Men - it's not you we're neutering! RANT

[OveroHunter]

Seriously, why are men so attached to their male dog’s testicles? Pretty much every man I know that has had a male puppy, freaks out at the thought of neutering their dog. It could be the fugliest mixture of every breed around, but heaven forbid he go under the knife.

Woman: “Do you plan on breeding your dog?”
Man: “No, I don’t want to deal with puppies or buy a female, not to mention this dog is an unregistered mutt.”
Woman: “Ok, you should neuter your dog so it doesn’t pee on everything, be overly aggressive, or chase down female dogs and help over populate the planet with dogs.”
Man: “Omg, how could you ever suggest such a henious act on one of God’s creatures. How inhumane of you to even consider it!:eek::eek::eek:”

Part of that may have been dramatized ;), but seriously, it happens all.the.time.

ETA: You should have seen some of the men around here when I told them not only was our Dobie puppy going to be neutered one day, but we also were not going to crop his ears… SO and Kaiser (puppy) will just have to turn in their man cards!

[Nezzy]

i agree. some people are so ignorant.

[IdahoRider]

LOL, when I worked at an animal shelter I was asked to come up and talk with a gentleman that was considering the adoption of one of the dogs. He seemed like he would be a great owner, but he was balking at the idea of the dog being neutered.

He actually articulated that he would feel bad for the dog, never being able to have sex again. And being constantly reminded of the fact by the lack of testicles!

I told him that I could absolutely guarantee 100% that the dog would NEVER lay around and pine for all that sex he was now missing out on. Dogs just don’t think that way. He simply could not divorce how he felt about his own testicles and how the dog would feel. In his mind one was the same as the other.

I think that was probably the most frustrating conversation I had in the years that I worked and/or volunteered there. And I had a ton of frustrating conversations with people!
Sheilah

[eventer_mi]

I think we will find the answer to that when we find the answer to why men hang fake testicles under the rear bumper of their driving vehicles. Sigh.

Seriously, guys, they’re not as impressive to us women as you may think. We don’t see those fake balls on your truck or the real ones on your mutt and think "hot guy alert! He MUST be well-endowed! " On the contrary, we wonder what you’re trying to over-compensate for…

[SquishTheBunny]

I dont get it either.

A few years ago we neutered a pit bull (legally,all have to be neutered here), and the owner wanted “NEUTICLES” put in the sac. And might I mention, no, this pitty was no show dog! Oh dear lord…

[paulaedwina]

Well in all fairness, much of why we castrate is propaganda. For example, all intact males are not aggressive, pee-ers. I think part of the resistance is that the issue is not always addressed honestly. Too often there’s an underlying contempt of male hormones -for example people call castration “brain surgery” or “fixing”.

Just saying.
Paula

[FalseImpression]

I agree, it’s always the man who hesitates/does not want neutering the dog. No matter what age the man is!!! Even at 65+, her husband would not let my friend neuter the dog. She did it anyway… telling him she did not have the strength to hold him back if there was an attractive female in the area!! The dog never noticed he was missing something. I think he is their 7th or 8th dog, but the first one to be neutered!

[Alagirl]

ah, give the guys a break. Just mention ‘snip’ in a conversation, even non-testical related, and all cross their legs.
(no, really, that was one of the more funny moments, wasn’t even centered around ‘down under’ when my friend just said ‘snip’ and her BF, normally a sweet guy got all upset and defensive! Maybe something private? dunno…but they did manage to have their kid later)

:lol::lol::lol:

[Kryswyn]

[QUOTE=paulaedwina;5848246]
Well in all fairness, much of why we castrate is propaganda. For example, all intact males are not aggressive, pee-ers. I think part of the resistance is that the issue is not always addressed honestly. Too often there’s an underlying contempt of male hormones -for example people call castration “brain surgery” or “fixing”.

Just saying.
Paula[/QUOTE]

The ‘propaganda’ is used because we try to find some/any reason a man will believe to make him want to neuter his male dog because they can’t help seeing their dog as an extension of themselves and can’t believe they are not harming their dog by not letting them have sex as often as their male owners would want to. They just can’t grasp the over population thing. Or worse, they think their dog is too special to neuter.

Just sayin’

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=eventer_mi;5848214]
I think we will find the answer to that when we find the answer to why men hang fake testicles under the rear bumper of their driving vehicles. Sigh.

Seriously, guys, they’re not as impressive to us women as you may think. We don’t see those fake balls on your truck or the real ones on your mutt and think "hot guy alert! He MUST be well-endowed! " On the contrary, we wonder what you’re trying to over-compensate for…[/QUOTE]

I’ve always wanted to sneak up to the parked trucks with those and cut ONE off. They probably wouldn’t notice for a while, and the idea of them driving around with just one ball cracks me up.

Re men/neutering-
I told my DH that there only gets to be one set of testicles in the house, and he can decide between him and the dogs.:lol:

[paulaedwina]

I know it’s not the popular thing to say, but the reality is that castration is to prevent unwanted animals. That is all. The other stuff is propaganda to help convince people to that way of thinking. Well it has consequences - people question propaganda and when they feel like they’re been fed a line they balk. It’s not the only situation where we’re seeing fallout from behavior. An OT example is childhood vaccination. Government entities are seeing a drop off in vaccine compliance because people don’t trust the government about vaccines being harmless or necessary. Doesn’t matter that they are if people don’t trust the government right? Why don’t they trust the government? Well…

But I digress. We speuter to prevent unwanted animals. The idea that animals are unchanged by speutering is not true. The idea that animals are healthier because of speutering is debatable -they pretty much change their risk factors for various diseases but I don’t know that they are healthier. The idea that un-castrated males act badly because of hormones implies that castrated males act better for lack of hormones. That is not necessarily the case either.

My point is that part of the balking is because people have BS meters. So they ask questions like; if castration is to prevent unwanted animals can’t I just vasectomize my dog so he can keep his nuts? The response to that question is often, “well if he keeps his nuts he’ll die of nut cancer”.

My point is that people seldom act in a vacuum and it would be interesting to figure out why some people (not just men) resist castration. I mean there are entire countries where castration of male dogs is not common.

ETA: Here’s an interesting blog asking the same questions. Note there are links to references in the blog challenging many of the pre-conceived ideas regarding the virtue of castration or spaying.

http://forums.petdocsoncall.com/entry.php?69-Vasectomies-for-Dogs

Significant increase in prostate and bladder cancer among castrated male dogs, for example.
http://www.dogcancerblog.com/bladder-and-prostate-cancer-neutering-male-dogs-increases-risk-2/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17516571

Pre-conceived notions.

Interesting survey about dog behaviors with regards to speuter

http://www.cdoca.org/downloads/files/Early%20SN%20and%20Behavior.pdf

Paula

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=jetsmom;5848465]
I’ve always wanted to sneak up to the parked trucks with those and cut ONE off. They probably wouldn’t notice for a while, and the idea of them driving around with just one ball cracks me up.

Re men/neutering-
I told my DH that there only gets to be one set of testicles in the house, and he can decide between him and the dogs.:lol:[/QUOTE]

I bet you are fun at a party! Funny and smart!

I hate those dangling truck balls swaying back and forth in front of the following car, all stretchy and gross. Hate to be a parent with a kid in the car who asks lots of questions. And trucks with blue balls…cough cough why do you want blue balls?

My dad was very brave: he accepted all fosters must be neutered. He would mow a special section of the lawn down to a meer stubble so pups wouldnt have their surgical sites rub on the grass :sadsmile:.

My stepdad has a major issue with it. His lab became Mackolina. My dog became Josephina. Now I have a fancy froofroo Papillon who has his balls and stepdad’s notions are all topsy-turvy. And yes this man is very skinny and very short

[jcotton]

What is a speuter?

And the biggest guys have the littlest dogs(intact, of course).

[Big_Grey_hunter]

[QUOTE=jcotton;5848816]
What is a speuter?

And the biggest guys have the littlest dogs(intact, of course).[/QUOTE]

Speuter is short for spay/neuter

[Arcadien]

My dad & his brother sidestepped this issue by only having female dogs & had no problem spaying them.

I didn’t realize they were side stepping until I came home from a TB stud colt. You can only imagine the HORROR when I calmly reasoned that though I’d have to add $200 onto the purchase price to castrate him, he was still a good deal.

They objected so strenuously it took me a year to accomplish the task, and in the span he manage to jump my yearling filly without my knowing :mad:

Fortunately the ‘mistake’ filly was lovely (and ended up being given away as a two year old to a Cother for a show career) but I’ll never again allow a man to make me hesitate. I kind of feel for them, though - it did seem as though my castrating the stallion was going to hurt my dad & uncle somehow, very deeply. :yes: I think men who grow up around livestock may take it much easier, but for your ordinary city or surburban male it seems too much to take.

Ladies, we just need to do what needs to be done!

[IdahoRider]

@jetsmom;5848465

I’ve always wanted to sneak up to the parked trucks with those and cut ONE off. They probably wouldn’t notice for a while, and the idea of them driving around with just one ball cracks me up.

Now THAT would be funny! And think of how many women it would give a giggle when they see it, too.

There are many long range studies that indicate neutering a male dog have no major long term problems. It has been done for decades and most neutered dogs are living long, healthy lives. The physical differences between a male neutered prior to sexual maturity and a non-neutered male are often so slight that the average owner can’t tell the difference. And who knows what those difference would have been if the dog had remained intact.

The roaming of intact males will be curbed once the biological imperative to breed is removed. Will a dog that is left alone and bored still roam? Yes. But the fix for that behavioral issue is a lot easier to implement once the hormones are taken out of the picture.

And as someone who has seen the heartbreaking real world impact of pet over-population, the idea that castration of males dogs is all about preventing unwanted animals sounds like a pretty good reason to me. The average owner is not equipped to house an intact dog responsibly. If curbing the pet overpopulation problem were the only benefit of neutering, then I think it is still a pretty good reason to do it.
Sheilah

[paulaedwina]

But I can curb overpopulation by vasectomy and tubal ligation. Why not vasectomy or tubal ligation?

How do I stop an intact dog from roaming? The same say I stop my pack of sighthounds living in the woods from chasing deer - a fence. Do castrated dogs roam if not contained? Of course.

Paula

[wendy]

since most of the evidence suggests male dogs are more likely to remain healthier if never neutered, I also wonder why so many people are so appalled at the idea of letting them remain intact. The dog itself doesn’t derive any health benefit from being neutered, quite the opposite.
If you don’t let your intact dog run around loose it won’t be involved in producing unwanted puppies, and the other thoughts that neutering somehow magically cures certain behaviors- doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Hordes of neutered dogs pee all over the place, hump anything that moves (and many things that don’t) and are aggressive and lose their minds in the presence of any dog (never mind a bitch in heat); and yet oddly enough you see intact male dogs (who have actually been trained, imagine that) working in public as police dogs, winning in sporting competitions, politely ignoring bitches in heat…

[AlmostDun]

I’ve had both intact and neutered male dogs. The intact dogs were not unmanageable. Yes, they were slightly more aggressive. Not so much that they couldn’t be handled with discipline and training. Yes, they were slightly more prone to roam. Again, not so much that they couldn’t be managed with discipline and training. Breed differences (hound vs a more people oriented type) were probably a bigger factor in roaming than balls vs no balls. There’s a bit more humping behavior too, but neutering isn’t 100% guaranteed to eliminate humping.

Where the big snip has really made a difference is in the quality of walks. I find with the dogs neutered at six months that we don’t have to stop to water every single bush on a five mile walk. We can just go out, get the peeing business done, and then go walk. Man I hate standing there waiting for the dog to try to squeeze out a last few drops on yet another hosta plant.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Wendy- no body is saying all dogs should be neutered. I’m sure no one has a problem with show dogs, police dogs, or other highly trained dogs owned by owners with lots of experience, devoted to training.

But let’s be honest. The vast majority of un-neutered dogs are not owned by these individuals. They are owned by clueless owners who don’t/can’/won’t train their dogs. If an idiot is going to own a dog, I would much rather it be fixed so there’s no worry of it breeding and a reduced risk of aggression or other behaviors (humping, marking) that could be dangerous to others or cause the dog to be dumped at a shelter