Spayed females are not leg
lifters. You can keep nice
looking shrubbery in your yard and they don't attract males
to spray an invitation or challenge to the resident canine, thereby
urine-burning greenery and impregnating wood and masonry with
odor.
Stray and neighborhood dogs aren't camped in the front yard twice
a year, making a ruckus and causing damage as they try to get
at a confirmed bitch in heat. In the house, there is no mess
or odor, as in the case with the bloody discharge that drips
from a female during estrus. Spaying bitch owners are free from
complaints from neighbors, either angry because your bitch is
upsetting their males or threatening to sue because your male
scratched up their door or broke a basement window trying to
get at their bitch.
Taking a spayed bitch anywhere, anytime is greatly simplified
for those who enjoy the company of |
their dogs when they travel or for those
who own more then one dog at a time, as it does everything involved
in multiple dog ownership. Nor is there any worry about an accidental
mating with the consequent risk to a pet's life during delivery
and the problem of what to do with a litter of unwanted pups.
Whenever you want them, for whatever reason, spayed females are
always on tap rather than off their own investigating or seeking
something exciting. Major portions of hunting seasons won't be
wasted because a bitch came into heat or is in whelp or is nursing
pups. Nor will male roaming and frequent distractions when afield
(cause by an attractive female or a macho need to challenge a
strange male) be any problem.
Let me explain here that I don't wish to start any "goosie-gander"
gender arguments by ignoring the fact that it is also possible
to neuter male canines. Castration of dogs, if |
somewhat summarily dismissed, has nothing
to do with equal rights or male chauvinism. For whatever reasons,
it is not as commonly done as spaying. Along with most others
I haven't had enough experience with neutered males to express
a reasonable thesis. I presume that the sex preferred as a candidate
for an operation in canines is the opposite to what's done with
horses (mares being left intact and stallions gelded) because
of predictable difficulties or inconvenience in dealing with
the behavior of mature animals.
In dogs, castration is a simpler operation than spaying, and
the few neutered males that were brought to me for training exhibited
no problems uncommon in "normal" dogs. Or the five
dogs owned by my two daughters, two are neutered males, three
spayed females. None is a registered purebred. They are used
for nothing but championship. But all are pleasant, easy to get
along with, trouble-free dogs adapting in one case to a Chicago
apartment and in their mobile home in a rural setting. Unneutered
dogs would be much more difficult for employed persons who enjoy
dogs to manage.
Should you decide to have a dog castrated. A good veterinarian
will be your best source of advice as well as the man to do the
job. However, virtually everything dealing with neutered vs.
unneutered canines is tinged with subjective conjecture and speculation.
If I knew of a strictly scientific pro and con study, rest assured
I'd tell you about it. So discussed it with your vet to get the
best line on some "in the field" observations I'm going
to make.
If the dog's hunting qualities were of the utmost importance
to me, I would wait maturity before castrating. This is based
more on old-time animal husbandry than extensive observation.
In cattle, bulls were once destined for one of three duties:
breeding, draft work or |
