SCIENCE IS ALWAYS LEARNING (AS IT SHOULD)

When I started out with dogs (I'm confining these remarks to my bird dogs) I thought I was doing the right thing by neutering or spaying a pup around 6 months or more to prevent uterine cancer, testicular cancer, unwanted births, bad behavior, etc.  I bought into the whole "if you aren't going to breed them, then you should spay them at about six months or more" thing.

Looking back, I can see that those were more like "talking points" for a general dog-owner population from well-intended folks who ran clinics, adoption shelters and rescues.  Less pregnancies means less puppies.  I get that.   However, the mantra seems to have been carried too far.  It became sort of a "broad-brush" approach for most of "puppydom" and shelter over-population.  It simply doesn't apply to those of us who keep a  fairly athletic association with our hunting dogs.

There is a growing field of data concerning the practice of "de-sexing" our canine cohorts.  Learning its effects--especially "early de-sexing"-- I've come to the conclusion that I've done a huge dis-service to my dogs.  Looking at the medical history of Taylor, my first GSP (German Shorthaired Pointer), provides good anecdotal evidence.  Taylor had terrible soft tissue problems.  He seemed to be lame more often than not. He also suffered dementia around twelve years age.  Lots of drive, but the chassis was weak.

Kid, my Brittany, was spayed at 3yrs old.  She didn't have "soft tissue" problems, but the impact of the surgery threw her for a post-surgical loop.  Her metabolism was knocked out of whack for several weeks.  After the operation, she remained  "urinary incontinent" and required special meds.   And of course, there's K-Lee:  She has needed two TPLOs (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomies).  Anecdotal yes, but it matches up with others' experiences. 

One of my friends recently told me, "Life is one long learning curve."  He believes that spaying and neutering will be looked back at as a tragic mistake.  There are  alternatives to removing the sex organs that will prevent unwanted puppies.  

Slow to come along with this theme, I'm now convinced that spaying/neutering a pup at an adolescent age is not "good practice".  I realize that this puts me at odds with those who think the ailments such as "fear issues", poor joint structure, weak "soft tissue" such as ligaments, tendons, etc, and "anxiety" are entirely genetic in nature.  So be it.

It's to each person to formulate his or her own decision.  Having finally found the side of the fence that I want to be on, and if there's ever another dog in my life, I'll do things differently.

Perhaps at that time, there will be even more options than ripping out body parts from the abdominal area.


Here are links to articles that summarize somewhat what is my (current) belief:
  https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2016/07/27/neutering-spaying-effects.aspx

 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/hal-herzog/the-ethics-of-neutering_b_2790315.html

As new information comes in, I retain the right to adjust my thinking.