does-neutering-a-dog-calm-it-down[/caption]Spay and neuter myths
Pet overpopulation and euthanasia are a continuing problem. Be a part of the solution: spay or neuter your pets.
Spaying or neutering your dog is an important part of responsible pet ownership. Unneutered male dogs that are not able to mate experience frustration, which can lead to aggression. Unspayed female dogs attract unwanted attention every six months. From a psychological and biological point-of-view, it is the best thing for your dog.
When you get your dog spayed or neutered, be sure your dog is in a calm and balanced state. Never spay or neuter a frustrated, nervous, tense, aggressive, or anxious dog!
In the United States, seven puppies and kittens are born for every one human. As a result, there are just not enough homes for the animals, and according to the Humane Society of the United States three to four million dogs and cats are euthanized every year.
Sterilizing dogs and cats has been hailed as the most effective method for pet population control. You can help save lives by spaying and neutering your pet. If pets can’t breed, they don’t produce puppies that end up in animal shelters to be adopted or euthanized. Currently, over 56% of dogs and approximately 75% of cats entering shelters are put to sleep.
The perpetuation of myths about spaying and neutering and the high cost cause many people to avoid the procedures, but the fact is sterilization makes your dog a better behaved, healthier pet and will save you money in the long run.
Myth #1: A dog will feel like less of a “man” or “woman” after being sterilized.
This myth stems from the human imposing their own feelings of loss on the animal. In fact, your dog will simply have one less need to fulfill. A dog’s basic personality is formed more by environment and genetics than by sex hormones, so sterilization will not change your dog’s basic personality, make your dog sluggish or affect its natural instinct to protect the pack. But it will give you a better behaved pet.
Neutered dogs have less desire to roam, mark territory (like your couch!) and exert dominance over the pack. Spayed dogs no longer experience the hormonal changes during heat cycles that turn your pet into a nervous dog that cries incessantly and attracts unwanted male dogs. Sterilized dogs are more affectionate and less likely to bite, run away, become aggressive, or get into a fight.
Myth #2: Spaying and neutering will cause weight gain.
Dogs do not get fat simply by being sterilized. Just like humans, dogs gain weight if they eat too much and exercise too little or if they are genetically programmed to be overweight. The weight gain that people may witness after sterilization is most likely caused by continuing to feed a high energy diet to a dog that is reducing its need for energy as it reaches adult size.
Myth #3: Dogs will mourn the loss of their reproductive capabilities.
Not true. Dogs reproduce solely to ensure the survival of their species. They do not raise a puppy for eighteen years. They do not dream of their puppy’s wedding. They do not hope for the comfort of grandchildren in their old age. Female dogs nurse for a few weeks, teach the puppies rules, boundaries, and limitations and send them off to join the pack. Male dogs are not “fathers” in the human sense of the word; they do not even recognize puppies as their own.
Myth #4: Spaying and Neutering is expensive.
Today there are enough low cost and free spay and neuter programs that this can no longer be an excuse! Even if these programs are not available in your area, the emotional distress and money spent on medical treatments you will save down the line makes it an investment that will be worth every penny.
Sterilization reduces the risk of incidence of a number of health problems that are difficult and expensive to treat. In females, it eliminates the possibility of developing uterine or ovarian cancer and greatly reduces the chance of breast cancer. Also, some females experience false pregnancies and uterine infections that can be fatal. Prostate cancer risk is greatly reduced in males. By sterilizing your pet, your dog will live a healthier and longer life.
Efforts by programs such as SPAY/USA already seem to be having an effect. In 1980, approximately 23.4 million animals were euthanized. Twenty-two years later, the estimate was down to 4.6 million. In towns and cities that have already implemented sterilization programs, the number of companion animals who had to be euthanized is showing a decline of 30 to 60 percent.
The truth is that neutered and spayed dogs are better pets. And though we’re heading in the right direction, the problem of euthanasia continues. Be a part of the solution. Spay or neuter your pet today!
Dog Behavior and Training - Neutering and Behavior
Most male animals (stallions, bulls, boars, rams, dogs, and tomcats) that are kept for companionship, work, or food production are neutered (castrated) unless they are intended to be used as breeding stock. This is a common practice to prevent unacceptable sexual behavior, reduce aggressiveness, and prevent accidental or indiscriminate breeding. However, some dog owners choose not to neuter their male dogs, despite the benefits.
What is castration?
"The only behaviors that will be affected by castration are those that are under the influence of male hormones."
How does neutering affect behavior?
The only behaviors that will be affected by castration are those that are under the influence of male hormones (see below). A dog’s temperament, training, personality, and ability to do “work” are a result of genetics and upbringing, not its male hormones. Castration does not “calm” an excitable dog, and unless a castrated male dog is overfed or underexercised, there is no reason for it to become fat and lazy.
Which of my dogs’ behavior problems can be expected to improve following castration?
As mentioned, only those behaviors that are “driven” by male hormones can be reduced or eliminated by castration. Although the hormones are gone from the system almost immediately following castration, male behaviors may diminish quickly over a few days or gradually over a few months.
Undesirable sexual behavior: Attraction to female dogs, roaming, mounting, and masturbation can often be reduced or eliminated by castration.
- Case studies show that for roaming, there was moderate improvement in 70% of dogs, with marked improvement in 40%. For mounting there was moderate improvement in 70% of dogs with marked improvement in 25%.
- In one study, castration led to reduced aggression toward other dogs in the house in 1/3 of cases, towards people in the family in 30% of cases, towards unfamiliar dogs in 20% of cases and toward unfamiliar people in 10% of cases.
Urine marking: Most adult male dogs lift their legs while urinating. Instead of emptying their bladders completely, most male dogs retain some urine to deposit on other vertical objects that they pass. Some males have such a strong desire to mark that they also mark indoors. Although neutered dogs will still lift their leg to urinate, castration reduces marking in 80% of dogs with a marked improvement in 40%.
"Every aggressive dog should be castrated."
Aggression: Every aggressive dog should be castrated. At the very least this will prevent reproduction and passing on of any genetic traits for aggression. Castration may also reduce or eliminate some forms of aggression (i.e., those that are influenced by male hormones).
Are there any additional benefits to castration?
Medical benefits: Castration eliminates the possibility of testicular cancer and greatly reduces the chance of prostate disease, two extremely common and serious problems of older male dogs. Many older dogs that are not neutered will develop prostate disease or testicular tumors if they survive to an old enough age. Castration can also reduce the risk of perianal tumors and perineal hernias.
Population control: Perhaps the most important issue is that millions of unwanted dogs are destroyed annually at animal shelters across the United States and Canada. Neutering males is as important as spaying females when it comes to population control.
Are there any risks?
Nowadays, with the broad selection of anesthetic agents and state of the art monitoring, anesthetic or surgical complications rarely occur during a canine castration.
Most young and healthy animals recover without incident. Often, the biggest concern is not the surgery and anesthesia, but the recovery, since we need to ensure that the dog does not lick excessively at its incision line until it is fully healed. Constant monitoring, bitter tasting creams, or a protective collar, known as an Elizabethan collar, will be required if excessive licking
is observed following castration. If this is needed, see Elizabethan Collars.
When castration is being considered for an older dog, the benefits must be weighed against any risks associated with anesthetic and surgery. Since castration surgery is seldom associated with any complications, it is the anesthetic that is the primary concern. If castration is being considered as a separate procedure for a medical reason (prostatic enlargement, testicular tumors, perianal tumors), then there is a significant benefit to the dog’s health, comfort and perhaps longevity, in having the castration performed. If the dog is exhibiting any undesirable behaviors that might be improved by castration (roaming, masturbation, mounting, inter-dog aggression, excessive sexual interest or marking), there may also be a significant benefit to be gained from castration. Although not infallible, a physical examination, a series of blood and urine tests and any additional screening that your veterinarian may feel is warranted for your dog (e.g., ECG, chest x-rays), can help to determine if your pet has any significant anesthetic risks. These tests can also help the veterinarian determine which anesthetic protocol would be safest for your pet. Since many older pets require anesthesia for other procedures (e.g., growth removal, preventive dentistry), the benefits can often be further increased, and the number of anesthetic procedures reduced by performing the castration along with the other procedure.
What age is best for preventive castration?
A number of studies have shown that castration is just as effective at reducing male associated behavior problems as it is at preventing them. This means that whether the pet is castrated post-puberty (e.g., 1 year or older) or pre-puberty (e.g., before 6 to 9 months of age) the behavioral effects are likely to be the same. There is, however, anecdotal evidence that dogs that are sexually experienced are more likely to retain their sexual habits after castration, compared to those dogs that have had little or no sexual experience before castration.
It has been advocated recently that castration be performed at as young an age as is practical, to ensure that it is done before the pet has a chance to breed. This is most important in animal shelters, since it allows them to ensure that every dog adopted has already been castrated. Many shelters now routinely begin neutering as young as two months of age. To date, studies have shown that castration at this early age is safe, and has no long-term effects on health or behavior, regardless of the age that it is performed. It has been suggested that surgery at this age is shorter, that recovery is quicker, and that there is less post-operative discomfort for these younger animals. However, if castration is performed before all permanent (adult) teeth have erupted, your dog should be rechecked around 6 months of age to ensure that no deciduous (baby) teeth have been retained.
"There seems to be no behavioral or medical benefit to waiting until a dog is ‘mature’ to perform a castration."
My dog has retained testicles. What does this mean?
During fetal development or shortly after birth, the testicles will descend into the scrotal sac. In some dogs, likely due to a genetic predisposition, the testicles may not descend into the scrotal sac. These dogs are known as either unilateral (one testicle) or bilateral (both testicles) cryptorchids. The testicle may be retained in the abdomen or anywhere between the abdominal cavity and the external sac. Retained testicles do not usually produce sperm, but they will produce hormones, which can lead to any of the behavioral changes or medical problems previously discussed. In fact, some studies have shown that retained testicles may be more prone to developing cancer. At the very least, it would be extremely difficult to determine if a testicle, which is located in the abdomen, begins to develop cancer, since it cannot be palpated. All dogs with retained testicles should be neutered (and both testicles removed) for medical and behavioral reasons, and to ensure that this genetic abnormality is not perpetuated.
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