pitbulls

[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