pitbulls

[lute]

LOL none of my intact male Pit Bulls have ever tried to bite anyone, let alone maul them. Just because someone choses not to s/n doesn't make them irresponsible. My dogs are not likely to become aggressive, man biters, dangerous, ect because they are bred properly, socialized to people and it is in their nature to be friendly to everyone they meet.

I agree and disagree with you. It all depends on which dogs you keep intact. I have show dogs and pets. (All my dogs are companions first, but you know the difference I'm talking about.) ALL my "pets" are spayed/neutered. There is absolutely no reason for them to be intact. Having them spayed/neutered eliminates the chance of unwanted litters and prevents certain kinds of cancer in both sexes. In females you also don't have to bother with heat cycles. My show dogs are not spayed/neutered for obvious reasons. As soon as the dog is done showing/breeding it will be altered. No reason for them to be intact.

I strongly believe that unless the dog is actively showing/breeding it should be altered. All this crap you hear from people saying how "the dog wouldn't be a male without his balls!" or "I couldn't put my baby through surgery!" I see it as if your dog needs to keep intact to show Masculinity the owner has some sort of problem with their own Masculinity. If you can't put your poor baby through surgery just go ahead and run that risk of the dog getting pregnant and needing a c-section. That is a MUCH more dangerous surgery than a simple altering.

[Spicy_Bulldog]

I agree and disagree with you. It all depends on which dogs you keep intact. I have show dogs and pets. (All my dogs are companions first, but you know the difference I'm talking about.) ALL my "pets" are spayed/neutered. There is absolutely no reason for them to be intact. Having them spayed/neutered eliminates the chance of unwanted litters and prevents certain kinds of cancer in both sexes. In females you also don't have to bother with heat cycles. My show dogs are not spayed/neutered for obvious reasons. As soon as the dog is done showing/breeding it will be altered. No reason for them to be intact.

So it sounds like you agree with me then, not disagree. I did not say that no dogs should ever be spay/neutered. Having intact dogs doesn't make someone irresponsible is what I said. You have some intact yourself (like you said for obvious reasons showing/breeding) do you feel that you are irresponsible? Do you feel that your male dog is going to kill someone? Having them s/n does eliminate chances of certain cancers and increases the chances of others, especially if done early (pediatric s/n) in life. There are also other health factors in s/n vs intact. You will find positive and negative in both. My main concern in intact females is pyometra. Most pet owners they should s/n because of the possibility their dog could breed a female or their bitch become pregnant. Most are not responsible enough to have intact dogs, don't need intact dogs and it is stressful/taxing on them with the females at times. I never said that this was not the case.

What breed to you breed? Got any pics? Sorry I'm still kind of new.

[lute]

So it sounds like you agree with me then, not disagree. I did not say that no dogs should ever be spay/neutered. Having intact dogs doesn't make someone irresponsible is what I said. You have some intact yourself (like you said for obvious reasons showing/breeding) do you feel that you are irresponsible? Do you feel that your male dog is going to kill someone? Having them s/n does eliminate chances of certain cancers and increases the chances of others, especially if done early (pediatric s/n) in life. There are also other health factors in s/n vs intact. You will find positive and negative in both. My main concern in intact females is pyometra. Most pet owners they should s/n because of the possibility their dog could breed a female or their bitch become pregnant. Most are not responsible enough to have intact dogs, don't need intact dogs and it is stressful/taxing on them with the females at times. I never said that this was not the case.

What breed to you breed? Got any pics? Sorry I'm still kind of new.

The only reason I said I disagreed with you is when you made the statement about not spaying/neutering is not a sign of irresponsibility I took it as you don't spay/neuter simply because you don't want to. I didn't realize you showed dogs. So yes, I agree with you.

No, I do not feel that my male would kill someone. Yes, I feel responsible because I do spay/neuter when the dog is done showing/breeding. Also dogs that do not turn out will be spayed/neutered.

The breed will be breeding is Australian Shepherd. I am working my way up to be a breeder. I feel you have to earn your title as a breeder. You can't just breed a litter and call yourself a "breeder". As of right now I am only working with a breeder. I do have a male Aussie I am getting ready to start showing. Hopefully everything passes and he can sire some successful litters!

These are a couple pics of my Aussie boy, Talon. He was about 4 mos in these pics. He's almost 7 months now.

[leansnslobbers]

I think the unaltered/altered debate (for me, anyways) boils down to this...

The people who have unaltered pets because of laziness or machoisms, are not likely responsible owners anyways. These are likely the same people whose dogs who are chained 24/7 with little to no socialization...teased and tormented by the neighborhood children, fed crappy food (and yes, I do believe that sometimes there is a correlation between crappy food and some types of behavior problems) encouraged to be "tough" etc.

Then there is another class of owners with unaltered dogs - people who show, people who do performance and feel that their dogs need to be "complete" to perform at their best, people who cannot alter their dogs because of some health reason (such as myself with my dane). These are responsible owners who are not apt to contribute to the other qualities that can lead to bad behavior.

There's no doubt in my mind that hormones can lead to aggression..but a responsible owner knows their dog well enough to head it off before it reaches a dangerous point. An irresponsible owner laughs, ignores it, or thinks it's cool until it's too late.

/ramble