Should I get my dogs neutered?

[B&Baussies]

I have 2 one year old Australian shepherd males and we just recently went in for their yearly check up with a new vet. While we were there the vet brought up the topic of neutering them, which I declined but I was willing to listen to reason if she could convince otherwise. It seemed like her only reasons were disease prevention and prevention of behavioral problems.
I explained to her that as far as behavior goes they have a completely aggression free record, never been in a fight and never hurt each other. In fact when they wrestle if either one yelps out, the other will jump off instinctively and look at me to make sure that he isn't in trouble.
She didn't seem to convinced so I went on to explain how I monitor their meals so they don't steal food (or even try anymore) and I've taken special care to make sure that they don't fight over toys or treats and that all possessive aggression was extinguished before they were 6 months old. This means that they are sharing everything, including their favorites. I also bought them from a breeder, so they are brothers and have literally spent every day of their natural born life together.
Still unconvinced she basically said that there is still a good chance that in a year’s time they will just start to hate each other. And that if I waited too long that it might not work. (This immediately sounded suspicous) I find it hard to believe that the effect of the surgery would vary depending on if they were one year old or two. I mean if you cut off the hormones it should have some effect on them yes? And these results shouldn't be that varied?
This is where I started to get confused. Apparently if I get them the surgery now it will not change their personality (which is what I'm the most nervous about). So what she's telling me is that this won't affect their personality now but if I don't get it done then they'll have a massive personality switch? And then the surgery might not work at that point?
It almost sounds like the surgery doesn't fix the problem to start with.
The last thing she discussed with me on the subject was disease prevention, which I've always thought was a sound reason but lately I've been thinking differently. I mean I wouldn't take myself into the hospital to go under the knife for prevention. I would only have surgery if it was necessary. And it seems a little more than odd that nature would have such a bad defect in such an important part of their body.
I would like to trust my vet, but she's new to me and I'm young. So I can't help but feel like she's just trying to get these guys in surgery for the money. Is she right, and my dogs are just a biological time bomb about to go off? or can a dog really be a product of its environment, which I have been very meticulous to create?

[JMCsGirl]

I was once young and uneducated on this subject as well. I was attacked on a pet forum for my views and that only made me resist harder.

It is true that the aggression may pop up in future years and that neutering them would prevent this. If they meet other dogs problems are less likely to crop up if they are neutered. Another good behavioral plus to neutering is that they are less likely to lift a leg on your couch and wander from home to find a mate. If there is a female who comes into heat in the area you can bet that if they get the chance to run they will go for it. That is a danger to your dog.

If they mate with a strange female they could get diseases from this. Also on the health aspect of it is the prevention of testicular cancer. That strikes me as something no pet owner wants to try to handle so the best answer is neutering.

It also helps control the massive amounts of unwanted animals. There are so many pets out there without homes, why chance adding more. I know this sounds like a lame reason because it is hard to visualize but imagine that your male mates with a female and each of the puppies remains intact and mates, it can add up pretty quick.

Believe me I understand the hesitation. You sound a lot like I did about ten years ago. I now have all my pets neutered and it has helped them all so much more than hurt them. Please do some research online and I think you will find this being the best option for everyone involved.

[Karen]

As was just mentioned, unless you are going to have them be registered show dogs, it is better to get them neutered, both for behavioral and for health issues.

1. It will eliminate the chance of them wanting to wander if they catch the whiff of a female in heat ... the biological urge to procreate can be strong, and I have heard many stories of dogs lost or hit by cars because of this.

2. It will, of course, drop the level of certain hormones which can sometimes lead to aggressive behavior as they age. This will not change their personalities, per se, but it will make that aggression less likely to pop up.

3. Unneutered dogs have a higher risk for some cancers.

It's just all around better for them to get neutered, and could save you some expense and heartbreak later down the road.

As my big brother would say "They may not think they are broken, but it's time for 'em to get 'fixed!'" They are a good age for it, they've done all the growth they need to in their bones, and so make that appointment!

[Asiel]

I agree that neutering them is the best to prevent unwanted litters that might end up homess. Also it decreases the chance of cancer later on.
They won't get the urge to wander and maybe get hurt, killed or kidnapped. Neutered they will focus on you rather than on stray females...

[sasvermont]

YES, get your pets neutered and spayed. YES, YES, YES!

There are way too many unwanted pets in this world.

[B&Baussies]

I'm looking for a more comprehensive side to the argument. No offence but if I'm having trouble trusting my vet so some stranger online who learned how to enlarge the font and has trouble repeating themselves will really have trouble convincing me. For everyone else thank you for the advice, I appreciate it. I'll admit that I had not thought about them running off and mating but then again where we live that really isn't an issue.
So to be clear, while unwanted litters is a big reason for a lot of people’s decision it will not be affecting mine (I hope you choose to respect my opinion but if not… ok). My only concern is the well being of my dogs as far as health goes and as far as social behavior.
In order to better put my worries into perspective let me briefly describe myself: I am a college student, former psychology major till I switched to biochemistry. It’s in my nature to look for the actual metabolic or physiological causes of the problems. So when someone tells me something new then I don’t immediately assume its true, regardless of its’ source. One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned in college would be that even the top scientists of the day all throughout history and through the modern age can still be wrong, but they prove whatever they believe through deductive reasoning and logic. That’s all I’m looking for.
I don’t even see why they brought up topic of cancer prevention to be honest. It seems more like a device used to get people to neuter their dogs. For starters it’s the obvious statement of the decade that removing the testicles would prevent testicular cancer. But that’s backwards logic in my opinion, you remove a cancerous organ because it’s cancerous, you don’t remove an organ to prevent cancer (especially when the only leads we have to the causes of cancer are related to carcinogen intake and radiation/ not hormones). Note: I’m using the term organ as a generality; their testicles are not like our appendix and should be treated as such. Which makes me ask to any parents out there reading this: would you go get your child’s appendix removed so that they can prevent appendicitis? Or would you get it removed because of appendicitis? Note: Appendicitis can kill you faster than cancer if left untreated. The appendix serves no purpose and we can directly diagnose the cause of appendicitis. For those of you who don’t know, appendicitis is the infection of the appendix from lodged fecal matter causing your appendix to swell with poisonous toxins; this pressure can build to bursting causing the poisons to fill the body typically resulting in death if not dealt with in time. This is renowned for the crippling pain in your side. Seems like something you’d want to prevent, yes? But no one does that. Why? Like I said it is backwards logic. You don’t go under the knife for prevention, only to fix a problem. (Bringing up the carcinogen intake again; this is just my opinion but the closest link to cancer in dogs could be related to the preservatives used in some wet foods/ which I don’t feed my dogs).
And as far as behavior goes: I’m hoping someone will explain why it seemed like my vet was giving me an ultimatum. It seemed more like a “now or never” kind of scenario after she said that the surgeries effects might not work after they reach a certain age (“around two years old”). This also made me question the correlation between neutering and behavior problems. And being an aspiring doctor I would like to think that if I was describing a procedure to a patient that I could promise consistent results (especially for an elective surgery used entirely for preventative measures). It seems a little odd to me that she’s blaming the seemingly destined bad behavior on the fluctuation of hormones that the testicles produce, but then says that if they are removed (cutting off the hormones) too late that it might not work. That to me is a red flag for several reasons. Number one, ultimatums always make me question the legitimacy of what anyone says; if I have to make the decision fast then that doesn’t give me much time to think about it. This seemed really odd for this kind of surgery. Number two, why would cutting off the hormones now prevent the problem, but cutting them off a year from now might not have any effect? Hormones are hormones right? And if they are the real reason for the behavior then the behavior should go with them, but apparently that’s been known not to happen frequently enough for her to warn me about it. Three, after spending a number of hours writing up lab reports, if I found the results of a treatment to be more variable and inconclusive when the problem actually immerges then I’d probably assume that the preventative measures probably aren’t working. This makes me think that the two might be corresponding with each other more so then causing each other.
For instance, the dogs increase in testosterone may cause a dynamic change stemming from a weak alpha position that the owner demonstrates. This would make the last stages of puberty and hormone fluctuation take the blame for what was originally the owner needing to be a leader. Also keeping in mind that dogs focus considerably more on non verbal communication then we do, due to a language barrier. So seeing as how they have different social cues and non verbal then we do, it would not be that farfetched to say that most people don’t pick up on the dogs asserting themselves through ranks in the family. I know a lot of people who own dogs and have to make their meals special or they won’t eat. While the common consensus is “whatever gets them to eat” the dog is really winning and having that privilege viewed in an alpha male light. My dogs have tried this with little success, one will attempt to be a picky eater and the other is not. The picky eater got used to me governing over meal time so he didn’t worry about his brother trying to take his food. Unlucky for him though, if he shows no interest in the food and leaves his bowl unattended I will begin to sprinkle out his dry food one small fist full and a time which they know floor food means that it’s for anyone. Seeing his brother take his food is all it took to have eaten the rest of the meal, no complaints. It worked out very well seeing as how I only had to do this twice.
Lastly I think that vets have a biased and skewed perspective on the subject. For one, most people don’t take their dogs to the vet unless there is a problem to start with so of course they are going to be the first to know about behavior problems but I highly doubt they keep track of any well behaved unneutered dogs for the obvious reason that there would be no need to. And two, at least in my experience, the vet asked very limited questions about the environment that the animal was in, usually just focused on the biological side. This gives limited perspective, not to mention environment is as important if not more important than the biology of the animal. The biology of any organisms changes in order to better cope with the environment. This not only refers to physical development but mental development as well.
I don’t mean this to offend anyone but the atypical pet owner probably is not that hard to manipulate. Not every pet owner is a scientist and chooses to ask question and understands the little details. When a person in a medical status starts throwing words around like cancer and behavior problems most people just take it at face value and pay for the surgery, the alternative they described is a little too frightening. I’d like to know why I should have my boys’ boys taken off.
I appreciate people taking time to answer my question, please know though that I’m looking for causation. If I just needed someone to throw random supposable facts at me I would have just listened to my vet, at least then I would know the source. I want to do what is best for my dogs, but I need an explanation with an answer before I agree to let anyone cut anything off my dogs.

[jenluckenbach]

Be responsible and neuter your pets. There will always be the risk of them coming across a female in heat, and even 1 accidental litter is too many.

Now, while they may never become agressive towards one another, they are still developing. Will you ever want them to interact with other dogs?

Also, If a bad habit, like marking territory, begins, there may be no stopping it. And even if you are lucky enough to keep them perfectly housebroken in your home, will they ever be in anyone else's home? or at the vet or groomer? Most of the un-neutered dogs come in to the grooming shop and pee everywhere. Neutering would stop the behavior before it starts.

Neutering reduces the risk of cancer just like vaccinations reduce the risk of other diseases.

So, what reasons do you have for NOT neutering?

[moosmom]

Absolutely!!!