ment. There is no "love" involved with canines, it is purely an instinctive hormonal response. Dogs do not need their reproductive organs or a sexual experience to "make their life complete." A neutered male makes a far superior pet. He will not roam in search of bitches in season, he will have less tendency to mark his territory with urine and he will be less likely to get into fights. He will not develop cancer of the testes and he will suffer far less prostate and urinary tract problems. He will make a better watch dog because he will be less inclined to wander off. The list of benefits goes on and on. Sometimes a male dog will have only one testicle descended into the scrotum. This is commonly called "monorchidism". When neither testicle has descended it is commonly called "cryptorchidism". In these cases one or both testes have been retained up in the dog's abdominal cavity. Because testes are not designed to be kept at body temperature, the retained testicle essentially "cooks" and becomes a serious cancer risk. Occasionally a monorchid male is fertile, but the trait is hereditary. Therefore, a monorchid male should never, ever be bred. It is not fair to pass on this high cancer risk. 5. But if J have my petfixed he (or she) will get fat! A neutered or spayed pet will not get fat simply from the surgery. A pet only gets fat if an owner over feeds it. When an animal is neutered, its metabolism slows down, therefore it requires fewer calories. If the owner continues to feed the pet the same amount of food after the surgery as before, it is very likely the pet will gain weight. The owner needs to limit the amount of food the pet gets as well as maintaining amount of exercise.
a healthy
6. "J want my children to witness the miracle of life." Are the children ready for the miracle of death as well? As stated earlier, 63% of bitches bred suffer problems. Many times these problems are fatal for the puppies and/or the mother. Puppies can be born dead or die from complications at birth. Dams can retain placentas, develop eclampsia, go into uterine inertia or die during a c-section. The list of possible problems is very long. If the potential mother is a treasured family pet, why would anyone want to put her into a dangerous situation? Buy the kids a book, it's cheaper, safer and far more humane.
7. "J work all day, but J don't need to worry about being there when she whelps. Back on the farm, our dog had her puppies out in the barn and no one ever helped." The dog has been a domestic animal for centuries. Man has shaped it into many different breeds and types. Because of this, it is no longer a wild animal that can reproduce with no help from man. The bitch does need assistance, even if it is just someone to watch and make sure she is not in trouble. On a regular basis, veterinarians see bitches that have been in hard labor for 36 hours or longer with no results. Usually, the owners will say they didn't realize she was in labor, or that they thought she could "do it all alone." The poor animals and the puppies they carry rarely ever survive. Even well-cared for bitches can have problems. Eclampsia can develop very quickly and will kill the dam if the owner doesn't seek veterinary assistance immediately. Then the owner is left with orphaned newborns that must be bottle fed every three hours, around the clock. How many pet owners have the time to devote to this? 8. "The vet says my dog is perfectly healthy." The special tests required to diagnose hereditary problems are not normally part of a routine veterinary check up. Hip dysplasia is a hereditary, crippling disorder that has been diagnosed in virtually all AKC recognized breeds. It can be as mild as a 4 or 5 year old with a little stiffness on a cold morning or as severe as a 6 month old that can't get up and walk. Rottweilers, Bullmastiffs, Saint Bernards and American Staffordshire Terriers are just a few of the breeds which have a particularly high incidence of this disorder. The only way you can be sure your dog is not afflicted with the disease is to have a special radiograph taken and sent to the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals (OFA) where they will be read and evaluated. Hereditary eye diseases which can cause blindness are also a big problem in many AKC breeds such as the American Cocker Spaniel, the Siberian Husky, the Poodle, the Collie, and the Labrador Retriever. In most cases, these diseases can only be detected by a special exam performed by a canine ophthalmologist. There are also inherited blood and heart disorders that can severely shorten a dog's life and/or require it to be on medication for the rest of its life. All these things can
be prevented if people would just take the time to test the dogs they want to breed. Not just the health needs to be checked, but the quality of the animal needs to be taken into consideration. This is especially hard to do with a much-loved pet. Traits such as size, coat and temperament are hereditary. How would someone feel if they bought a Shetland Sheepdog and it grew up to be as large as a Great Dane or if they purchased a Cocker Spaniel that bit every time they tried to brush it? It certainly wouldn't be what they expected or wanted, yet someone bred it with no regard to quality. It happens every day. Several years ago, the American Cocker Spaniel fell from the first place in popularity because it developed some severe hereditary temperament and health problems. They became nasty dogs that bit with little provocation and "hyper" dogs that urinated when excited. They developed tremendous hereditary eye problems that cause blindness as well as hip and joint problems that cause lameness. Who was to blame? John Q. Public who insisted on breeding dogs without doing any testing and with no regard to quality. Fortunately for the American Cocker, there was a staunch group of fanciers who managed to preserve the health and "merry " temperament that makes the cocker such an endearing pet. Due to the hard work of these individuals, the American Cocker is back in the top ten. Unfortunately, once again, cockers with bad temperaments and/or serious health problems are starting to show up. All because people insist on breeding their pets with no regard for physical, temperamental or health quality. Now several other breeds such as the Rottweiler, the Akita, the Siberian Husky and the Chow Chow appear to be headed the same direction as the American Cocker Spaniel. 9. "We're not interested in doing all that testing. All we want to do is have a litter of puppies. We're not going to show or anything, in fact, we aren't even going to sell the puppies. We are going to give them away. All the neighbors said they'd take one. Besides, what harm is there in one litter of puppies?" The answer is simple mathematics. Say a pet owner breeds a litter without bothering to check the parents for hereditary problems or evaluate them for quality. If six