I want to get this off my chest but I'm only going to leave it for 1 week…read more
Three things: I'm not writing an essay for school so my thoughts might jump around; second, I'm not here to bad mouth dog owners but that said, I have to say what I think; and three, I'm not an expert, obviously, so these are only my own personal opinions.
I know that the dog owners who come to Ohlone Park (which, btw, is a fantastic place) are into the necessity for neutering and spaying (which I will now refer to as NS) their pets; but I am definitely not one of them. And in Finland and several Northern and Western European countries, routine, preventative spaying and neutering for dogs is not mandatory or standard practice, and is often legally restricted or viewed as unnecessary unless medically required. In the US it is neces-sary. In 1973, an estimated 13.5 million animals were euthanized annually. Increased public aware-ness, spaying/neutering programs, and the growth of no-kill networks drove this number down by over 60. Last year is was only a littler over 300,000. I guess the spouse of someone who works in a shelter never wants to say, So how was your day? And responsible people in the dog world urge you to NS your pets.
I will never NS my dog, I never have and I never will. My only responsibility to society is NO PUPPIES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I have always followed this rule. But in the dog park, people lose track of why dogs are NS. Which is so that so many have to be euthanized. I don't think dog owners realize that neutering is a hundred years old and that vasectomies and tubal ligation are much better ways to keep the population down. Or that they themselves are responsible dog owners whose pets mean the world to them and they'd never have unwanted puppies.
I think the whole NS procedure is horrible. I have a Great Pyrenees and in the past, he has pulled the leash so hard, I couldn't hold on to it. I'm old but that has nothing to do with it. That fucking dog is powerful and I think anyone of any age would have a problem. The last time, he pulled me off my porch and ran off after God knows what. Meanwhile, I tripped down the steps and fell onto the ivy (and not the concrete). So I'm in the dog park and a woman takes out a bag of treats and he goes ballistic. Well, he needs a tough hand. I shouted at him, I slapped his face to get his attention and I kept hollering DO NOT PULL, DO NOT PULL. This is something he can nev-er do. I have to be able to walk him without worrying if he's going to yank me off my feet and he has to listen to what I say, no matter what. I have had huge dogs in the past and none of them has ever done this.
Anyway another dog owner, whose husky mounts my dog or tries to said that the problem was that he was he too big for me and she'd heard he hadn't been N. His behavior has nothing at all to do with neutering but with training. If I am not tough he won't listen and he's getting way better. When my bullmastiff misbehaved once, don't remember what he did, I pulled him down to the ground, placed one hand around his neck and the other near his back legs and I screamed NO NO NO! My bullmastiff wasn't a child, he was a dog, and he needed to be trained to behave. Same with my Pyr.
If it came down to it, I'd rather never go to Ohlone than neuter any of my dogs. I don't think realize that when you neuter, this is what happens: " For a giant breed like the Great Pyre-nees, neutering permanently alters his endocrine system, bone growth timeline, and metabolic rate for the rest of his life. Because giant breeds take a remarkably long time to mature, withdrawing testosterone too early completely disrupts how his skeleton and muscles knit together." There is then a long section about the other negative effects.
I always think if neutering is so great, maybe they should neuter men, make them less ag-gressive, less war hungry. Of course, people would think that I was insane to even suggest that in jest; but with a dog it's great. Well, I think it's horrible, it's like amputating their life force. Why not train an aggressive dog to behave rather than create a passive dog that won't need training be-cause he's not a dog anymore. Worse yet, they pass on their so-called knowledge and I meet peo-ple who say, without thinking, I haven't NS yet.
Yes, I think NS is horrible and if it came down to it, if my dog were too aggressive with other males, I would no longer go to Ohlone. After all it's only a small dog park really, it's not the world. My Pyr is my life. Luckily he is okay with other dogs and hasn't ever really been a serious fight. I've also noticed that in a fight he leaps up the barks but he doesn't open his mouth. In fact he got into a scuffle with dog and I had to take him to the vet and it cost me $100.
Also, and again it seems like dog owners don't know this, some dogs are not meant to play with other dogs, or to socialize with them. Instead they have been bred to keep them away. Guard dogs, for in
