Neutering

[whatever17]

I got my lovely dogs balls lopped off on Wednesday.

I felt so sorry for the little lully bear. He wobbled out and we carried the poor lully to the car and wrapped him in his blankie.

Obviously it is too late to sew his balls back on - please tell me I did the right thing.

He was 9 months and had never displayed any testostorone behavior, except for barking.

Tbh, it probably is sensible for the average pet owner to get a bitch neutered, although obviously it's not your responsibility as it's someone else's bitch. A dog could easily scale a 6ft fence to get to an in season bitch if it wanted to. You would be able to tell if a bitch was coming into season, even a young one, as their teats become enlarged and the vulva swollen prior to any bleeding, although obviously if you are just walking with the dog and not 'inspecting' her it would be harder to tell. Maybe explain your concerns to her owners and aks what their plans are re neutering and what they plan to do on her first season if they are going to let her have one? I think it would be fairly easy to do without offending if you suggested you were worried about your DD being able to control your own dog near her if she were in season.

threadworm all neutering does for sure is prevent reproduction and testicular cancer. Most of the problems people attribute to not neutering are simply down to poor training or poor socialisation. Things like scent marking, humping, aggression, running off etc.

Thanks midori. I'll have to have a word with the dad - DDs friend, when my dog and the pup were playing seemed to think it'd be nice for her to have pups and that collie-dachs cross would be cute.

midori - most people walk their dogs every day so therefore an accidental mating can and does occur. you say you keep yours inside when in season but other people may not and do not. a neighbours dog run down the street and was caught early in the morning digging under (he was small terrier) a small fence to try to get to the bitch inside. yes he shouldnt have got out but prior to this he was a very well behaved dog. i have also seen people on our regular dog walks who are walking dogs in season
also, i think most pet dog owners would like to walk their dog every day and not have to leave the dog shut in when in season

*small fence - meant tall fence

would also have to disagree with " although obviously it's not your responsibility as it's someone else's bitch" it should be everyones responsibility to make sure we dont have more unwanted dogs in the UK

chick, I think midori meant its not my responsibility whether our friends bitch is neutered (though I do intend to bring up the subject as I'm not sure they've thought it through). Its 100% my responsibility to make sure my dog remains celibate!

i see

I can't be responsible for how responsible others are now, can I?!

However, I don't walk my bitches when in season (although have previously when we had access to private and safe land) but that doesn't mean I keep them 'shut in' either. It means I spend an awful lot of time and effort ensuring they have supervised access to our large garden and extra training/games during their seasons to keep them occupied and worn out. Of course, I would like to be able to walk them every day, but the fact that other people do not always have control of their dogs, whether neutered or not (and the worst encounter I have had with a bitch is when she was not in season and a neutered dog tried to actually mate with her, he meant it and she really meant 'no' and it got very nasty) and the fact that for me neutering is not an option means I cannot, so we improvise.

I've kept entire dogs all of my life (although I have had a few that were neutered) as have an awful lot of people I know, most of whom keep entire dogs and bitches on the same premises, as do I currently. Not one accidental litter between us, so yes, I do think responsible ownership prevents unwanted litters just as much as neutering does.

Just to add, I am not suggesting people shouldn't neuter their dogs, but that not neutering them does not automatically mean irresponsibility and that it is perfectly possible to keep an entire dog or bitch and ensure they never mate or produce a litter, regardless of how responsible others may be.