Can't adopt rescue as our dog isn't neutered

[Shakirasma]

We would love to get a second dog but a local rescue centre have told that th want rehome to us as our 7 year old dog is intact, this is in spite of the fact that any rescue dog would have been spayed/neutered.

Whilst I respect their policy I can't help wondering what I'm missing? Is this a common policy? And if so, why? I could easily buy a puppy no questions but I'd rather give a rescue dog a home, and I don't want to cause an unforeseen problem.

So I'd be grateful if somebody could explain why. Thank you.

I understand why there is a blanket policy for the poor ddogs and other animals that end up in rescue, but how does having unneutered ddog/bitch equate to being irresponsible.

Owners make ther own decisions.

Bad breeding bad ddog owning and so on goes on regardlesa and the difference is about ignorance cruelty and greed, not neutering!

Blanket neutering brings its own problems.

I've got a neutered bitch and an entire dog and they're perfect together.

I think for rescues to have a blanket policy like this is ridiculous, but can't say I'm surprised considering what some are like. You could look at a private rehome rather than a rescue as a middle ground?

This is standard policy for the larger rescues, but not always for smaller local rescues and breed rescues.

I think it's one of those areas where responsible owners unfortunately suffer for the actions of irresponsible owners.

I'm not an expert on the science of neutering, but it sounds as though you've made an extensively researched, responsible decision which you are confident is right for your dog. I would suggest widening your search and possibly looking at breed rescues - I hope you can find somewhere that will make an assessment of your specific circumstances, rather than applying a blanket policy.

Another MRCVS here, with actual responsibility for training the next generation, and couldn't agree more with Whatslivegottodo

Dotty if your practice recommends blanket neutering of all animals rather than making a decision that is best for individual patient health and welfare you may want to do some CPD. You've been given some scientific resources already - how is peer reviewed research pseudoscience?

In return you've provided zero evidence to support any of your own claims and basically been rude and unpleasant - great way to share your 'professional' opinion

I was told this by a rescue we approached. Our dog at the time was wasn't neutered as recommended by our vet. The rescue knew my vet and knew that he didn't believe in routine neutering so knew I wasn't being " irresponsible". They told me that they had recently introduced the policy as in their experience adoptions were more likely to break down when the existing dog was still intact.

Many studies show increase risks of behavoioural problems in early neutered male dogs in fact.
I've come across this research since we had our dog neutered at 6 months (as the advice was at the time). I now wish we had waited, and if I get a similar dog in the future, I will.

Shak, not everyone is a judgemental tit who assumes that every dog apart from top flight breeding stock should be neutered. In fact, if you ONLY kept a tiny minority of dogs intact, you'd end up with even bigger inbreeding problems in pedigree dogs than you have already.

One of the most responsible dog owners I know has a young, intact working-bred, crossbred bitch. If she makes it as a worker, she might be bred from. If she were to be neutered now, that option would cease to exist. If she doesn't make it as a worker, I'm pretty sure that her owner, with an eye on the risk of pyometra, will have her spayed.

Keeping a dog intact can be a responsible decision.

I'm stunned at people's reactions to the OP, how rude people are. We've always had male dogs (25 plus years) we've never neutered them I've never seen the need. None are or have ever been aggressive with other male dogs, they don't roam unsupervised or are allowed to or try to escape, they have good recall, and none have never mated with a female dog I very much one we currently own would even know what to do.
All my unuetered male have been happy go lucky, chilled out, well exercised and very well socialised/trained from an early age. We regularly meet other very similiar male dogs. In fact the two most problematic dogs I regularly meet are both neutered (male and female) but I think the problem lies with owners not the dogs.

I'm so glad I had a vet who keeps abreast of peer reviewed studies on neutering and makes evidence based recommendations. I have an entire male. That does not make me an irresponsible owner.

Another vet just posting to confirm that research in the last few years has shown that a simple blanket early neutering policy is not best practice for many breeds, particularly larger dogs. Rescue centres, however, may either be unaware of this or simply feel that promoting neutering trumps all else. When making decisions about owned dogs, however, I'd hope evidence would be considered in most cases!

Our lab was neutered at 6 months as he was at creche a couple of times a week and that is their requirement. We then adopted a dog from a well known rescue who had probably been done even earlier. I don't think they asked about the lab but as they saw them together before we could bring him home wouldn't have needed to.The lab is a big bolshy dog and I think it was right in his case, the rescue dog I'm not so sure. Neither of my previous dogs were done but never had the opportunity to do anything about it. I was in the dog park with the lab recently when a fellow owner yelled at me "has he been done, my bitch is in heat"which did Flummox me a bit!

Not all rescue centres have this policy. Interestingly the flat coated retriever rescue no longer neuter their dogs as a policy due to the most recent research which shows that for a male dog, being intact is generally healthier. I have a nearly 3 intact male dog. He has a beautiful temperament, no issues with him at all. Why would I amputate his testicles? He is kept under control at all times, and I would never breed from him. We adopted a Romanian rescue dog. She is neutered. No issue with the agency.

Just to say, I'm gobsmacked by some of the responses here. To call someone irresponsible because their dog isn't neutered is barmy. If you keep your dog under control, walk him or her regularly, seek veterinary treatment when necessary, provide good mental stimulation, train adequately, give lots of love and attention, then you are a responsible owner. Nothing to do with the dogs bollocks.

I worked with an animal charity and they'd also take a dim view of this. The main reason being though is that intact males tend to have a big issue with other dogs coming into the home compared to neutered dogs and their priority is the dog within their care. They won't want to 'rehome' a dog, just for it to come back weeks later because "they're not getting along". That unnecessary stress on the dog is not within it's best interests. They want to rehome the dog to a family with the highest chance of success. Also a high proportion of the dogs we have incoming are from families with intact dogs, who've gone out and bought a puppy and then find it just isn't working. Typically when the intact male is neutered things calm down. But instead, as you can imagine, they usually give us the "problem" dog and keep the puppy for themselves, leaving the cost of neutering etc on the rescue.

Actually it's not rubbish at all. I have a 6 year old Bichon Frise who is intact. I had an appointment at the vets to discuss neutering 2 weeks ago. I was advised there is no justification for it. He has no behavioural issues, he is not reactive and is just a calm loving dog. Re testicular cancer the risk is so low at 1-2% it still isn't justifiable when balanced against the distress neutering would cause. Indeed neutering may even cause behavioural problems. My vets advice "leave well alone"