. 

As for an intact MALE...we have never had one in the house.  My current cats both came to us snipped. The one other male cat we had was neutered at six months.  As for male dogs, it is unlikely I will ever have one.  I like dogs, but prefer bitches.  Watch, I will probably eat my words and end up with three dogs over the next thirty years! ROFLMAO.[]

My two cents....

I don't have a problem at all with desexing a dog, whether it's a girl or a boy. Maybe that's because I'm a woman, maybe it's because I think dogs make better pets when they're spayed or neutered.

When my circumstances become more stable, I'm going to get a male akita. For a bit there, I was considering what might happen if I didn't neuter him. My thoughts were that perhaps I would get fewer dogs trying to commit suicide by picking a fight with my akita if he was unfixed. I have noticed that fixed dogs generally treat unfixed males as if they were He-Man, and might explode and reign fury down on them at any moment. Maybe they're right. [] I know an unfixed male lab who is beautiful with everyone. He's also great with other dogs. Other dogs normally crawl along the ground in his wake, but sometimes he deigns to play with them and it makes their day. He isn't at all great when the neighbours bring their female lab by when she's on heat. I don't know what kind of idiots these people are that cheerfully ignore all desperate pleas and forceful commands to keep their dog away from this yard when she's in heat, but when they don't, the unfixed boy does turn into a bit of a problem. Understandably.

I have since decided that other people's dogs are not a good reason to leave a boy whole, but I do really like a boy dog who knows he's a boy, and I would always prefer to wait until a male reaches sexual maturity before I had him fixed so I could enjoy his broad head and thick neck and general manliness. [] I also think that males fixed after sexual maturity tend to be more confident and secure. My experience is limited, but that's what I've seen.

To go off topic slightly, I have strong feelings about spaying and neutering rabbits, as well. I have a rabbit that is spayed, but I didn't make that decision for her and if I had to make a decision, I think I would choose to leave them whole. Even though there's a large body of evidence that unspayed rabbits suffer higher rates of uterine cancer, I'd rather risk that than my rabbit on the operating table. I know of about 4 people who have lost rabbits who went into surgery reasonably healthy, but never woke up from the anasthetic, but I don't know anyone who has lost a rabbit to uterine cancer. The reason why I bring this up is because sometimes there are reasons to seriously consider what you're doing when you decide to have an animal desexed. I heartily support anyone who does it, but equally, I support anyone who has a valid reason to be leery of having it done.

If you've got a purebred dog, or one that less than scrupulous people find alluring, I'd neuter just for the safety of the dog.
 
Here's a couple stories, which while they take place in an animal shelter, could just as well happen in your back yard, the dog park, your car, wherever. The shelter I volunteer with has a huge number of pit bulls (I think I heard a statistic quoted that it adopts out more pit bulls than any other shelter in the country?). They don't all get altered before hitting the adoption floor because there's not enough vets on staff to do all those surgeries. They do get altered before an adopter can take them home, though.
 
Anyway, in recent weeks, one dog has been outright stolen and a puppy was almost stolen were it not for the quick thinking of the staff and volunteers. Both were pit bulls, neither were altered (yet). In one case, a guy clearly had cased the shelter, made his own little fake ID badge that he waved around, acted like a volunteer, inspected the paperwork of all the dogs in the kennel, found one that was not yet altered and seemed to suit his nefarious purposes, and made like he was, as a volunteer, going to take it for a walk. He never came back.
 
In the second instance, a guy came in as a potential adopter, and there was a litter of pit puppies. He started picking them up to check if they were altered yet or not and a volunteer stopped him (the puppy runs are open on top, but people really aren't supposed to just dive in and handle them all) and he questioned her about adopting one intact. She said absolutely not, that's not the policy of the shelter. He claimed he was a "breeder" and then started getting all beligerant with the volunteer. She held her ground. He left the kennel area but then with two "accomplices" went over to the cat area and two of them started asking a lot of questions and requesting to see cats in order to distract the staff. The third guy just milled around the door to the kennel, waiting for his chance to run in and steal a pup. The volunteers caught on to this scheme and staked out the puppy run until he left.
 
Had these dogs already been altered, neither of these people would have been interested in them. There has been talk about putting the pits and pit mixes on priority for altering in order to try to save them from the fate that awaits them if someone just walks in off the street and decides he needs a new fighting dog.

Well the vet wasn't stupid for doing the vasectomy. Like I've said before; vasectomy does nothing to address any secondary sex characteristics that we might or might not find acceptable. That's why it isn't cut and dried for me. Like I said; I still worry that I'd have some people eating dog hating humping dog if I vasectomized. The vet's mistake was not informing the owners of this.

Paula

Probably so. Mom should have been given information, and they option of a vasectomy or a castration, if that's what the vet wanted to do. That particular dog needed to be castrated. I prefer a neutered dog. Given the option, I will wait until 12-24 months (depending on breed, and how long I can tolerate it) with my next dog, THEN have him castrated. He will get the chance to develop. My mom's current dog was 3 or 4 when he was neutered. He's a mutt, but she never had it done. He started escaping to go after other male dogs, females in heat, and the occasional  mean kid (read, kid who was being mean to one of HIS kids). Mom LOVES this dog, so she took him to be castrated. She specified, this time. It did change his behavior. He calmed down, stopped scaling 6 foot privacy fences (he's all of 12" tall, shaped like a Bassett), and acts more like a fluffy little mushball.

but I don't know anyone who has lost a rabbit to uterine cancer.

I did. She was 7 1/2, and it was a terrible way to go. I would have had her spayed, had I been able to find a vet to do it.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

but I don't know anyone who has lost a rabbit to uterine cancer.

I did. She was 7 1/2, and it was a terrible way to go. I would have had her spayed, had I been able to find a vet to do it.

The decision would be a lot easier if rabbits didn't die on the operating table so often, for sure. I wouldn't risk one of my buns until I find a vet that I trust is experienced enough to make the procedure routine. My last one died of myxo thanks to our government refusing to allow us to vaccinate our bunnies due to the vaccine being live. That's a pretty terrible way to go, too, but we caught it early and put her to sleep before she went blind and all the rest. Tough decisions.

Cressida, that's pretty chilling. I've already decided I'll have padlocks on my gates if I've got an akita worth a grand in the backyard, especially because large dogs often get stolen in cities to be used as guard dogs at dodgy industrial properties and the likes. It's an excellent point to consider, thanks.

ORIGINAL: DPU

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.

I'm not insulting any religion, although I have had mine (Catholosism) insulted many times here.  Besides NY, I have also live in Ohio, Utah, and California.  Not once was my relition insulted.  But in Indiana, I've been told that Catholics are disgusting, stupid, that we celebrate the Pope's birthday like it's Christmas, that our masses are in Latin and that because we don't know what our priest is really saying we don't know the bible... all sorts of BS.  By the way I don't even know when the Pope's birthday is or the dearly departed Pope John Paul's birthday was and the only Latin spoken in my church is Amen.

I'm 24 and am more finacially stable and more sensible than most of the adults around here.  But compared to the rest of my family, I'm the bad egg.

this way off topic, but i lived in northern indiana for a short time as a child. from what i recall the people didnt have a lot of money and were a little backwoods, but all very, very nice people, give-you-the-shirt-off-their-back-even-if-you-didnt-need-it-nice. i don't recall any of them giving 2 cents about who you were or what you worshipped.