"We will have inadvertently redesigned dogs..." INADVERTENTLY? Are you kidding me right now? As the rest of your own article explains at length we humans have quite purposefully "designed" dogs. Each year there are new "breeds" created. It is actually rather macabre, and incredibly self-serving. If we're going to keep tinkering with animals as though they were stuffed animals here mainly for our pleasure, we will need to also exercise some responsibility and not leave them to multiply unfettered then have to kill them (oh excuse me, "euthanize" them).
52
This author is yet another person who "personalizes" the experience of dogs' lives; SHE herself doesn't want to be "desexed" and so she imagines that dogs don't "want" to be spayed or neutered either. She anthropomorphizes the lives of dogs and invests them with the same feelings as humans when it comes to sexuality. What she forgets is that the drive to reproduce even if such is inconvenient is primal in all animals, including dogs and humans. Humans can choose to use birth control rather than being sterilized; dogs and cats cannot because there is no such thing as canine or feline birth control. The only way to stop the birth of LITTERS (more than one progeny) of puppies is to spay or neuter. Not every owner is responsible; there are people who would abandon unwanted puppies and kittens or even drown them. After all, it costs MONEY to take all of these dogs to the vet, to feed, house and care for them. There are already millions of strays on the streets, suffering, starving and being hit by cars. How is THAT a good thing? Furthermore, not every housing situation is "pet friendly," which is a major issue. Surely it is kinder to PREVENT the birth of unwanted litters of dogs or cats than it is to "appreciate the complexities of letting a dog or cat become pregnant" (yet another HUGE Vet bill and possible lawsuit from the offended owner).
84
Is this a good use of our resources? I just got done harvesting 600 acres of yellow peas (for a neighbor), all of which are going to be used to produce dog food.
I think the spaying and neutering are a good idea. :)
Maybe we should extend the policy to people.
87
AS IF the country's most popular dog, the French Bulldog, has much "natural" dog left in it. It has been selectively bred-inbred-overbred to be an uber-charming, dependent human toy. Keeping its gonads are the least of its lets-get-back-to-nature problems. Maybe the evolution of dogs (I believe originally there were just 3 dog breeds/bloodlines) includes a sexless life, to ever-increase its very successful adaptation to humans.
19
This is a deeply irresponsible article. And a deeply irresponsible decision to publish it.
120
Okay, then . . . I suppose we should let them all go and be feral, like us, right?
I spent the last 12 months training a dog for vision impaired individuals. You probably have no real conception of what it takes to do that. The dog becomes subject to an extreme level of control that is exerted by its owner. More along the lines of control one sees the rider of horse exert--because in each case the person's life depends on the animal.
Is it justified?
I think so.
Your moral platitudes ignore the reality of life. Typical liberal clap trap that sounds great in a vacuum, but ignores reality.
(psst: there is no sound in a vacuum)
34
It seems to me a rarefied, elitist view.
Even if every argument the author makes is absolutely correct, we are dealing with a mind blowing number of dogs and cats that exist right now, of which so many end up destroyed, and an exponentially catastrophic number of dogs and cats that would be born and subsequently destroyed if the spay/neuter mentality were interrupted.
For the sake of a beautiful theory, and insights into our greater responsibility - we are basically talking about philosophy here - I personally would not want to chance a population explosion the likes of which we haven't seen yet.
The author is advocating for a fundamental change in human nature - to forsake convenience and little expense in exchange for endless headaches and time consuming animal care - this at a time when even the fact that our entire planet is going to hell in a hand basket can't seem to get people enough engaged to raise their noses out of their smartphones and pay attention, not even to save themselves.
A saying comes to mind: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Let's not go there, folks, not for this. We have much bigger battles to fight.
48
When we have run through some of the truly serious problems affecting the earth, I'll worry about whether domesticated animals have "the right" not be neutered.
34
There is assaying that a nation can be judged by the way they treat animals. It is very very accurate when you consider the United Stated of the Absurd.
9
I don't know where this places me in the debate: a year and a half ago, I adopted a dog (the first one of my life, at 51), in the midst of grieving a failed relationship. When the shelter worker brought her out to me for the first time, I was taken aback (it might not be too strong to say mild revulsion) by her prominent nipples and was told that recently she had had a litter of puppies, only one of whom survived (she was formerly a street dog in Mexico).
I sat with her and reflected on my reaction; pulled out my phone and read about similar situations; and after a quiet half hour of sitting with her in the shelter's get-to-know-you room, decided that she was my dog and paid the adoption fee. In every other respect she was the dog I was looking for, and on some level I concluded that my reaction was my problem and that I was reacting to something that was natural (my understanding is that we rarely see female dogs with nipples because of the ubiquity of spaying in the U.S.).
I tell people that I totally lucked out with Daya: she is calm, curious, even-tempered, and people watching her say she loves me. I hope so.
46
This topic is way more complex than Dr. Horowitz writes.
Important debates like the current Age recommendations to spay/ neuter, risks benefits of the various procedures and their costs, reported literature on success of spaying and neutering programs, outcomes, etc... should be better covered.
If the argument is that our pets are just like us and should be treated as such (and I say yes to that), and the intent is to educate your readers, then you need to present the information like you would any well researched article on health. Nothing against the author, but It actually doesn’t take much work, but like many health topics on the NYT it falls way short.
17
I love your articles Dr. Horowitz. Thank you.
14
Say what you want about the awareness and intelligence of dogs. We have technology on our side but they know that we are talking and communicating but most of us are so arrogant as to assume that dogs are not.
So in a very basic way who is the intelligent one?
3
Oh, Lord. Yes, humans are responsible. And responsible humans neuter or spay their pets. You want to see feral dogs and euthanized dog? Don't spay. Let them breed. Let them wander, as we allowed our pets in the early 60s, when dogs such as ours (in the 1960s) ran free and impregnated nearby females. It was the norm. We knew he was successful, as he was a dachshund and there were many short-legged dogs wandering the hood. Some were drowned as puppies, some were hit by cars, some were sent to the pound or to inappropriate homes- because that's just what one did. My parents were like every other dog owner of that time. It was bad, it was cruel, it was stupid. I would guess that Dr. Horowitz was not around in those days, nor has she traveled in developing countries where dogs wander, are not spayed, but are also ignored or abused, or viewed as one step down from rats. I will always spay or neuter my dogs, and I will never apologize for doing so.
69
Dogs are much better than us. They are our best friends, and we have been unfaithful to them. The decision we made to spay my dog, was and still is the hardest decision we made. Please, stop breeding and stop unwanted puppies. It is heart wrenching to see another maltreated large breed who needs constant work and dedication and exercise. If you cannot provide those, you have no right to blame the poor dog and return it to the shelter! how heartless and monstrous man can be?
Yes. Dogs are not your, or your kid's, toy. Spaying is the first step and the author is clueless.
38
Clueless ... what a harsh judgement. Why don’t you open yourself to be less clueless and check if all other civilized nations do that??? All in the US is about convenience and not taking responsibility so let others suffer whether it is necessary or not. Convenience is the deciding factor. And arrogance out of misinformation
17
Can someone please explain to me what this pointless article’s point was besides encouraging people to perhaps not fix their dog and thereby cause more dogs to be killed.
47
The author remarks “Should we be committed to sterilization...” but does not explain what the alternatives are. Is the author volunteering to personally kill the dogs in that “mile long line” ?
18
Dr. Horowitz, you dwell in an ivory tower. Let's talk about reality -- when you spend six years working in a shelter as I did I might listen to your opinion. But you apparently only deal with the dogs and not the owners. Until then all I can say is American pet owners are generally irresponsible. As long as they remain so it is up to the shelters and rescue organizations to do the right thing and make sure those pets are not out there making more unwanted pets. There is nothing more soul-crushing than having to put perfectly adoptable pets down because the resources aren't there to keep them alive until they can find a home.
Please read the article from The Upshot that shows spay/neuter, microchipping and community involvement are making a big difference, but there are still far too many adoptable animals that get whacked every day because some idiot didn't spay or neuter their pet. If you dealt with some of the pet owners I that I have been subjected to you would understand that spay/neuter IS automatically the responsible thing.
53
This is why Trump is president.
41
I'm disappointed that the idea of sterilizing a dog while leaving its gonads intact (e.g., vasectomy or tubal ligation) is not discussed more in the article. This is a widespread means of controlling the dog population in many European countries and it addresses the issues that the author raises (many of which are quite legitimate, if not often stated) while also maintaining the concept of responsible dog ownership. A neutered male is very different than one which has had a vasectomy - and as an owner who knows this from living in Europe, I would never neuter a dog again, since it does alter their personality and bodies greatly at a young age. Vasectomies are definitely the way to go if you're not a breeder.
30
We did not neuter our puppy-mill rescue Havanese because of the increased prostate cancer risk. He's 8 and he has marked in the house every day his entire life. We tried every technique in the book, but the instinct has prevailed. Next time I'll get a female and not spay her.
7
I’m more of a cat person... I do cat rescue and TNR in New York City. As someone who is involved firsthand in the effort to reduce animal overpopulation and suffering, I am just appalled by this article. I don’t understand how someone could promote an opinion against spay/neuter, knowing how many homeless cats/dogs suffer and die on the streets and how many more are euthanized in shelters. Is this person serious??
In the cat rescue community we face a constant uphill battle trying to educate the public on the importance of spay/neuter. We constantly rescue intact cats, previously pets, who have been dumped, and sick, half-dead kittens who have a very rough start in life having been born outside.
This irresponsible, misguided article is not helping.
61
New York Animal Care and Control euthanizes dogs seven days a week, San Antonio Animal Care Services frequently euthanizes healthy adoptable dogs twice a day - mostly for space! And so it goes for the rest of the country.
Let's hold off on the anti-spay and neuter rhetoric until we get under control this relentless massive killing of animals most of whom only want to be our loving companions.
38
I would argue that dogs are only here “for our convenience.” They are our pets brought about by our selective breeding. Otherwise we would still only have wolves and foxes. Is it for the dogs’ convenience that we breed them with legs too short to function (hello Bassett hounds and dachshunds?) or faces too short to breathe correctly ( I’m looking at you pugs and bulldogs) You can definitely argue that it is wrong to create these animals, but if you think it is fine to shape them and keep them in your house, then you must accept that you have ultimate control over their fates and well being, and so can also control their reproduction.
11
Alexandra Horowitz missed the most important fact in this discussion: PITBULLS are spayed and neutered at the lowest rates of all dogs. They are bred in back yards by those who want to make a quick buck and by breeders for dog fighting. Some unscrupulous nonprofits promote the breed specifically because they keep shelters full. Shelter populations were falling before Pitbulls arrived on scene. The majority of shetler dogs are Pitbulls. Best Friends Animal Rescue and others actually fight local governments that want to pass laws to require pit bulls to be altered. Why? Because pit bulls are a money maker now, just like cigarettes were. Best Friends has CEO's that have ridiculous wealth and they aim to keep it. They have accumulated nearly a billion dollars in assets. Their number one source of donations is Pit bulls. They operate in manner similar to Trump's hotels, and take a portion of donations from rescues that use their logo. So keeping animals in rescues makes them money. The majority of NON pit bull dog owners have embraced spay and Neutering. In contrast, many pit bull owners will not utilize FREE spay & neutering services. If pit bulls were neutered at the same rates of other dogs, All dogs would get homes and shetlers would be a thing of the past. These rescues & shelters put the bacon on the table for some-it's their livelihood. So they keep promoting pit bulls. Low income folks often own them & will not have them altered. This is about Greed & Pit bulls.
23
I'm surprised not to read a comment about spaying/neutering : hysterectomies/vasectomies/birth control in this overpopulated world.
My own beautiful, healthy, spayed large breed dog is leash free most of the time. We have a large property. She could come and go as she wishes, but has no desire to do so. She plays happily with other dogs; but if I turn to walk a different direction, she leaves her fur friends and runs right up to my side - she wasn't trained to do so; it is her natural inclination to do so. She walks alongside me, she helps out when I'm doing work outside, and she is eager to go for hikes when I travel.
My dog's behavior has not changed since she was spayed other than she no longer becomes frantic to be mounted during heats. Had she had puppies, they would have been healthy as well. But we already have many dogs in this world. Should we choose to get another dog, we will rescue one that someone else threw away. Spaying and neutering resolves the priority problem of unwanted dog overpopulation. Just as humans choose to have hysterectomies or vasectomies or use birth control to not have unwanted children for whom they cannot or do not wish to care for, we must help dogs not have unwanted pups for which they - or we - are unable to care.
To the author anthropomorphizing dogs' desire to "enjoy having sex": procreation is a biological instinct for all species.
And comparing the US to Norway? Silly.
29
Yes, yes! This is right on the money. Premature de-sexing is already shown to be harmful to the dog's long-range health. Puppies de-sexed before full maturity have elongated legs and smaller heads than fully mature intact dogs of the game breed. There are higher rates of hemangiosarcoma as well. For a parallel look at the life span of the famous castrati of the 18th century. if you would customarily not do that to a human being why would you do that to a dog?
A little time spend with European dogs is a real eye-opener for Americans.
14
A "real eye opener" is working in a shelter in the inner city and euthanizing dogs every day that were brought into this world sick, starving, and/or homeless - a far worse fate than possible negative health effects of spaying or neutering.
I have owned dogs, dogsat dogs, trained dogs, and volunteered in shelters for decades. I have yet to meet a dog whose health was worsened by being spayed or neutered; but every day I meet dogs that are worse off for being sick, starving, and/or homeless as a result of irresponsible not spaying or neutering.
44
I have witness the death of “not spayed” animals with metastatic breast cancer, as well as “not spayed”dogs and cats needing emergency surgery to have their infected puss filled uteruses removed and “not neutered” dogs who are septic to infected prostates. I know from the literature that these conditions are eliminated with early spay and neuter.
So please know that spaying and neutering benefits the animals as well.
23
The great majority of dogs live a better life than many people in this world.
So perhaps some dogs are better off not neutered, but perhaps there needs more attention paid to the poor and homeless and starving people before we try to change puppy adoption policies.
4
Have you ever seen the ribs of a dog what wasn’t here for the convenience of a human being? I like a dog that knows where their next meal is coming from and one after that and the next one too!
8
While visiting an animal shelter with my Dad to select a puppy, I got turned around and I accidentally opened a swinging door by mistake. There was a large wheelbarrow parked there, and it was full, and I mean mounded to overflowing with freshly euthanized puppies and kittens. I was eight years old and I remember it like it was yesterday (I’m 62 now).
When this Opinions author is ready to take a wheelbarrow like that out back and up the ramp to the dumpster, then she can anthropomorphize all she wants about the “unnecessary” practice of spay and neuter.
40
Why is it a good thing to have dogs capable of reproductive sex, and continuously thwarting them?
I would say that dogs that can reproduce often do. A litter of puppies is often unwanted. So stop that before it starts. And yes, it is "unnatural". But so what? So is the flu vaccine. I don't want to get the flu, so I take the unnatural flu vaccine.
"Unnatural" does not mean inferior. This author thinks naturally reproductive dogs are better. I think they are worse.
20
Absolutely irresponsible and offensive. Some people will use this article as justification not to spay/neuter their animals. In a very real way, the author is increasing animal suffering and euthanasia.
27
"healthy evolution of the species"???
Evolution? We have controlled these poor animals to our liking and convenience, haven't we?
8
For all spay/neuter fanatic responders: Why have you all failed to address the health science Ms. Horowitz introduced in her article?
Ms. Horowitz made her case, scientifically, for the health of dogs. So, rather than reciting the reality of pet overpopulation, please make your case, scientifically, for the health of dogs - neutered dogs arbitrarily robbed as puppies of the testosterone, estrogen and progesterone that nature gave them.
And why are they neutered? Well, money is always an easy answer. And spay/neuter is easy money. But it is blood money. Because vets know better. Vets know that they are spay/neutering dogs far too early, especially large breeds. Yet, few vets tell dog owners the risks of early neutering. Few vets mention that vasectomy is an option. And finally, vets know (if they read their journals) that the dog they spay/neuter too early is more likely to return with cancer or a joint injury that requires a $4,000 operation.
So, c’mon now, make your case against Ms. Horowitz. For the health of dogs. That is if you have a case at all for healthy dogs.
12
And what case do you have for the health of thousands of dogs that are daily euthanizezed after coming into the world sick, starving, and homeless because of anti-spay neuter folks?
20
All well and good but when I was a kid in the 1960s strays roamed the streets everywhere. It was not a pleasant life for them. Many died horrific deaths - struck by cars, beaten by humans, poisoned, starved, frozen, dog fights ... you name it. If the were caught by the dog catcher they were glass - en mass - in a gas chamber. I can’t see how any of that is better. I know what life I’d choose and my ability to reproduce wouldn’t even enter the picture of the alternative was that.
22
Here where I live in soth central Mexico stray dogs abound. There are several programs for raising money to neuter them. They’re an important solution to a major problem.
Ranting about “responsibility” is nowhere near a solution. We have three dogs who regularly interact with the neighbors’ dogs. All are healthy and active and all have been neutered, with no adverse effects.
If one drives a lot, almost every day one will come across a stray dog or cat killed on the road. Eliminating excess breeding is the only practical way to alleviate this heartbreaking situation.
18
I really appreciate this article. While I’m not sure I agree with everything, it’s made me think about it. However, it is worthwhile to consider the ethics of altering the body of another creature for outer convenience. And while I 100% agree that reducing euthanasia is a good thing, the entire problem of too many unwanted pets is a human created problem.
17
The problem with this article is that the author offers no solution other than telling people to "be more responsible." If that worked, so would anarchy. I live in the center of a major metropolitan city, where feral cats abound. Every spring produces more kittens. One neighbor feeds the cats; another tries to catch and neuter. Domestic cats are terrorized and forced to stay inside and the bird population is decimated. Obviously, cats are not dogs, but human irresponsibility is the common root. Perhaps more humans should be spayed and neutered?
21
To begin with the title of the article is factually incorrect. Dogs are indeed here for our convenience, as are all domesticated animals. Neither the species itself nor the myriad of specific dog breeds would exist without human intervention. And that intervention occurred specifically to create animals meant to serve various human needs. Of course, the origin of dogs does not absolve humans of our duty to properly and respectfully care for them as sentient, living beings. And that duty may indeed be heightened as we've created creatures that specifically require our care. So I see no need to worry about the act of spaying or neutering, even if it's meant to solve a problem of our making. I'm much more concerned about breeding dogs with such extreme physical characteristics that they can't live comfortable or long lives.
19
This is not even in the least bit convincing as an argument for not spaying or neutering your dog. I kept thinking I'd get to the part where the author really drove home her points, but it never happened. I'm baffled.
30
Wonderful article!! I learn much. I’ve always gotten dogs at the shelters because of my desire to give them a great life, but have always been aghast at their automatic desexing. Next time I’ll try to pay-off one of the shelter people to let me get one whole.
5
I love my dog and even cook dinner for her every night. She’s 13 now and still is as playful as a puppy. My goal is to treasure all creatures by refraining from eating them. I wonder how many commentators sound so lofty about about dogs but think nothing of eating factory farmed animals that live tortured lives until they’re brutally slaughtered. Unfortunately I still eat chicken and fish but I’m gradually eating less and less. I think it’s ironic that so many of us love our dogs but stop there never extending the love and empathy to other beautiful animals. We have only several years to make the shift to a plant based diet lest the planet that sustains us will no longer survive as we know it.
8
I can see both sides of the neutering issue, but I also remember a wonderful dog of my childhood, intelligent and obedient, everything you would want in a dog. He was big—a mutt with a lot of Shepherd characteristics. In 1950s many dogs ran loose, and when a female was in heat, she was followed by a mob of suitors who fought for access. My parents kept our dog in the house most of the time, but it was impossible to control him when there was a female in heat within several blocks of our house. On one occasion he broke through the screen door to escape. In one of those events, as he battled his way toward a female, he nipped a couple of children who were trying to see what the dogs were doing. They weren’t badly hurt, and their parents were incredibly understanding, but my Mom and Dad saw that the next time might be worse. They decided that he must be put to sleep. It broke our hearts, but the risk that he might get out of our control was too much. On the other hand, I have had several excellent dogs that were neutered, and sometimes I thought that is was too bad that they were the end of their line.
5
Not only should we continue to spay and neuter, we should also restrict breeding while there are still millions of dogs and cats euthanized every year.
26
I have not yet read the article, but I shortly will. However the title is preposterous. Dogs exist purely for our convenience. If it were not for our ancestors desire of a convenient worker/companion there would be no dogs, just wolves. This is a case where the title alone discredits the opinion of the author.
Now I will read what the author proposes, but I doubt it will sway me.
17
@ napskate... Well said. I almost thought this piece was satire at first read. After all, why is a cognitive scientist worried about dogs so much? But, lo and behold, this was not satire and just another example of an over educated person focusing their energies on something of very little value to the world.
10
Uh actually they are. We made them after all. Our entire history has been about domesticating animals for work, food, and companionship.
15
Having been chased by packs of feral urban dogs in Thailand, many of which had sores and open wounds, I am not inclined to think that a dog's interest in having sex should outweigh the safety of both the human community and that of other dogs (which can be injured or given diseases by street animals). Until people are perfectly responsible in their care and control of their pets--and we're nowhere near that point--spay/neuter is in everyone's best interests.
41
1) How are we quantitatively measuring a dog's happiness?
2) How does a human know if a dog prefers to be very well-trained yet confined to activities within its home and, at best, fenced yard or always on a leash (if outside the home) versus being able to play with other dogs off-leash and be free of reproductive urges?
13
@ TW... None of us know the answer to your question, including the author of this piece.
5
On boy, it is hard to know where to start. The author seems to be a self-righteous contrarian with a superiority complex who assumes that all American dog owners are lazy and prudish (supposedly we are "horrified" that dogs have the audacity to hump us and therefore have a perverse need to desex them as payback). It also seems to be a point of frustration for the author that we don't live in Switzerland or Norway or some other highly affluent anglo-european paradise where her viewpoints on dog fixing hold sway. Well, I live in a small, old fashioned American city that has a bit of a problem with poverty and homelessness. So in short it is not Zurich. I volunteer at a local shelter and there are plenty of unwanted dogs here including some feral packs. I feel bad becasue here in Spokane unidentifiable cats can be euthanized upon entering the city's shelters while unidentified dogs have three days to be adopted. This makes me sad. When my dog was lost I was told by a fellow dog lover to personally go to every shelter in town every day (i.e., not to rely on shelter websites) becasue "the shelters are jammed and mistakes happen." Culture change is fine but we don't all live in dog utopias where "de-sexed" dogs are the overriding problem.
43
I think a cognitive scientist who studies dogs has a something to contribute here. Your justification for disregarding her is just a sign of your closed mind on this subject.
11
I would echo Hectors thoughts, below. The United States has a multitude of problems that are crushing our society, including healthcare, student debt, systemic racism, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, I can go on an on...
... the spaying and neutering of pets (if it is, indeed, a problem- after reading the entire article, I'm not sure I'm convinced by the authors argument) is at the bottom of a very long list of broken systems in our democracy.
10
When I was about 7 years old, my family adopted a Siamese kitten named Homer. After a few months Homer had to have an operation. I asked my mom what the operation was for, and she said it was to change his personality so he wouldn’t want to go outside and get in fights. I figured they were going to operate on his brain but apparently that was not the case. It didn’t change Homer’s personality either, as far as I could tell — he still liked to go out and get in fights.
7
@Susan This post reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
2
Sorry, but an unaltered female dog in heat will attract unwanted male attention even if it is kept on a leash. Why put dogs through that?
Also, unaltered females have a greatly increased chance if developing mammary cancer.
25
My son picked out our border collie/ terrier mix Daisy at the New Orleans SPCA when he was 10.
She was a puppy but had obviously been on the street for a while as we could never break her of the habit of going into our trash can in the kitchen at night if we left it on the floor.
She lived to 19 and was a beloved member of our family.
When my wife and our son were leaving the SPCA with Daisy he started sobbing because he knew most of the wonderful dogs they had looked over before choosing Daisy would be euthanized.
Would that Dr. Horowitz had a scintilla of my then 10 year old son’s sensibilities.
38
A number of readers have commented that the benefits of spay/neuter programs are abundantly clear if one only visits low resource areas of the world. Oaxaca, Mexico, Indonesia, the American South. There, dogs roam in wild packs, suffer terrible diseases, and lie dead everywhere on the side of the road. This is true, but I suspect the author might argue that the larger problem there, as here, is an issue of ownership and responsibility.
I have spent some time in Oaxaca. Some villages have roving packs of wild, diseased dogs. Yet others, such as Santo Tomás Jalieza and many neighborhoods in Oaxaca City do not. The difference? The latter communities have strict rules about leaving one's dog outside unattended. The result is fewer unwanted puppies, healthier dogs, less dead dogs on the road, and safer, cleaner communities. All without any kind of spay/neuter program.
I found my own dog on the side of a highway in rural Idaho shortly after my last extended trip to Oaxaca. If I had gotten her from a shelter, they would have required that she be spayed. I thought I would get around to it when she got older, but I never have. When our friends find out she is not spayed, they are incredulous. Then they ask if they can have one of her puppies if she ever has any. After four years, that has not been an issue that we have ever had to deal with. Not because there is any shortage of wild intact dogs out here, but because we don't let our dog run around unattended.
14
"The Norwegian dog trainer Anne-Lill Kvam told me that stray dogs are 'not a problem' because 'everyone takes care' of their dogs. They keep their animals close, attend to them and train them not to behave in such a way that would lead to unwanted animals. As a Norwegian animal-welfare official was quoted as saying, 'Neutering can never be a substitute for proper training of a dog.'"
Norway is also in the top-10 gun-owning per capita countries in the world, yet its death rate per capita by gun is 2000X the USA. So much for an apt comparison. (Google an article in the LA Times, I can only paste one thing at a time.)
The author is correct that dogs are spayed/neutered too young, with detrimental health effects, and that we humans are the problem. I adopted an 8-year-old Lab (with mammary cancer, high risk from no spay) cast off by a puppy farm to a veterinary school. Until there are enough people adopting puppies, kittens, and geriatric dogs and cats, that mass euthanasia is no longer needed, the author is dreaming. And I'm taking into account her sterilization injection. It's almost impossible to get people to pay for routine veterinary care, let alone that.
15
Oops, meant to say that the USA's rate is 2000X Norway's, per capita.
6
Spay/neuter is not the right question. The question is why humans feel they have the right to enslave animals? Yes, animals love their masters (sometimes), but I think they would feel greater love for their own families in the wild, where they belong. Dogs and cats do NOT deserve to be held captive in forests of concrete. Even the term 'master' reeks of slavery. I can see the need for guide dogs and herding dogs, but the idea that dogs prefer the company of humans to the company of other dogs of the same breed is utterly misguided. Undoing this situation will be difficult, but not impossible. Dogs currently in captivity must be kept in captivity, of course, but as they die, they should not be replaced. In this respect the spaying/neutering of currently captive dogs does make sense. Many readers will see my view on this as an outlier, but I urge readers to look at the question objectively, if you were adopted by a pack of dogs, you might grow to like them, but you'd probably prefer to live in a human family. The human view of a dog's life is wishful thinking.
2
100,000 years of evolution , that’s what binds us to these animals. We evolved with these animals. I’m sure many of lives were saved thousands of years ago by man’s first early warning sentry who was willing to provide security and companionship in exchange for food. And quite frankly I’d if I had to choose between you and my cat being euthanized, I hope you have life insurance.
9
You don't think dogs should be enslaved, yet you see the need for guide dogs? How about impregnating horses unnecessarily to get Prem*** [brand name], with foals slaughtered for dog food. So, animals'/dogs' lives matter until it is inconvenient for the line you draw? Do you eat dairy, or meat? (Note, I'm not anti-guide dog.)
How great is sounds to be like Norway. One problem though, Norway has only 5.3 million people in their entire country. Since 1940 their population has only grown by 2.3 million people, where as the United States has approximately 325 million people, 200 million more than we had in 1940.
So let's spare the fairy dust and put down the rose colored glasses. It is far better to spay/neuter than to euthanize.
28
Perhaps we should come up with a birth control pill for dogs that would make spaying unnecessary. Of course then the entire responsibility would rest on the shoulders of female dogs just like it does for female humans. Unless you think male dogs are responsible enough to use contraception. But then where would they keep the condoms? Can we breed dogs to have pockets? These are the questions serious readers want answered.
20
@Mickey T
Why, in their wallets, of course...
2
You could vasectomize the males so they would be shooting blanks but still have that great unaltered personality.
4
Ms. Horowitz should venture down the hill to the two animal control shelters in San Francisco and, first, observe the dog population-mostly pit bull mixes, unlikely to be adopted by families with children; and chihuahua mixes (thanks to Paris Hilton for making these purse-size dogs so popular), both breed mixes in numbers that make their local adoptions unlikely. Second, she may ask herself why.
Perhaps the glut of these breeds is socio-economic: their owners have a good idea to get a puppy and then don't have the time or means to care for it, much less spay or neuter it.
So it seems that her article is only meant for people of privilege-those with the abundance of time and the wherewithal that it takes to train a dog to overcome its natural instinct to breed.
Wait, doesn't that man she's treating the pets like they're here for our convenience?
Is she willing to adopt all these cast-offs? If not, she should probably shut up about canine birth control.
19
I have an interest in doing some light research when dogs attack and often kill children and sometimes adults. I check to see if the canines have been spayed or neutered, from breeds known to be calm, but usually the bully types or other breeds know for their aggressiveness. When I can find out, usually they are intact. And if there is more than one, especially in a male/female unaltered pair/pack? Turn up the aggressiveness and hide the kids! Warn the folks jogging past your home! Yes, even when leaving the darling family pets around the kids and grandkids, with dreams of one big family. They are just shocked, shocked I say, when there aggressive hormonal predator(s) attacks the defenseless three foot tall mammal. Neuter/spay saves lives, for animals and people.
I believe this author is out to sell books by creating controversy.
14
This article has some good things to contemplate... but it is pretty absurd. As an eminent vet told me about 14 years ago when my beagle puppy “Plaid” adopted me, “ Robin...dogs are not like you and me. After they have been neutered they don’t sit around and think things like “gee “Spot”, I sure wish we’d had puppies before you got “fixed”. Pretty dumb. So the doctor “studies Dogs”? Well I don’t “study” them...I just love them and take the responsibility of insuring they have a good life. That is a whole lot more important than the author’s commitment to “study”.
13
So, what's the point?
4
I find it interesting that people declare that docking tails and cropping ears is cruel but then have their dogs spayed and neutered. All are unnecessary surgeries.
7
Human males get vasectomies you know. An unnecessary surgery, but I wish more men would get one.
6
It's easy to pinpoint where the logic goes wrong in this article: "We molded a resourceful carnivore into an animal critically dependent on humans for survival."
Sounds like the author is laboring under the misapprehension that there is such a thing as a wild species of dog. Well no, but there is a wild species from which humans created the dog species, they're called wolves. And I would never advocate spaying or neutering a wolf.
Dogs are a human creation so it's up to humans to manage their creation humanely and responsibly. But don't get them mixed up with natural wild species.
21
I am a veterinarian. In preparation for applying to veterinary school, I volunteered and worked at an animal shelter where I saw many healthy dogs and cats euthanized because there simply were not homes for them. I took one cat home, and I called family members to adopt others. I wanted to take them all. The experience was heartbreaking, to say the least. I suggest the author volunteer at an animal shelter for a year and get back to us with a follow-up article on this subject.
55
I appear to be confused by the fundamental premise of the piece. Last I checked dogs were domesticated animals. By the definition of domestication, the animals are indeed for our convenience.
We can and should argue against animal cruelty. We should indeed treat domesticated animals well. But in the end they are domesticated animals which in this case people have bred over tens of thousands of years for our convenience.
20
I appreciate this point of view being published. I don't think the author is trying to say sterilization is always wrong. Instead, the article was a well written contrarian article that exposes some obvious fallacies in our current regime. It's always worth asking if there's a better way or why we take something as axiomatic.
Seems like most critiques of this article are taking about a very valid concern of overpopulation, but the author offered not one but multiple solutions, including cultural change as perhaps the least likely and tube tying or injections as a very clear and seemingly easy solution.
I would urge readers to step out of their comfort zone. This is not an anti vaxxer for dogs article. To use a different analogy, if a scientist discovered an alternative to vaccines that was proven to save as many or more lives, what would be the appropriate reaction? Dismissal because it isn't how it's done? Anger that someone would speak against vaccines? Blind acceptance? Or caution and a listening ear?
11
I’m with you on this. Humans are the problem here. Humans have also practiced (and in some places continue to practice) forced sterilization within their own species, along with forcing (either directly, through coercion or suggestion) numerous other modifications designed to align animal appearance and behaviors with someone’s view of an ideal. But, particularly in American culture, we should be looking at how our efforts to avoid even minor inconvenience harm other species and the planet. Seems like a discussion worth having.
In this vein, Alexandra Horowitz has also written about how canine breeding standards cause ill health, disease, and injury in dogs. As a volunteer for a shelter, I find her criticisms of spay/neuter programs tough to hear, but I also know from experience that shelters are capable of leading difficult conversations when we are invested in finding compassionate solutions.
6
This is one of the most irresponsible pieces of “journalism” that I have ever read. I volunteered weekly at a low cost spay/neuter clinic for both pet cats and captured feral cats (that were returned to their colony). Some were still nursing their previous litter and were pregnant again already. Until you have assisted a vet cut open a pregnant female cat and abort a litter of semi-formed kittens, I don’t think that you have the right to render the author’s ridiculous opinion. I did not have the ability to calculate how many hundreds/thousands of unwanted births, and subsequent deaths that we ultimately prevented each and every week, and yet it still seemed as if we were barely making a dent in the problem. All in all, a very depressing situation, only made worse by fairy tales like this one.
46
I had to stifle laughter when I saw the author studied dogs. "We lose dogs, let them run unchecked, give them up when they’re a nuisance or difficult..." Can you imagine the frustration of a male dog who is in-tact but not allowed to have sex? Woof! Pun-intended. Most of these are greatly alleviated when they're fixed. So are hormone-based illnesses. And so is the over-population. Spend a little less time in the lab and a little more on the streets, Dr. Horowitz.
30
Unlike the author, I was around before dogs were routinely spayed and neutered. Male dogs were much more aggressive. Whenever a female in sniffing distance was in heat, a male dog would do what he could to mate, including running away and fighting other male dogs. Unless you wanted puppies you had to keep your female dog out of the way of male dogs during the twice yearly two week heats. No free roaming in the dog park. I have always loved dogs and have come to understand that the spaying and neutering are done dangerously early, but, done properly, it is a good thing for both human and canine.
25
You can say almost all the same things about cats. Cats in heat attract tomcats (unaltered males) from blocks around, who also get in fights over females or territory. I believe there are many times more stray cats than dogs in the USA because they don’t attract as much attention and too many people think cats belong outside.
8
There's wishful thinking, and then there's pure fantasy. This article serves no purpose. In the U.S. we barely take care of our children, or elderly. Now this author wants no spay/neuter for dogs because it's the right thing to do and so we should expect to do it? I don't get this at all. A society where innocent children in a classroom are gunned down, cannot, and will never, be able to properly take care of our furry friends. Perhaps more time spent in a shelter or a puppy mill, instead of the ivory tower, will enlighten Ms. Horowitz.
31
This article is simply offensive. The NYT should be ashamed to print such poorly conceived material. Norway - really?? Work in a US animal shelter, in some low income neighborhood, for a much-needed reality check.
46
Going to a leash-free beach or dog park where there are unneutered dogs is unpleasant for people and dogs that don’t want the unwanted behavior which can be quite overpowering and seemingly traumatic for many female dogs. Dogs here are domesticated so sadly miss out on lots of freedoms, but I think running free at a large, leash free area is one of the best opportunities we can give dogs to express their natural behaviors. Given the choice between staying on a leash all the time intact, or being neutered with free access to run free in designated areas, I’m quite certain the dogs would vote for running off leash. This way they all get to run freely, play together, and have a great time.
17
Full disclosure: I've never owned a dog. My parents never owned a dog, and if my grandparents did, it was on farmland.
Like most people, I get a kick out of friendly dogs. It can be fun to interact with a playful, amiable dog.
However, I absolutely cannot stand listening to most dog-owners talk about their dogs. It can feel dystopian: dogs held up as the ideal of "unconditional love," dogs that exist to validate the owners in an an almost mechanistic way.
So when the author here says that, at the societal level, we treat dogs as a matter of our own convenience, and never as a matter of their own well-being (in fact we refuse to make the distinction) - sounds right to me.
Sorry.
11
If that is how you view dogs and most of their owners, I am very glad you do not own a dog. There are a few dog owners out there who project onto their pets or pet to validate them. A few. Not most.
I have had dogs all my life and I have taken care of other people's dogs. I have volunteered in shelters. There is the rare individual who treats their dog like a little person and expects it to validate their feelings. Their existence. But not most.
My own beautiful, healthy, spayed large breed dog is leash free most of the time. We have a large property. She could come and go as she wishes, but has no desire to do so. She plays happily with other dogs; but if I turn to walk a different direction, she leaves her fur friends and runs right up to my side; she wasn't trained to do so. She walks alongside me, she helps out when I'm doing work outside, and she is eager to go for hikes when I travel.
My dog's behavior has not changed since she was spayed other than she no longer becomes frantic to be mounted during heats. Head she had puppies, they would have been healthy as well. But we already have many dogs in this world. Should we choose to get another dog, we will rescue one that someone else threw away. Spaying and neutering resolves the priority problem of unwanted dog overpopulation, just as humans choose to have hysterectomies or vasectomies.
6
I haven't met anyone in my day to day life that has any kind of well reasoned rationale for why leaving their pets intact is a good idea. Most of them either haven't given it any thought, or worse, they actively plan to breed the animal. I'd say those are the people you'd want to start with when trying to improve the plight of domestic animals in this world--the one's who barely consider their animals at all.
Also, there's not a single suggestion in this article about how to actually go about reducing animal overpopulation and euthanasia without spaying and neutering. Just some vague criticisms about how we "need to fix ourselves."
Well cool. When you figure out a way to systematically "fix" humanity in a way such that spaying and neutering can be phased out as unnecessary, let me know. Until then those of us who actually care about all the animals being euthanized are going to continue to do something that ACTUALLY works.
14
“We will have inadvertently redesigned dogs.”
We already intentionally redesigned most species for our pleasure alone. Not that it’s right, but this article is utterly ridiculous. It’s a sort of ‘wouldn’t it be nice if’ fantasy piece by someone who thoroughly enjoys pondering a truly first-world problem.
11
This isn't a perfect world. And it certainly isn't full of perfect people. The author, bless her little heart, clearly loves dogs, as do I. But the deal is this: I'll take care of Eli and Trudy for their unusually long lives (because they are well fed and given good medical care, and have 12 acres of fenced land to play on) and they will never know the Joy of Sex. It's better than we treat any other of our fellow animals — even (or especially) our own kind. We are who we are, in the most basic of biological senses. Until we are gone from the earth, dogs are the animals that anyone should feel least sorry for.
8
Very disappointing that The Times would publish a long piece that clearly is meant to sell books and just as clearly is grossly irresponsible. The State of Nature for dogs is not a wonderful place. Dr. Horowitz should expand her study of dogs from cognitive issues to their sociology in the wild.
17
THANK YOU for writing this, and doing it so thoughtfully. This is 100% truth.
2
If they are not here for our convenience, then what are they here for?
7
@Retired Soldier - I don’t know, to be treated with dignity, respect, and affection? To live out their days in relative peace? I don’t agree with the premise of this article regarding spaying/neutering, but animals exist for reasons that have nothing at all to do with humans and our muddled idea of convenience.
3
@Lindsay K. I agree with everything you say. Maybe the writer used the wrong word. Now that we’re both here - humans and dogs - it’s not convenience, but mutual support?
i agree. leave the dogs alone and stop wrecking their sex life by mutilating their genitals via spay and neutering.
1
You obviously don’t live in a place where stray animals abound.
4
We found our dog as a two-month-old puppy in a village in Oaxaca, Mexico. She had been kicked out of the house; having a female dog that will surely reproduce is expensive, especially in a poor indigenous village. There were dogs all over town, the vast majority intact males. There were also dead dogs, particularly puppies. We'd see them on the side of the road, behind buildings. Their mothers were dead, most likely, since intact females don't survive very long on the streets.
Spaying and neutering are a luxury in many parts of the world. It's a shame this author doesn't talk about that reality at all.
33
What privileged nonsense. Come to Indonesia, China, or any developing country and look at what NOT desexing dogs & cats hath wrought. Rabies outbreaks, suffering everywhere you look, and road hazards around every bend in the road. It's just math: If we, as a species, want to live in concentrated population centers and continue our relationship with domesticte-able animals, then population control is the only responsible way to have it both ways. So the choice then becomes how you control it- either you stop births or you cull.
28
This article was clearly written from the point of view of someone from the North. I've worked in the South, and one of my colleagues, from Mississippi, had a pack of about 8 dogs who lived on his property (all outdoor dogs). His son got him another for his birthday, and about a week later, he ran over the dog by mistake, killing it. I expressed my sympathy, and his response? "Oh, it's just a dog. We'll get another one next week," as though it were no different than a tomato that had rotted in the fridge. From what I saw, dogs in the South have less value than livestock - as I drove through the countryside over the course of 2 months, I lost count of the dogs that had become roadkill.
The US culture has a LONG way to go - in many different areas, not the least of which is dog-ownership and public school management - before we get to the same level of Scandinavian enlightenment.
Maybe someday.
19
Maybe you didn't notice when you walked out your door this morning, but this isn't Norway. This is the pet equivalent of anti-vaxers.
27
let’s start by stopping dog breeders. when you buy a dog from a breeder, a shelter dog is killed.
6
Breeders, good breeders, are the proven way to ensure there are heathy dogs. Pet stores and shelters have dogs that are the products of overbreeding and irresponsible dog ownership. Losing a dog at a young age due to congenital, preventable health issues is unfair to the dog and it’s person. Chronic health and behavioral issues are costly in more ways than money. Waiting a year to “de-sex” your pup seems reasonable.
5
Too many dogs need rescuing.
Dog breeders are unnecessary.
3
Of course dogs are here for our convenience, or companionship, or help depending on the dog.
8
The primary problem with bad joints in large breed dogs is incorrect nutrition in the mother and growing puppy, not to mention genetics. Big dogs raised on raw meaty bone diets grow slowly with more dense bone structure.
The incidence of cancer is genetic. https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2016/05/18/golden-retriever-cancer.aspx
3
@drsolo
Not Mercola. No. Quackery.
Interesting that the Times' home page also has a story about the plummeting rates of euthanasia in shelters due to spaying and neutering.
19
I live on a small caribbean island- stray dogs are a major issue- unowned, feral, eating whatever they can, no vaccinations so we have huge issues of parvo virus, heartworm, Ehrlichiosis, and a new anal cancer which is horrific for them to endure, currently no rabies fortunately. Some dogs are "owned" but roam, most are not sterilised, so lots and lots of litters of abandoned puppies, (we have 3 adopted dogs my kids found as puppies under bushes). Feral dogs can bite children, tourists and the female dogs can have two to three liters a year, which is a lot worse for them than being sterilised- they are malnourised and lice ridden and so are their puppies. We have two charities doing amazing work to spay and neuter, to home puppies that are abandoned- Potcake Place and TSPCA. But spay and neuter is the only way to go, to reduce the feral population so those dogs do not have to live in misery, and can get fed and treatment when they are suffering. My dogs have been spayed and neutered, although one was pregnant when she came to us.
30
Purpose of article seemingly to create buzz to sell more books. Lame.
18
When dogs run free and intact, they revert back to what they actually are: Predatory wolves, but in far greater numbers and in habitats that don't necessarily recognize them as predators, like lionfish in the Caribbean and devastate the indigenous animals.
I guess the author prefers that ecological disaster.
13
There's no need to worry about the loss of the wild dog strains. There are plenty of wild dogs all across the world, including dingoes in Australia, to keep the species in good shape for many millennia to come.
2
Thank you so much for your article.
3
All this talk makes me think of all the collateral. Especially birds and small species when it comes to the cats we have domesticated and thrown back out into the yard, when quite frankly the purr balls are fine indoors, also when properly regulated outdoors. The numbers of destroyed birds, amphibians, and more, are staggering!
And dogs kill countless small species too. We have bred these animals over millennia to be our “buddies” and more, with not any thought to environmental side effects.
The numbers of feral animals in this county have reached amazing proportions. We cannot assume responsible pet ownership from everyone, and thus must follow spay/neuter in rescue centers.
8
@Lulu Our beloved pet cats would gladly kill and eat us if we were small enough, just like they do with birds and other wildlife. They behave well because we can overpower them. Most people are not fond of pet lions or tigers, where the odds are a bit different.
This misplaced affection for outdoor and feral cats causes so much damage to the native species. Fine, have a cat. Keep it indoors and understand it is a predator on a smallish scale.
6
"We are altering the future of the species, to their peril." I find this statement to be a little dramatic, and highly unlikely. Dr. Horowitz tries to legitimize her opinion, but I find it to be extreme. She states that neutering is "not always for the better." But many times it is for the better. Male dogs can be aggressive and female dogs repeatedly go into heat. I don't see how this is a good thing. She says that it doesn't always prevent cancer, but that means that sometimes it does. I find it to be very harmful to even suggest that we turn back the clock and not spay and neuter so that thousands of unwanted dogs have to be killed each year. Dogs are the only animals that understand what a human means when they point. No even a chimpanzee understands that. Dogs understand our facial expressions. It has been the choice of dogs to get closer to humans, not to keep their "animalness".
8
Smart piece, well done, argument well stated - could not disagree more. Very happy for Sweden and Norway. This is not Sweden and Norway. I see too many dogs and cats treated as disposable items. Heartbreaking. Sorry. No. Not here. Not yet anyway.
21
Cutting parts off a dog or bitch is nothing for anyone to be proud of. It does -not- make anyone a better dog owner. It just marks them as a person who cannot properly manage a canine in their living situation, or with their lack of competence. For that reason- they should simply not own a dog.
And the fact is, most people probably should not have a canine any more than they should have a bull calf in their house. Most people don't have the skill set nor facilities nor time to properly attend either.
Cats and goldfish are far better pets for anyone who thinks they need to chop pieces off a puppy to make it "sociable".
When it comes to reproductive control- vasectomy and tubal ligation are clearly the better path for -real- dog owners.
5
Oh, so Dr. Horowitz would like to see dogs and cats abandoned because they're unwanted or abused because they're just being used for fighting or breeding or euthanized by animal control personnel because there's no longer room in the shelters? Is this what she'd like to see?
9
Dr. Horowitz,
Read this, also in today's NYT! https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/upshot/why-euthanasia-rates-at-animal-shelters-have-plummeted.html
8
Don't use "puppy" term to distabilize standing laws that prevent injuries and misery. Dogs of certain breeds must be spayed. That the deal if you want a dog in a civil society.
6
I am a dog rescue volunteer. Our city shelter takes in 300 dogs on any given day; 15-40 of those will be returned to owners. The rest, the city has to find something to do with them. They are trying very hard to be no kill, but there's only so much room and only so many people willing to be fosters. Until we decrease the number coming in, they will have to euthanize dogs. To decrease the number coming in, spay/neuter is about the only way you're going to get it done. It's not optimal, but it's better than killing them. I've fostered back-to-back puppy litters since last November. If they stay at the shelter, they're too little for vaccinations, and parvo is a definite possibility, as are distemper and kennel cough. While there are a few of us who foster these puppies, we can't foster all of them, and some wind up being euthanized. It is heartbreaking. And then, sometimes the puppies I've shepherded through to adoptability, come back to the shelter because people got tired of them. All dogs go to heaven, but all people? Not so much. We don't deserve dogs.
31
@SQUEE There is a special place in heaven for folks like you. Thank you.
6
@Nancy Thank you; and thank you to Colorado, a state that is willing to take dogs from us a few times a year. You all are doing something right there. Hopefully my state will catch up!
4
This article seems fuzzy and lacking in clarity. I got stuck many places. One example:
"...maybe 100 dogs in an hour. For every one of the 100 dogs you see, 18 healthy dogs will be euthanized in the United States on that day..."
Okay, what does this actually mean? 18 dogs are euthanized every hour? 18% of dogs are euthanized? it's not clear.
2
@Thomasina I'm replying to myself...and now I think maybe it means that 1800 dogs an hour are euthanized? I hate it when people are vague about numbers!
1
People seem more concerned about *dogs* than about *humans.*
I find it disgusting.
3
I understand this feeling but I find people who care about dogs ALSO care about humans. But people problems are way more complex and harder to solve so it can appear like there is more energy or caring to save dogs when that just isn’t so. Finally, there is plenty of love and caring for dogs and people. It isn’t a competition so stop seeing it as one. Thank you.
6
Have you seen humans lately. I’d save a drowning cat over a republican any day.
5
I have a magnificent, male Great Dane. He's neutered and while I'm saddened that he can't continue his line I don't regret the decision.
BTW: I ask the following questions upon encountering an owner and the dog he or she is managing.
1) Is your pup friendly and socialized?
2) Is your pup confident?
3) Is your pup neutered?
A "no" or hesitation on any of my interrogatories and I will not allow my ward close to the other canine.
3
@DTM 4) are you willing to pick up and responsibly dispose of his or her randomly deposited piles of excrement 100% of the time?
2
Absolutely!
@Roberto,
I fail to see the point of your question.
Of course we responsible owners clean up after our dogs.
1
I'd like Dr. Horowitz to write a follow-up piece on circumcision
in human males, though I'm pretty sure I already know where that would go.
8
@A. Stanton
Hilarious.
2
When health care for humans is taken care of in this country I’ll start contributing emotional energy to this discussion. Until then let’s do whatever we can to keep stray dog populations down and not add yet another stressful situation for responsible people using public areas.
7
For a more balanced and realistic view of the state of pet neutering/spaying, scroll down the NYT page and read the article: Why Euthanasia Rates at Animal Shelters Have Plummeted.
I have A. Horowitz's books and generally like her ability to connect the reader to the workings of dog behavior but this article was over the top and out of step with the reality of US dog ownership and responsibility. Advocacy groups and veterinarians have worked tirelessly for years to encourage spaying and neutering to prevent unwanted shelter drop-offs, or worse.
I have read information regarding the physical/hormonal benefits of delayed spaying/neutering which could be of interest to 'some' dog owners. But to advocate as being 'responsible' to forgo the process altogether - that is very, very elitist and completely out of touch with reality.
I think it was irresponsible of the Times to print it - but I have said that a number of times this year when coming across articles in the paper that are meant to provoke, not inform. Yes, it's "opinion" but the Times should really think about how this piece could be linked to behavior based on ... Opinion, not fact or reality.
13
I grew up with two intact male dogs who co-existed reasonably peacefully. It was a different time and neutering was not common at all. Because our dogs did not roam freely, they never contributed to the over-population of dogs.
Since then however, I have always neutered both male and female pets (cats and dogs). In this country (we are not Norway....wish we were more like them in so many ways), we have a huge problem with unwanted cats and dogs. Large numbers are euthanized. Both backyard and feral breeding are rampant.
I foster for an organization that brings dogs up from high-kill shelters in the south to be adopted in New England. There is an unending supply of these unwanted dogs.
Neutering is a compromise. Not neutering will only be an option when the public is willing to care for their intact dogs in a way that prevents them from breeding uncontrollably. Until then we need to compromise and accept that neutering is best for now even if it jeopardizes the long-term health of a few individuals.
And, yes, dogs ARE here for us. We created them through artificial selection. We have a responsibility to keep them healthy and happy. Ending up on a chain in a backyard or in a kill shelter is not a happy ending.
9
I agree with the author -"But we are the ones who need fixing."
I am old as dust and a veterinary professional retired after decades of service to our furry friends.
The problem has always been a pet owner's access to data and their willingness to understand and follow it.
I'd license owners and not their dogs. It would make pet owners pay attention a bit more. But like I said I heard Hendrix live . . . old is old.
8
This article is pretty badly written, a prime example of burying the lede (the first concrete facts of the drawbacks of spay/neuter comes halfway down this long article). Wish it was constructed tighter with more concrete examples.
6
We have 8 dogs, all intact, 5 males and 3 females. We have never had an unwanted liitter. And they do not "mark" in the house True, our Irish Wolfhound's moans of unrequited love while Lovey one of our bulldogs was "in season" were plaintive but resistable. We have never had a problem with visiting males. NONE of our dogs is allowed to roam. They are too treasured to risk them becoming road kill.
BUT, we live in the south and in the soutth they don't believe in leash laws I'm told. When we lived in Ohio, our county enacted and enforrced leash laws with serious fines and in short order the shelters were empty
2
Well, I believe dogs ARE here for our convenience. I think they would wholeheartedly agree.
7
A dog license should be $50 for a spayed/neutered dog, and at least $500 otherwise.
4
Spaying and neutering keeps the number of unwanted dogs and cats under control. So many animals get lost. At least if they are neutered their offspring don't have to suffer being on the streets--hunger, cruelty, etc. For those who are in homes, neutering makes them happier and prevents the craziness of females in season and males chasing females in a home with both sexes or not.
Pet owners love their dogs and cats like family. They are not conveniences.
8
The reality is that we humans have protected dogs from their natural predators (coyotes, birds of prey, etc) and they, like us, are in a state of overpopulation.
5
To summarize the article: "We shouldn't spay and neuter because people should be more responsible".
If this is the quality of argument that is fit for The New York Times, I would like to submit some essays of my own:
"We shouldn't regulate drugs because people should be more responsible"
"We shouldn't have gun control because people should be more responsible"
"We shouldn't have speed limits because people should be more responsible"
Wow, this is easy!
42
This is the best reader comment.
1
I am a highly experienced dog owner, with a junior handler past, having owned a few smaller breeds, e.g., Lhasa Apso, Pomeranian, Miniature Pinscher, Miniature Dachshund, and in my Scandinavian childhood, a standard sized Chow Chow. Regarding spaying/neutering, I can unequivocally state that it not only depends on the breed, but also the individual character of the dog. We never neutered our Chow Chow in Sweden, and he never aggressed against other dogs or tried to mount to show dominance - he didn't care that much for anyone except one person in the family - my father. Fast forward 50 years or so, and I went through hell with my darling male Shih Tzu, who comes from one of the top breeders in the Dallas, TX, area. Shih Tzu aren't exactly known for their smarts - extremely cute, but not on the top 50 list of "intelligent breeds." At 6 months of age, he turned into an aggro monster - impossible to train, and also miserable during said training, which was relentless, in order to get him to figure out his place in the hierarchy. After castration, he calmed down significantly, to the point where he somewhat obeyed commands (even though he's still pretty dense, in comparison to my female Pomeranian, as an example). He will never be a rocket scientist, but at least he is not attacking at the slightest stimulus. For females, I do suggest spaying after they've run one cycle, to make sure they mature somewhat. Finally, an intact dog requires a proficient dog owner, no rookies please.
6
As a Veterinarian, I find this article is irresponsible. I would like for the author to describe her time in the shelter or with animal control. While it would be great for people to be responsible, this is not practical. The article will further exacerbate the confusion of dog/cat owners in the benefits of spay neuter.
41
Where to start?
1) I bet the author has never worked in an animal shelter and had to face 10s of 20s of 100s of animals who were deposited on the shelter door step with mange, with broken bones from being hit by a car, with advanced cancer, or just too old and the owner decided they were disposable. It's brutal. We need population control unless someone commits to funding larger shelters.
2) Along with #1 comes the HORRENDOUS act of having to euthanize healthy dogs due to space issues at the shelter, or because they are deemed "unadoptable." To watch the light leave the eyes of a dying animal who's just been injected with a heart-stopping drug will haunt me until the rest of my days. We need population control.
3) So what does the author suggest we do about un-spayed females in heat? Contain them in a room so they won't mess up the carpet due to their secretions? Not take them out for a week or two so that the male dogs in the neighborhood don't go nuts when she walks out the door? Come on. This is 2019.
4) Finally, let us all take a look around our world today. With all the issues, pressing issues, horrible issues, that face us, are we really going to spend time talking about spaying a dog? Great balls of fire. This "issue" is hardly worth worrying about at this point in our history.
26
There are alternatives to spaying, neutering your pet.
https://dogtime.com/dog-health/spay-neuter/5188-birth-control-faq-osborne
I grew up with a dog on a small, private farm. My father refused to pay for spaying her (and the cats which grew to a population of 20 at any given time). I didn't realize how cruel it was that twice a year our dog gave birth to puppies that my father either attempted to drown in the pond( stopped by me) or he'd bring them to the pound. We gave some away, but it became too many puppies and fewer people who wanted a puppy after a few years. As an adult, it never occurred to me to repeat this scenario. It still pains me to realize all those times she had to give birth and also, to lose those offspring. She was a "mutt" from the pound, had an incredibly good personality, was my companion. My father also refused to pay for flea and worm medicine or even dog shampoo. ( He was never much better with his offspring). My dog lived a long, but suffering life. As kids, we were oblivious. It saddens me when people spontaneously get a dog and aren't ready for the responsibility and compassion needed to have one. As an adult, I've never owned a dog because I was used to a dog that could roam free and never wanted to have a dog on a leash. I learned, though, that I would spay or neuter.
21
Well said and right on the issue. Thank you for your thoughtful discussion.
1
Started watching a video documentary following three or four nature photographers who selected single populations of animal groups, including Cheetahs, Artic Kit Foxes, Gorillas, and I think Hyenas. The success rate for offspring growing to maturity was eye opening for me -typically around 50% or less, though Gorillas were higher than the other groups. In Nature, apparently, large litters mean protection from extinction. I remember my mother telling me that when she was a child, her mother would tend to the birthing of the farm cats - who in turn kept the rat and mice population down, along with the odd snake or other unwelcome critters. She described the scene where her mom would take each newborn, check it for health, and set it aside until all were born. Then she dropped the "culls" as she called them, into a vat of boiling water, keeping no more than three or four. This, she said, kept the mother strong enough to continue hunting while the kits grew, and without much competition for mama cats milk, they grew quickly as well, there was less sickness and, as the culls were almost always the males, less prolific. This was normal in her farm town in Iowa.
In nature, culling is handled by natural means, and it can be brutal, but in human camps, we seem to find neutering somehow seems less cruel, even if many of those kittens end up being unwanted, and after six or ten months or longer experiencing the wonders of life, are then euthanized after failing to find a sponsor.
2
Never neutered any of the three dogs I've had over the years. but always troubled by the fighting that seems inevitable with other males.
Would rather not this time too, but wife is determined that our Lab pup is going onto the chopping block
We human women are under eminent threat of losing our reproductive rights. Maybe we could save NYT opinion space for that instead of talking about the reproductive rights of dogs.
22
My dog was vesectomized at 2, sure wish this writer could have focused more attention on viable alternatives.
1
I agree. While I understand the call to consider the dignity and needs of animals as part of the responsibility for ownership I also find myself at a loss as to how to solve the problems at scale and this article no help. Norway has a huge ally in the weather, as we do here in Minnesota. Unwanted or abandoned animals die from cold. It’s no shock that warm weather states found strays a hazard first and made laws to tackle it. And there is a fair amount of glossing over of the risks here. Packs of strays are dangerous to people and pets alike if for no other reason than their ability to carry diseases pets are vaccinated for. Criticizing the sensible spay-neuter policy on moral grounds and unrealistic fears that it will be too successful isn’t actually very useful. I understand the advancement of ideas here and am empathetic to the author. But there is little public use to this discussion. I also roll my eyes a teeny bit at the recollection of how many macho men I’ve known who couldn’t bear to neuter their dog out of empathy. Meanwhile they do little to prevent unwanted litters as they aren’t likely the ones to find 12-14 loving homes for a litter. Again, I get the spirit behind this article and it does help me reflect on my own attitudes. But sermonizing rarely makes better people and I’d rather focus on solutions. So, tell me what they are then? Can we really look to the mid century as a benchmark when the stats cited are likely a fraction of the story?
3
My last dog was an intact female. She wasn't any trouble, didn't spot the floors, didn't go wild while in heat. She would take a breeding stance once in a while. And it seemed that the male dogs, fixed or not, were enamoured of her. She would piddle twenty times as we walked, so that seemed an instinct driven behavior. I might have gotten her fixed if the "heat" had been more trouble. I had hoped to need her but didn't get around to it. She was fixed when old, as she had some gynecological problem. She was already showing symptoms of periodic mania from a pituitary tumor but I didn't recognize it. And then, at about 13-14, which is the average age of death for shih tzu's, she started showing real indications of illness and soon died. Perhaps because Shih Tzu's were carefully bred, for generations, they don't have troublesome heat periods.
But, the problem with not fixing dogs is that it can create more reasons for dumping them. With lots of unfixed animals there could be a huge increase in unwanted litters. Large dogs can be difficult to manage.
Some people have a religious reason for not fixing animals. And I think that is okay. Some men dislike fixing their male dogs, out of empathy for them. In today's world that works. But it seems to be a case where there are good arguments either way.
Many mixed breed dogs nowadays are deliberately created by home based breeders. Puggles, Labradoodles, Cockerpoos, are some of the mixes. Not many free choice dogs are born lately.
1
All these arguments rely on responsible ownership. We are irresponsible about so many other things - take a look at our environment- that I can’t see all of us suddenly becoming responsible managers of our dogs.
19
Who says? You say? Taking care of an animal requires responsibility - a responsibility that the animal is not abused; that the animal has a steady source of food and water and when sick can have access to medical care. My family adopted a farm dog many years ago. Daisy died of cancer - after we went many times to the vet - as she had tumor after tumor removed. So - what would we do if Daisy was free to mate with other dogs in the neighborhood? To what good end would be to Daisy's advantage? Most animals in the wild let loose of their pups after a year. That's their biology - so it seems. What we want is a way to have dogs and cats - whatever - and have these wonderful creatures not to have witness to or experience physical abuse, torture, starvation and isolation. Got the money? Many people would love to have pets but the cost of housing if you are a renter can be difficult...and so on.
4
There’s one in every crowd. . .
4
It shocks me how many people didn’t read the whole article. The author isn’t advocating for dogs being free to procreate. They are suggesting that we replace spay/neuter with tubal ligation and vasectomy. Had this point been mentioned much (much!) earlier in the article, perhaps the confusion would have been avoided. How sad that people barely skim these days.
People: read the full article before going into attack mode, please!
8
@Lisa K We did read the full article. It's bunk and irresponsible. There are enough people taking NO care of their dogs. Go visit a shelter.
7
I read the whole article.
It was absurd.
I invite the author to assist on a pyometra surgery.
10
I wish the author continues that last sentence and talk about fixing human (over population). Or is that forever a taboo subject?
4
Yes. No one wants to hear anyone’s ideas about how to reduce over population in people. Most of us are more concerned about the people self assigning that task. There is no moral argument for it. So to answer your question, it is taboo and should be. Hope this helps.
1
"Dogs are not here for our pleasure"?!
Of course they are! That's the ONLY reason they're here!
4
So, I am a dog owner and empathize with your response. But I also agree with the author that there is a moral repugnancy to this attitude. To say it’s the only reason a dog exists is to say that when it does not give pleasure it is perfectly ok to kill it. Is this what you mean? How much pleasure is a dog obligated to give to justify its life? Frankly what some dog owners find pleasurable would drive me nuts. On the other hand, I adopted a lovely dog who just didn’t happen to enjoy kids. I didn’t have any so it’s worked out. But would I say her sole purpose was to belong to someone without kids? No. Setting dogs as pets aside, there are lots of “purposes” for dogs not mentioned here. Like scientific research animals. Like protection and police work. Like rat or snake killing. So, you know, yours isn’t the obvious point of view and the author’s statement isn’t either.
@Michelle: "there are lots of “purposes” for dogs not mentioned here. Like scientific research animals. Like protection and police work. Like rat or snake killing."
So all those works involve maybe a few hundred dogs? Sorry; my point remains obvious.
What next, an article on the pluses of vaping?
9
Are human women "desexed" if they have a hysterectomy? Are men "desexed" if they have a vasectomy? The author's very vocabulary is incendiary and unsupported.
18
I am extremely angry to see this article in the NY Times. For the past 10 years I lived in a rural area where people were't spaying or neutering their dogs nor were they on a leash or in the owners yard. My dog is a rescue because the people who "owned" her mom didn't neuter her and threw she and her puppies onto a busy highway so they could be run over.
Other dogs were dumped on the corner where I had my rural mail box (2.2 miles up the road from me). Wild dogs formed packs and decimated local wildlife and attacked livestock. I've been reading about the dog issues in other countries as well. All wildlife is connected. All it takes is free running dogs and overpopulation to kill off those that remain.
This is totally irresponsible. Please remove this article.
18
This article confused me. To me it’s simple. In the same way that humans get fixed (and we don’t say this bad for their health or impacts their libido) we fix our dogs if we don’t plan to reproduce / breed them.
It’s hard enough finding homes for the no longer wanted pets - how do find homes for the ones that were unplanned? We can’t and therefore preventing animals from being put down unnecessarily we make the choice for our pets.
We do this the same way that we force then to take monthly heart worm meds and/or flea meds.
As the owner of a neutered male dog who humps his favorite play toy on a 3-4x week basis I don’t think the author’s viewpoint is valid. As my vet told me, neutering is not a lobotomy and won’t replace the dog’s instinct to hump.
7
Humans don't get fixed by removing their gonads. They get fixed by blocking the reproductive ducts (vasectomy in males and tubal ligation in females), which does not affect sex hormone production.
4
Dogs are most certainly here for our convenience, otherwise they would still be wolves.
9
i agree with this. I have always waited until at least one year to spay or neuter and with my Golden Doodle I searched for a vet who would do tubal ligation....I was laughed at. I did hold out until she was 4 and I think she is stronger and more athletic because of waiting. All mammals need hormones for good health. Imagine doing a total hysterectomy on a 4 year old which is somewhat equivalent to spaying a 3 month old dog.
4
Man, I wish there would be this many comments when someone writes an Op-Ed about white supremacy, racism in all its forms, the killing of young black men in our streets, or the rampant misogyny we live with. Nearly 2k comments? I love dogs, too, but c'mon NYT readers.
5
And with a few irresponsible minutes at the keyboard, the author ensures that the tragedies of overpopulation and euthanasia will persist for generations to come. Just like promoting supposed "scientific studies" as an excuse for not immunizing children, the author has reinvigorated a crisis that was previously on its way to being licked.
14
We have owned purebred Airedales for 25 years. For our most recent generation, at our veterinarian's recommendation, we waited to neuter our male until he was over a year old and let our female go through one heat cycle before spaying her. We were told that would help with joint health while avoiding the negative health consequences of not neutering at all. Letting our female go through heat was only mildly inconvenient in terms of confinement and "doggie pads" in the form of moisture proof panties. However, she seemed emotionally distraught and I would not want to put her through that every six months. She whined and seemed upset and confused during the height of her heat. Her personality changed during that week and she seemed unhappy and confused. It is not possible at this point to determine the emotional effect of going through heat cycles for a female and, perhaps I'm projecting. But, I until some other scientific studies provide better insight, I have to go with my instincts for the emotional well being of my beloved companions. I'm very glad we spayed her and spared her the repeated emotional upheaval of cycles.
5
Over the last 20 years, I have had several dogs which were not neutered. They were well socialized and NEVER made puppies. I understand the argument, but desexing an animal does indeed have effects on their growth and development. The onus of responsibility lies with the pet owner. To say that ALL animals should be desexed is an insult to the pet and to the owner. I have met some resistance (understandably) with regard to boarding, etc; however, after a reasonable discussion, this was never a problem. The actions of some should not affect the outcomes of all.
3
The title maybe should be "Dogs Need Access To Birth Control, Too! That would give Mike Pence something else to rail against.
9
Ms. Horowitz,
Have you conveniently forgotten that during the Great Recession, even more pets than usual, including dogs, cats, and horses, were abandoned in this country? And are you unaware that in India, the superabundance of stray dogs has led to an epidemic of rabies?
The cost of feeding and caring for dogs, even those lucky enough to find owners, does not appear to enter into your thinking. You also manage to overlook the hazards to humans posed by unwanted animals.
Bottom line: Your thinking is irresponsible.
22
Having been bitten four times by dogs that just attacked me without cause - leaping through a storm window to attack me in a backyard when I was five, racing across a street when I was sitting on my front step; walking on the street and attacked by a passing dig, etc. I am fully in agreement of the need to control and regulate dogs. In each instance the owner avoided responsibility.
The article is ridiculous. Dogs are a choice and a responsibility.
Don’t get me started on cats!
7
One of the most ridiculous articles I've read in a long time. All the rubbish about not neutering dogs aside, is the author implying that because "we molded a resourceful carnivore into an animal critically dependent on humans for survival..." that domesticated dogs should not be dependent upon us for food? That instead they be out foraging, killing and roaming in search of a meal, living as their natural selves, "resourceful carnivores"?
8
This is a click bait article that offers nothing new save “nonsurgical” procedures. Aside from that she even admits fewer animals are being euthanized. This is just for entertainment of NY Times readership.
1
I've never understood humans' need for dogs. They smell horrible, they are totally dependent on humans for food, they are totally unsanitary but they lick you(yuck!), they jump on you(big ones will knock you down if you're short!), and there is nothing beautiful or even nice about the sounds of dogs barking, in fact, it's noise pollution. And dogs will attack humans. My niece is permanently scarred, and can't run, cause she lost part of her leg muscle from a vicious attack by a "pet" Pit Bull dog...And dogs eat lots of meat, meaning lots of Amazon forest cut down for cheap dog food. Are humans' emotional needs so great that they can't stand to be alone without their panting, drooling dogs to cling onto? Though I realize that I'll be instantly hated by many here for my viewpoint, methinks some evolution is in order here.
5
I am really sorry you have such an aversion to dogs. I think you are wrong. My two sweet beagles saved my life when my wife died. They are loyal and sweet and loving. They don’t smell and they bring me a lot of joy. And that is more than enough.
2
Thanks a lot, Alexandra Horowitz. Thanks to you, there will now be lots of people blindly following your 'advice' and leaving their dogs intact, causing many dogs miserable frustrated lives and resulting in more births of dogs for whom we don't have enough homes, which means more killing at shelters.
I'm guessing a book deal is brewing on the topic with a lucrative publicity tour on its heels--the suffering of dogs be damned.
20
Not one mention here of the statics involved in the purchasing of dogs vs adopting. As long as there is money to be made from the breeding and selling of dogs we will continue to grapple with an overpopulation problem. There are only a finite amount of homes in this country that wish to include a dog(s) in them yet we have an unregulated dog breeding market pumping out more supply than there is demand. Why puppy mills and pet stores that sell dogs even still exist is beyond comprehension.
9
Is there a huge distinction between neutering dogs and effective birth control in humans? Even with (presumably) the ability to appreciate the implication of indiscriminate unprotected sex, far too many unwanted children are being born or aborted. Are domestic pets, left "intact," better able to avoid this tragic outcome?
1000% agreement. Typical of the image based & immediacy of American throwaway culture. We should learn from the Northern Europeans, in the care & treatment of dogs, people, the environment & many other important things.
7
I've read this entire article which I found a difficult task. Having read it all, and being an animal lover, I nevertheless must say: I don't care.
5
If the author thinks that Americans are broadly capable of exhibiting the kind of social and civic responsibility common in Norway and Sweden, she must have been hibernating for the last 25 years.
19
We don’t seem to be able to get people in this country to care enough about children to implement even minimal changes re gun ownership; good luck getting them to care enough about dogs to change the spay/neuter culture.
6
Rose-colored glasses and anthropomorphism combined. There. Are. Too. Many. Dogs. They are bred by people using their dogs to make money: They are bred by owners who FAIL to neuter their pets.
The result, of course, is unwanted dogs running loose, getting into fights (because "entire" dogs do,) getting hit by cars, dying of starvation or diseases.
Since changing attitudes and education levels with regard to dog stewardship is a long-term, perhaps pie-in-the-sky solution, NEUTER YOUR PETS!
18
Another example of PC/Internet lunacy run amuck. I cannot say it better than the veterinarian, Ivan from Boston. I wonder if this write is also past of the antivaxx crew...
Misguided is the best I can say.
10
In case anyone was wondering, the header photograph is the view looking north of San Francisco's Bernal Hill.
1
This article calls out the immorality of "desexing dogs"?! Because it does not deal with the over-population of dogs?!
I am Rolling On The Floor Laughing! Lady, you need either a new research focus, or a Hobby!
8
The new version of anti-circumcision and anti-vaxx. Silly.
8
Something to be considered, although, a deterrent would be to enact breeder's laws, you must have a license to breed but since our pets are property, we are free to do whatever we want. Spay/neuter may be the best option for those that need the comfort that pets provide but not necessarily the time. Managing our animals hormone cycles in a country where healthcare is not a human right is laughable. I don't think that everyone should have pets not should they have children, we allow that as well. Also, as a cat lover myself, cats are a lot easier to manage when spayed/neutered. And, by the way, our dogs are not wild animals any more then we are!
2
Having worked with dogs for many long years, I can confidently say this article has sprinkles of truth all throughout. Factually, yes, altering a dog can jeopardize their physical and behavioral health. There is no getting around that. Equally true is that sadly many who have dogs, absolutely should not. But because we cannot deny people what they want to do, spay-neuter is the bandaid. Because most pet owners arent happy with the inconvenience of needing to keep a female dog indoors while she menstruates. Or with having to keep an eye out for wandering male dogs who can smell her from several miles away. Most people don't like the idea of having to clean up blood. In today's very hustle and bustle world having a dog is largely inconvenient. But we shove them into our lives and force them to fit. Dogs are amazing and wonderful animals that we simply don't have time for which is why we hire walkers or leave them alone at home for several hours while we're out working. It's why people hire trainers in behavioral list when their dogs display natural behaviors that we as humans find troubling. It's easier to try to change something then it is to understand and work with it. Thats the fundamentals behind master dominance training. Force. And maybe those are the people who shouldn't have dogs. If people are worried about overpopulation. We made pet overpopulation an issue. Because we decided anyone can have a dog.
4
Some animal rights proponents have similarly argued that de-sexing animals violates their natural rights; but while this may indeed be the case, de-sexing a domesticated animal in order to prevent the probability of unwanted, miserable offspring is surely a very easy justification. The writer uses Norway as an example of how things might be in a nation that didn't choose spaying/neutering of dogs as the prevailing policy, but a better real-world example would lie in eastern Europe or in any underdeveloped country.
5
A frustrating read. Dr. Horowitz wants to make an ethical argument, but the facts don't align with her narrative, so she addresses those facts in a dishonest way. Millions of needless animal deaths have been avoided by spaying and neutering, but Horowitz sidesteps this by insinuating that the decreases in shelter populations had already started to happen beforehand. At this, I instantly drew a parallel to anti-vaxxers arguing that, due to improved hygiene practices, measles and other disease deaths were already decreasing before the advent of widely available vaccines - so who needs them, right? It boggles the mind that a scientist could advance this argument - better "containment" was part of the solution, but failed containment or pet abandonment becomes a much bigger problem when "uncontained" pets can breed! Similarly, when she describes the positive impact of desexing on lifespan as a "touted claim", she isn't denying that it's true - it is. She uses the risks of certain illnesses as a scare tactic, ignoring the overall benefit, which I find disingenuous.
The kind of arguments Dr. Horowitz employs here are unseemly for a person of science. This could have more weight as a purely ethical argument that honestly addressed the increased deaths and misery for many pets this would entail, however that would likely go against the core argument that keeping pets "intact" is more ethical. This may be because, in our current world, desexing is the more ethical choice.
34
The dog who currently lives with us is a rescue, who, unbeknownst to the shelter, was in estrus when she was delivered to the shelter after having been 'adopted' by three different families with little children and returned because she was absolutely wild, humping everything in sight, animal, vegetable, or mineral, with abandon, and lunging after every dog, cat, or other mammal (or water fowl ) within smelling distance - with which this dog is hundreds of yards if not dozens of miles. Having her spayed, and enduring with patience the weeks and months it took to wash those hormones out of her system was difficult, and still is, a year-and-a-half later. We're pretty sure that she grew up in a cage, did not have a puppyhood, and had at least one litter by the time we got her. Yes to spaying and neutering canids whose history is occluded from us but whose behaviors are entrenched to such a degree that they cannot even do dog park or doggie day care, no matter the amount of professional training. She's a loving dog and a great companion, but she absolutely would have been put down if we hadn't noticed that she was spotting the floor and that the shelter was wrong about her status.
11
If I were a dog, period, I don't think would like it. It would be better to have some kind of pill.
1
Can we please worry about the human race?
5
Since you are obviously a person of privilege, I suggest an outing to an animal shelter in a poor neighborhood, not in Manhattan. Some people are not wealthy, shocker. There are stray dogs in North Philadelphia, our shelters are over-filled with Pit Bulls. Spaying is a necessity outside of your upscale life, look elsewhere for wisdom before you speak. If dogs weren’t spayed in Philadelphia it would be a canine and humanitarian crises. Wake up and look at the world outside of your bubble.
28
In a natural world we wouldn’t have this problem. We would be devoured by packs of dogs while out foraging for food. Or: Imagine your in-tact pet’s joy as the animal experiences the entire gamut of hormonal/genital stimulation except consummation.
3
Well, that's certainly an opinion.
2
I wanted to comment on my neighbors, the 400 or so Amish families who live near me and have puppy mills. This is a big part of their means of livelihood and they raise dogs in cages like the other farm animals they raise like chickens or pigs. One Amish farmer raised over 500 last year to sell mostly through pet stores. Perhaps because they continue to raise an abundance of mostly small dogs pugs, yorkies, etc that keep the market flooded people feel they can dump their order dog and start with something fresh. In the country people also release dogs they no longer want . Not sure what they are thinking on this matter as most of the dogs will not come to a stranger or are driven away by dogs people in the country already have. Many, especially the little ones are eaten by a population of coyotes that live in the area. There of course should be more regulations on puppies mills, especially in the way they are raised. It is especially horrible the way the females are made to breed many times as possible until they are worn out. Many of the Amish are friends and they know how I feel about this and many don't have puppy mills. But people should be aware of where their dog is coming from when they get it.
14
@Constance
Amen, no pun intended. Never, ever BUY a Dog OR Cat.
Adopt from a shelter, rescue group or from a friend or neighbor that is unable to properly care for their pet. If you BUY a Pet, you are directly perpetuating the cycle of abuse and torture.
And, Karma.
2
I do volunteer work for a dog rescue organization.
In a different capacity, I have been sued by a puppy mill, when I used social media to attempt to shut them down.
Some advice: Neuter and spay your dogs, just not at 7 weeks of age which is what most labradoodle and goldendoodle breeders / puppy mills do. Let them mature until they are full grown and then definitely, definitely spay or neuter them.
And spend a few minutes and a few dollars to donate to an animal rescue organization.
18
Dr. Alexandra apparently arrived lately in NYC. Feral cats used to abound -- like in Rome (horrible)... and there were even occasional packs of dogs. Students at colleges (Barnard, Columbia-- yes) would adopt animals during the school year and turn them loose in Riverside Park when summer came. It was not pretty. A lost dog is never a nice sight.
I have no idea why Barnard would condone this peculiar kind of research. And IMO Alexandra generalizes way too much. God is in the details... which is what research is all about.
9
Maybe true. But ridiculously Utopian and highly unrealistic based on where we are in the US in terms of basic dog owner education. There is no want for mixed breed dogs - no risk of extinction of the beloved mutt.
8
Irresponsible people who buy pets are the problem. They get them without thinking about the downsides of owning pets and the cost. Those animals end up in shelters which continue to expand to house them. Shelters are not and never have been the solution for discarded animals. The solution is to prevent people from buying them in the first place.
4
Perhaps along with outlawing the desexing of dogs we should also register them to vote?
Voting rights for all canines over the age of three would make about as much sense as keeping them all intact.
6
Until Americans grow up and treat animal ownership as a responsibility, rather than a throw away material possession, spaying and neutering is the responsible thing to do. There are already too many stray and abandoned dogs as a result of the pit bull era. And who wants a dog that could turn on you or your loved ones in an instant.
A portion of the Everglades National Park has been taken over by Green Pythons; callously discarded "pets" allowed to come to this country and be sold. Now they are the primary predator and have destroyed the mammalian species in their domain within the Park. Again, an example of "pets" being treated as throw away material items. Under the guise of the 'independent American' people act stupid an irresponsible.
One of my dogs, a Springer Spaniel, I had to put down after 16+ years, I found running along side a 2-lane highway, miles from anywhere, on the Olympic Peninsula, 3-4 months old, abandoned, underbelly covered in mange, with a "flaw" (under developed toe) on his right front foot. My wife and I adopted 2 other dogs at 10 months of age from a couple who thought getting this particular breed was "in" and discovered they had neither the time nor the patience to give these very active dogs the daily exercise they needed.
Current laws are already ignored, mostly. Additional laws would receive the same treatment. It will take a cultural shift to create responsible pet owners, if our species lasts that long.
3
This piece is controversial but avoids the actual controversy...there are too many dogs in the USA. Where is the dog world corresponding practice to that of the cat world of trap, neuter, release? It does not exist because there are actual dangers in the dog world that dog lovers seem to refuse to acknowledge. Some dogs which have powerful mouths are overbred and take up lots of shelter room. they cannot be let loose. allowing dogs to live their born lives, as this out of the box writer seemingly suggests, would be ridiculous. And dangerous. The real solution is fewer dogs.
4
As a lifelong animal lover and rescuer of neglected and abandoned animals, I have to say this is one of the most outrageously irresponsible articles I’ve ever read. Talk to any rescue organization that picks up the litters that have been tossed onto the road, penned in outdoor yards. My FB posts are filled with pleas for people to foster those cute little pups that noone wants.
I’m also enough to remember that by ignorance or cheapness many owners of cats never spayed....then every breeding season the unwanted litter of kittens were scooped unceremoniously into a sack and brought to a pond to be drowned.
The four-footed furballs are for companionship, for love, NOT for convenience.
13
This is a truly reckless and poorly-reasoned appeal to some sort of generalized fear of future consequences that bears no relation to the facts on the ground.
If you have ever witnessed the actual horrible reality of seeing and hearing dogs getting euthanized (which happens by the millions yearly) you would not condone this head-in-the-sand approach.
I grant that we may yet have more to learn and better practices around the relative appropriate age for spay/neuter in certain breeds. But to argue against fixing dogs is a deeply deluded enterprise for which you present little if any reasonable argument.
13
In actual fact, yes, dogs are here for our convenience and spaying/neutering is the responsible choice. Dogs have no right to sex, nor should owners be forced to make their lives more difficult by having intact animals. Dogs are not people. We should be kind to them, but this is a ridiculous idea and not at all kind.
7
I'm glad some of the comments are questioning the ethics of pet ownership.
4
There are bigger fish to fry. Or is that also wrong?
3
Per the ASPCA, every year approx. 1.5 MILLION dogs + cats, 80% which are deemed healthy, are euthanized in shelters across the United States. This # does not include the millions of cats and dogs which comprises our outdoor population.
Spend some time in rescue + TNR and experience the horrific suffering firsthand, and you will quickly realize the outrageousness of this opinion piece and the audacity of the author to have even thought of writing it in the first place.
10
I like the very end, where it's us that need fixing and not the dogs. Otherwise, what applies in Europe cannot be applied here just because we have much more land and ability for strays to roam, mate, and raise litters. We spay and neuter because pet overpopulation is a huge problem in this country, not so much in the well organized and well manicured cities of Europe. As far as the good gene pool becoming selected out... he can go talk to the breeders who are purposefully breeding dogs without airways (Frenchies, Bulldogs, Boxers, etc) to maintain their pure bloodlines while perfectly healthy and sound breeds like pitbulls and beagles are being euthanized at astronomical rates, fixed or not. And as far as losing their natural instincts, hormones, or whatever... they lost that thousands of years ago when we started to domesticate them to depend on us. Keeping a male or female intact now is not helping them go back to their natural roots. Cancer rates are proven higher in unspayed females and males. The joint degeneration is a very recent study that only focused on a small population of golden retrievers... a breed that has been inbred so much that its cancer rates are guaranteed to be their cause of death by age 10. This is a dangerous editorial, and an ignorant one. It reminds me of people that want to feed their dogs all raw meat diets because that's what the wolves ate but here we are with patients with salmonella everyday because their food is uncooked and poisons them.
13
Lady, try living in the rural south, or anywhere other than Morningside Heights. You'll change your tune about spaying and neutering.
12
Dear NYTimes Editorial Board,
Just because Facebook, Google and Twitter will "publish" all comers, doesn't mean that you have to as well. And just because Dr. Horowitz has a PhD and a differentiated opinion, that doesn't mean her views are worth advancing. On exhibit here is the same myopic argumentation that gave us the anti-vax movement. Could you just TRY to be the paper of record?
32
I lived in a 20 unit apartment complex in Chelsea, NY back in 2009. The cleaning woman for the building had 3 dogs all of which she rescued from apartment units where their owners had abandoned them during a period of about 2-3 years. She found one of these dogs locked in an abandoned apartment with no food or water three days after his owner moved out. This was just one apartment complex out of thousands in just one city!
I’m all for vasectomies over neutering. But before I worry about improving dog’s joint health and a dog’s right to a sex life, I want to prevent selfish, irresponsible morons from ending up with 12 puppies from one visit to the dog park. Speaking of which, I have seen intact dogs roaming dog parks. People are idiots.
19
Not sure about the spaying/neutering, but should definitely be circumcised.
The opinion section of the Times is about as rational as Willy Wonka these days. I’m guessing this woman lives in a bubble in CA. Let’s have her tour backyard breeders and dog fighting rings in east ny or see the cats in Bushwick that fight in heat, keep procreating then die on the street from consuming poison. I’m going to side with the right side of history on this one and fix my pets. Or maybe she should go to India where rabid strays bite locals. Perhaps we should also get rid of human birth control because it’s “unnatural”.
11
At first I thought this was a joke. A bad joke. Let us concentrate on getting the republican criminals out of our government along with their chosen president, pets come later.
8
yes they are
2
Dogs made a deal with humans, and it's usually a pretty good one: they get to hang around and be basically nice, and in turn we feed them and take care of all their needs.
The way that deal gets handled in this society is dogs usually get spayed or neutered in order to get all the free stuff. Now getting that sexy stuff removed IS a bummer. But when you can't read or write, or hold down a paying job, and you don't even have opposable thumbs, you gotta take what you can get.
4
Can I also write a nonsense opinion piece and get it published in the NYT? Obviously this is a human-caused issue. That has nothing to do with the solution (spaying and neutering!!)
10
@Liz
Yes, me too. I have some things to say. Reasonable, realistic, non-delusional opinions..
Seriously.
3
The author should read her own colleagues more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/upshot/why-euthanasia-rates-at-animal-shelters-have-plummeted.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
8
Humans are idiots and cause every single problem we have on this planet.
Every single unwanted animal and yes, unwanted children also, needs to be taken care of. But the human ego of "producing" over rides reducing the pain of being an unwanted child, and the death of all unwanted creatures, which should also be a priority.
Humans are a virus. Watch the clip from the old Matrix movies. Silly and dramatic sci-fi, but well-stated.
4
This is irresponsible journalism by the NYT. But people who refuse to neuter their animals will take heart from it. All those chihuahua and pit bull owners in particular - whose multitudes of offspring can be found in every shelter I’ve ever visited. We need to continue to make it socially unacceptable to not neuter your dog or cat. Not go backwards.
12
Earth to Mr. Horowitz,
“Hello?”
“On what planet do you reside?”
“Get a grip on the reality of the over population of dogs in America!”
“Sheesh! There’s more than enough waste just from humans!”
3
Hey, here's a different perspective:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/upshot/wwhy-euthanasia-rates-at-animal-shelters-have-plummeted.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
3
Back in the day when neutering and spaying dogs was uncommon there was a solution that was used very commonly. Unwanted puppies and kittens were simply put in a bag and drowned. We then moved to having humane societies and those societies had such an influx of unwanted animals that they began to push spaying and neutering so they would not have to kill so many animals. Now, in the community where I live and in neighboring communities there are far fewer local pets given up for adoption and our community takes in dogs from places like the American South where dogs and cats are given up or found as strays in much greater numbers. Instead of thinking of the big picture of the result of so much overbreeding, Horowitz makes some really silly claims about the wonderfulness of the virility of unneutered males and femininity of unspayed females. How about thinking less about their sex lives and thinking more about what kind of life are we giving dogs in places where they are left all day while owners work, taken out for a brief morning and evening walk or even left to pee on pee pads. Then there are the really sad little dogs carried around in purses and treated like they are babies and not dogs. A Yorkie, for example, is a terrier and terriers want to be on the ground. As for being like Norway, LOL.
15
I've rarely read a more out of touch *opinion* in the NY Times. Spend some time in the various kill shelters peppered throughout Texas where dogs are literally piled into gas chambers and then into garbage bags to be buried God knows where. What a disgrace NY Times for publishing this rubbish.
10
Wonder if Dr. Horowitz ever listened to the howling of dogs as they are euthanized with gas.
8
This is such a weird article. Desexing dogs? Just odd...
3
We have millions of abandoned animals and you print this nonsense?
13
The operative word here is "abandoned". By people. People who probably never should have had one in the first place. Where's the indignation about that?
1
The reference to dog culture in Norway and Switzerland is misleading. Sure, desexing isn't a part of their dog culture, but regulation in the form of pet registration, taxation, and, in some cases depending on the breed, comprehensive training programs are.
5
The only useful part of this essay is the suggestion of tubal ligation or vasectomy instead of more radical surgery, assuming you can find a vet willing to do it. That might be a good idea, if it prevents breeding while keeping the animal's hormones closer to the natural balance.
Expecting the US to be like Norway, however, is laughable. The US culture is very, very different. Many Americans consider it their God-given right to do whatever they want, regardless of the impact on the environment, animals, or other people, until and unless it lands them in jail. Sure, if they don't want to take care of a pet, they shouldn't get one -- but that isn't going to stop them. I can think of a few I wish I could have had "fixed" before they bred children they have taken poor care of.
Others are more responsible, but most Americans are overworked, overstressed, and overtired. Unlike Norwegians, many Americans can barely manage to fit their home responsibilities around their job responsibilities as it is. Convenience in this situation is not a dirty word. Expecting them to deal with menstruating dogs or caterwauling, spraying cats is unrealistic. If "desexing" seems cruel, one would do well to remember how much longer companion animals live when they live with us compared to the wild. I have had only neutered/spayed cats, but most of them made it to around 18 years old. Cats living in the wild do not, so I'd say human companionship is a pretty good deal for them.
6
Leave it to an oped piece on dogs to elicit so many responses! While there is no one-way reasoning for or against, it's an individuals responsibility to manage which ever situation they choose. Horowitz is a bit short sighted, however, in being somewhat critical of shelters, the repositories of unwanted animals. I hardly think they enjoy having to euthanize animals, so prevention becomes the mantra. Living where I do, cultures exist where fixing is maiming, but the paradox is that the "natural" state is to allow dogs to roam, they are pets, but not family, and so what do you do when your female dog comes home pregnant? You hand out 4-6 week old pups to whomever will take them. Most can do the math. No vaccines, no worming, mange, we see it all in the rescue set up we have. And if they have too many dogs? There are roundups. So the question is prevention or euthanizing.
5
Few dogs were spayed or neutered when I was young. And many dogs roamed free back then. Our dog was a female, not spayed, and 1 week out of every month, we had to stand guard with her when she was outside, because when she went into heat, every it seemed like every loose male within a mile came calling. No thanks. We have a female dog now that was spayed when young, as a requirement from the breeder. I love being able to let her outside without attracting a crowd, anytime. No more having to "stand guard".
3
It is extremely interesting to me that, on the same day, this article also ran:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/upshot/wwhy-euthanasia-rates-at-animal-shelters-have-plummeted.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
4
Actually, they are here for our convenience. We literally invented dogs in most of their modern forms. That's not to condone wanton cruelty, but the idea that shaping an animal to work better in a human environment is somehow cruel is silly. That's precisely what domestication does.
Also, while having intact dogs is vaguely plausible for certain types of dog owners who have the time, patience, and resources to make sure their pet doesn't overproduce or get into fights with other dogs, insisting on having intact cats (because imposing celibacy on animals is cruel somehow) would render cat ownership impossible for most people.
Please, please, I invite you to spend a while inside with a female cat in heat or an intact male cat. Hear the yowling. Smell the cat urine in its indescribable potency. I actually kept my inside male cat intact for two years out of concern that neutering him too early would hurt his growth because he is from a big breed (British Shorthair). It was utterly miserable. To ask everybody to put up with two years of that to spare the animal some higher risk for obesity is just not reasonable. I knew what I was getting into. Most people would just take the cat back to the shelter or abandon it.
And letting intact male cats out is just irresponsible. They will wander and impregnate females. They will fight with other toms. They will get hit by cars. They are programmed to rove and ramble. Intact females will be impregnated.
7
Neither Dr. Horowitz or the author of the Davis study have a clue about what the people that provide health care for dogs see on a daily basis. I would have loved for either of those people to have been standing by my side while I pulled a 4 pound pus-filled uterus out of an unspayed 11 year old German Shepherd last week. I would love for her to talk to veterinarians in Spain and Italy who remove entire mammary chains from the chest to the pelvis in a futile attempt to prevent mammary adenocarcinoma. In those countries with low spay rates, that traumatic surgery is considered normal. I started working for vets in 1976 and have practiced for 33 years. Things were the way she yearns for 33 years ago. I guarantee that I can make more money off this stupidity than by spaying and neutering. That's not what I chose this profession for.
24
I'm glad you wrote a piece about how outmoded desexing our pets has become. Since you mentioned it you got your pet from a shelter. Please write a piece about how New Yorkers continue to buy designer dogs, for me that's the real crime. Does that happen in Norway too?
2
Dogs and Cats are not slaves , subject to inhuman cruelty by humans.
That is the author slapped your human face.
1
This is ridiculous.
Neutering dogs prevents thousands of dogs from living on the streets, ending up in shelters and being killed.
Go to a poorer country where people do not neuter dogs. They usually have big problems with homeless dogs and to solve it kill then en-masse.
And how can a human judge whether a dog may feel better un-neutered?
That's right you can't . And neither can the dog, because it cannot know how it would feel.
I'd expect such an article in The Sun, or Daily Mirror, but not the NYT.
8
Spaying and neutering is the ONLY responsible choice for non-breeders.
8
Shame on you for publishing this. Have you ever visited a shelter? Dog pound? Thousands of cats and dogs are destroyed every day and with this article you are merely adding to this sad chapter in a dog's life.
9
The domestic dog was created by humanity. They are here for our convenience.
5
I need to correct a BIG misconception. The cost to provide veterinary care, spay/neuter surgery, food/board/cleaning is approximately $350. The adoption fee (here in the South) is just over $50. If you think we're making money from adoptions, you're insane! There is nothing remotely fancy about our 5,000sf metal building that receives thousands of stray/surrendered animals every year. We rely on donors to survive. Huge efforts to get community animals spay/neutered dropped our intake by 35% in 9 years. The author is seriously ignorant.
12
Dog degonadisation is a white man phenomenon. Outside that bubble, other cultures and ethnic groups including the Native American Indian do not practice the former. Dogs can survive without humans and control its own population. These specific humans can not emotionally survive without dogs but despise their numbers. By the way, I love dogs but I don't hoard then massacre them like some sick folks do.
1
@Uly yes the native americans are wise and used to eat the dogs. we should go back to that!
2
I hate dogs. I mean, really, really hate dogs. I go out of my way to avoid anyone walking one down the street, and refuse to go to someone's house if they own such a disgusting beast. I don't know a ton about desexing, but anything to cripple/weaken the population of dogs is a plus in my books.
Ironically, "Dogs" by Pink Floyd is one of my favorite songs of all time. But boy, do I hate dogs.
1
I have two Corgis. One is spayed. One is neutered. They are very nice dogs who maintain their inborn traits of herding. They are happy all the time. I don't believe that their inability to procreate has effected them at all.
6
Of course the author is right.
American “culture” and Americans are the problem, not dogs. The entire American experience is centered around money, greed, and convenience.
Too lazy to be a responsible dog owner - desex the dog.
Too lazy for parenting, kid doesn’t behave - put the kid on drugs.
Too lazy to work your yard/garden - spray with carcinogenic weed killer.
Too obese to go shopping - do drive-through, curb pick-up, or get it delivered.
Don’t like some sovereign country’s government - sanction, bomb, invade, and overthrow it.
Signed a convention against torture, but still want to torture - call it enhanced interrogation techniques.
Poisoned water supplies because of unregulated business practices - buy bottled water.
Rampant inequality and homelessness - blame the victims.
Got caught committing war crimes - blame the messenger.
People around the world think you’re the biggest threat to world peace and the environment - proclaim yourself to be exceptional.
Etc. ...
Veterinarians make loads of money with desexing pets. It’s a business.
Just like human healthcare in this country it’s all about the bottom line, not so much about the patient.
Like other civilized countries, people in the US should get a license in order to have a pet, and all pets should be chipped.
But, of course, that is not going to happen because Americans love their “freedom” and veterinarians love to charge inflated prices to gauge the pet owners.
It’s called the “American Dream”.
3
Dogs are here precisely for our convenience. That is why we bred them. I think we should dress them in sweaters, make them do tricks, and remove their reproductive organs. Ultimate convenience.
3
Dogs and cats need to be spayed and neutered PRECISELY because people can be irresponsible! You are WAYYYYYYY off base here.
7
"Utter nonsense."
Thanks to Terry McKenna - Dover, N.J. - earlier here.
2
No way..
Spay your Cats and Dogs..
3
Fire-up the Animal Protection animal murder & gas facililities again. There are far fewer animals being destroyed, byt Ms Horowitz finds that disturbing. Oy!
3
Imagine letting American dogs' fate to Trump.
I totally agree with the author that we now have the technology to give dogs *vasectomies or tubal ligations* instead of much more invasive procedures that affect their health. And that this should be done in shelters to encourage adoption, rather than people having to buy from dog breeders.
1
What an enlightening piece.
1
Outrageously irresponsible statement. NYT be ashamed for promoting this idiocy!
There is no shortage of abandoned fertile animals arriving at shelters––or even available from responsible breeders. Dogs and cats aren't going extinct. Rather the reverse. We are diverting a tremendous amount of the world's production to subsidize them. This production could be left fallow for wildlife.
Many thousands of cats and dogs suffer terribly as feral animals posing a great risk of rabies, distemper and dangerous pack behavior. This is specially so in the rural areas where contemptible people bring their pets to dump them. Feral cats are a major threat to wild bird populations. Feral dogs chase, injure and even kill wildlife, livestock and sometimes even people. Laws
There is no humane way to get a handle on feral populations if unspayed or neutered animals are allowed to cycle repeatedly into the wild. The alternative would be to shoot them in the wild, or euthanize them in a shelter. Populations increase geometrically. Even slow-reproducing elephants, given sufficient feed and water, would cover the earth in astonishingly short order. Starvation would be the principal control.
Thank goodness for spay-and-neuter programs. And for the kind work of those, who when no placement is available, euthanize.
7
Well this certainly is in the running for one of the all time, logic torturing , cherry picked research quoting, and potentially threatening pieces of writing to grace the pages of the NYT in ages. Relying on other people to change their behavior in terms of responsible pet ownership is a fool's errand. Worrying about the integrity of a dog or cats's personality due to being "de-sex" is simply moronic.
The greater good is very simple: fewer pets euthanized.
As for worrying about joint disease in larger dogs? Well you can thank the AKC's acceptance of line breeding for that catastrophe.
5
This is one of the most idiotic editorials I have ever read. The country in overrun by hundreds of thousands of unwanted puppies every year that end up euthanized or worse. And irresponsible dog owners who do not fix their animals are the cause. Unless you live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, or are a proper breeder, not fixing a dog or cat is not only cruel, its immoral. Owners who allow their animals to breed uncontrollably should be held responsible for all the ramifications.
7
I find this statement from the ASPCA more useful: https://www.aspca.org/position-statement-mandatory-spayneuter-laws
3
If you control the dog and prevent unwanted breeding, aren't you altering the gene pool as much as if you neutered the dog?
In either case you are preventing breeding and therefore preventing the full exploitation of "natural selection".
That argument is a bit silly in this piece.
3
I read this while I was having my cats put to sleep, because I was overrun with guilt about sea otters. This week, I’m supposed to look the other way at the multitudes of unwanted dogs. Got it.
NYT, enough with this claptrap. This is why half the country thinks liberals are literally insane. I’m not going to euthanize my animals while giving the stink eye to those who would neuter theirs. I’m not throwing away my Viking range and buying a new electric one because of how awful natural gas is, and I’m not going to stop driving across town to spend time with my aging parents just because FaceTime burns less fuel. Life isn’t a game of seeing how little carbon you can consume while simultaneously signaling all the virtue you can.
2
@Robert The same toxoplasmosis that is carried by feral cats and kills sea otters can infect humans too. Small children or people with suppressed immune systems can catch these diseases. Conservative and liberal alike.
Nobody is making anyone put down their house cats. It's the feral cat population that environmentalists and public health officials are going after. Let's stick to the facts here, please.
As a veterinarian of over 40 years and a specialist in veterinary internal medicine I can say that this article is full of inaccurate and false information. I am shocked that Times allowed this in their paper. This should be relegated to the same pile that is written by the anti vaccination proponents. I can’t imagine the harm this article will cause. Millions upon millions of unwanted dogs are euthanized each year usually after suffering horrible lives, searching as strays for a scrap to eat, or living lonely lives in small cages waiting for their eventual deaths.
This author should be ashamed of herself!!
14
It occurred to me that this absurd opinion piece had the ring of a lot of other rubbish touted on American campuses these days. Therefore, I was not surprised at all to find out that Ms. Horowitz runs a lab at Barnard College, which happens to be my alma mater. I am troubled by the association of the author of this silly, unhelpful piece with a fine school.
Our actions cannot simply be based on feelings, Ms. Horowitz. Reason must prevail.
4
Maybe the author of this IMHO poorly thought out opinion ought to read this new NYT article about fewer euthanasia in shelters. Spay and Neuter helps stop the killing of so many shelter animals.
Why More Dogs and Cats Are Making It Out of Shelters Alive https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/upshot/why-more-dogs-and-cats-are-making-it-out-of-shelters-alive.html
2
If I were a male dog I'd be like yow!! no way! Put em on the pill.
Dr. Horowitz is offering a weak critique of current solutions without any actionable, realistic alternatives. She is cherry picking examples of countries without pet overpopulation. This article is biased and completely unhelpful and unactionable for dogs, dog owners, or animal shelters in the US. The author should come back to us after spending time at shelters talking with shelter workers and should visit a few countries with no spay/neuter programs where stray dogs and puppies go hungry and die in the streets.
3
Specifically, spay/neuter should not be done until the dog's growth plates have closed (from 1 to 2 years of age, depending on breed and size). The hormones cited govern the closing of the growth plates, and disrupting this delicate cycle leads to unbalanced skeletal development and weak joints that are predisposed to dysplasia, which can be painful and disabling. Surely keeping intact pets confined and protected from breeding for 1-2 years is not too much to ask, when the alternative can be crippling?
As for breeding one's pets, any hobby breeder of purebreds will tell you that finding good homes for puppies is not always easy. You're betting the puppy's life on your ability to predict how good an owner the prospective parents will be. This is true even when the future size, appearance, and temperament of the puppy can be predicted based on generations of breeding for those qualities (thereby heading off complaints of too big, too small, too furry). And few owners of mixed breeds are willing to go to the expense of testing for possible genetic problems, which mixed-breeds do have. For those who think only purebred dogs have the possibility of genetic issues: who do you think those mixed breeds are descended from?
2
I will listen to the advice of those with ALL dogs and cats welfare at heart. And those organizations and people say - Neuter all cats and dogs and do it as early as possible.
5
If we decide to ban spaying and neutering pets, we need to hold owners way more responsible. I suggest:
1. Mandatory microchip identifying owners in the events their dog or cat gets loose. Steep financial penalties.
2. Mandatory insurance for when their hormonal aggressive dogs attack children and pedestrians.
3. Mandatory pet ownership classes and licensing.
4. Mandatory agreement NOT to breed your pet, unless you are a licensed insured regulated and limited breeder.
5. Steep financial penalties for allowing your pets to roam free, for not cleaning up their waste in public areas, and especially for illegal breeding, neglecting, dumping, abusing pets.
Humans have proven they are not responsible or thoughtful enough to live without regulations and penalties. Humans either anthropomorphize their pets or abuse them, or both. Most humans shouldn’t have children let alone pets. So I stand by my initial thoughts— spay and neuter your pets!
4
I lived in a rural area of Kentucky where few people Spay/Neutered their pets.
The result? Lots of inbred cats and female dogs in heat driving male dogs crazy howling all night. What fun.
It was also common practice for folks to pick the dog the liked and drown the rest of the puppies in the nearest lake or pond.
I'm sure that still goes on in some places but I am guessing a lot less since shelters won't let dogs out for adoption without being neutered first.
6
My understanding of why one might want to delay spay and neuter until six or seven months is that the growth plates on the ends of the long bones will not fuse properly without the full influence of hormones throughout puppyhood. So the dog who is desexed too early will not attain its full stature, and may have poorly formed joints as a result. In females, the structure of the genitalia changes if you allow them to reach sexual maturity. They will be less prone to urinary and vaginal infection if you delay spay until they have had one estrus cycle. So I have been told by vets and breeders. I mention this because I don’t see anyone else giving concrete reasons for delaying the surgeries.
4
My thought: direct your energy towards children, not animals. Animals are not the future, children are.
1
Wow, I love a strong opinion with no plan. I totally agree with the comment let’s focus on the children. Or seniors or anything else. How, in the world should we worry about a dogs desire to have sex or the impact spaying or neutering has on the breed. I have read thousands of editorials and IMO this is the most ridiculous
2
@Cecily Ryan
All species are interconnected. It’s not either/or
2
I don't know about this issue, BUT CATS are another story. Feral cats kill billions of birds and other natural
species in the environment every year. They are natural acrobats and can leap over enormous fences, get on your roof, mate at 3 in the morning screaming and yelling (or sounding like a baby crying) because people think their "little kitty" needs to roam around outside. I read an article about this, and they emphatically stated that cats should NEVER be let outside. Give them toys, scratching poles, etc., an adequate amount of "meow mix" AND a self cleaning cat box (PLEASE!) so the guest bathroom is "safe" to use. Dogs are more trainable as a rule (yes, cats can be trained, but most people don't bother) and it's also for their own health and safety to not chase cars and bite strangers (or small children who don't know when they're annoying a dog). I've grown up with a neighborhood filled with dogs, some quite large and not very friendly I might add. It all depends on educating dog owners, and many such people are incredibly dumb. Like my neighbor who got TWO St. Bernards in a hot, humid environment (year round). Of course both died quickly- who knows from what. This man was educated but egotistical, and he just HAD to have them. Finally the urge wore off, and so did the ridiculous scene of him trotting down the street with them every afternoon. A dog is a great companion, and could even save a life. But loving animals isn't the same thing as caring for them.
Possibly a good point buried in this piece but my takeaway is this. Mankind is responsible for desexing and causing this abberation, yes. But until mankind can somehow reach that better plane (doubtful) desexing results in far less overall misery overall. I side with the veterinarians and all those trying to reduce the misery.
Want to really change things? Ban professional dog and cat breeders. What a horror that is.
5
Wow. I think Ms Horowitz is extremely idealistic.
While there may be good science that suggests dogs should be left intact to live healthier longer lives. There is more than ample evidence to suggest that Americans are not responsible enough properly care for intact animals, good grief we can barely care for our fellow humans.
We are not Norway.
I've been to countries where they don't spay or neuter as much as we do. Stray dogs everywhere, dying, injured, starving...
I think a neutered dog living a pampered life is far superior to being on the streets.
4
It seems to be a requirement for the NYT opinion page that an author push their thesis well past the point of common sense, while giving the counterargument to what they are saying short shrift.
Yes, it would be nice is Americans were more responsible with their dogs, so that a Scandinavian model with low spay + neuter rate were possible. However, the simple fact is that they are not, and making spay and neuter the default achieves the best possible result for dogs overall - the author esssentially just ignores this reality.
Another bit that is just brushed off is that it is difficult to board an unfixed dog in any facility where the dogs interact, for very real + sensible reasons - no owner wants surprise puppies and unfixed males will fight.
Dog hobbyists who have "breeder dogs" and do dog shows etc. will indeed leave their dogs unspayed or unneuterred, as is their right, and they deal with the inconvenience. I do it, and so can anybody. Aside from the boarding problem and the daily friction with other males on the sidewalk it's really pretty straightforward. But to argue that this is what's right for the industry as a whole seems obtuse as best.
5
Dog Rabies kills thousands in India and third world countries that have large populations of wild dogs who they can’t vaccinate. I’m sorry but spaying and neutering is needed to prevent these kinds of issues.
5
The author brings up some issues that require us to think how neutering affects your dog, mostly negatively. Would you even consider neutering most humans to control World over- population? Maybe a better solution to neutering would be to make the owner responsible for taking care of any offspring puppies. I for one am sorry that i had my family morkie neutered as she still has the normal sexual urge but unable complete this normal function.
So you are hoping that Americans will do two things:
1. Be personally responsible even when not convenient.
2. Drop "politically correct" double speak long enough to listen and then to think something through.
Good luck with that.
4
The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Unneutered dogs roam and could easily be killed if they wander onto a busy road.
Sure, if you live in the wilderness, her arguments make sense.
1
I took my chances in New York and Los Angeles with my two un-neutered Yorkies who were fine with other dogs. Like this article says, it is about training the dog you have and being responsible. Mostly, I did not want to put my dogs through unnecessary surgery and I did not want to put them under anesthesia.
Since my last dog passed I'm looking for a new puppy on-line. I'm horrified to see the number of small Yorkies that are also being sold de-clawed. This is something not mentioned in this article, but it is in the same vein of horrors we inflict on animals. This also has to do with convenience and training since handlers do not establish sufficient relationship with, and dominance over, their animals to cut their claws periodically as a responsible handler should. Get a nail clipper and start when they're a puppy or a kitten! Get a scratching post!
De-clawing an animal should be a criminal offense!
2
Unbelievable! Perhaps, this cognitive scientist has a phone line to talk to the dogs for $65 dollars as our neighborhood dog shop has and, once the "professional" talks to the dogs, then the "professional" tells the owner what's going on in the mind of his/her dog! I have not been spayed and I have many of the same problems the spayed dogs have! I find this article in the borderline of total irresponsibility.
What? We cannot even treat each other well (humans) & we get a lecture on dogs? Humans are worse than dogs , they supposedly know what the repercussions of what they do & this is what the writer is appealing to. Yada ,yada , yada. Try being schoolteacher & being blamed for everything in the classroom. We have millions of people fighting abortion & yet after the child is born are not remotely concerned about the child’s well being. In fact , too many human parents teach barbarity to their children. Should it be any different with our pets? One thing I do know , people who get rid or harm their pets ,absolutely never should be allowed to procreate. They have proven their inability to make a decision for any living being.
2
I lived in a lovely small town when I was a child in the early 1950's. We were "free-range kids" -- and the biggest threat to our safety was not pedophiles or being hit by a car, but rather the packs of stray dogs that roamed freely. We encountered them fairly frequently.
They were often vicious, and rabies from dog bites was a real fear.
If you haven't lived it, you can't understand it.
Dr. Horowitz lives in a fantasy world. (Indeed, according to the internet, she was born in 1969.)
6
@Annelle McCullough
And she never read “To Kill a Mockingbird”
2
Not just dogs ... no animal or creature is here for the convenience of humans. Americans take the bible too literally. Man has no dominion over creatures that walketh or crawleth or flyeth..... We humans live in an ecosystem that impacts our well being. When we burn too much fossil fuel, make and dispose too much plastic and yes breed too many cattle, pigs, or dogs we humans will pay a big price. Only it will be our kids and grandkids who will face the wrath of Nature.
Is the author joking? I have three dogs, I AM A DOG LOVER. We have far more pressing issues facing mankind let alone our nation, and the author writes a 15,000 word tome on the evils of spay/neuter? I'd get it if we had true equality and justice throughout the world; if global warming and over population of humanity wasn't destroying the world; if we had health insurance for all and education for all etc. etc etc. But this is the authors' cause? Stop spay/neuter? OK then, have a nice day.
3
I like peace and quiet. Unfortunately, dogs bark a lot and the owners don't care.
2
The logic employed in this piece reminds me of the aniti-vaxxer movement.
5
The writer does not talk about the dog actual sexual desire. I agree that spaying/neutering a dog is somehow convenient for the owner, but did she think how the life of a dog would be having the urge of sex and not having the possibility to perform it probably not even once in its entire lifetime?
3
@Francesco. I think you might be self-identifying there too much. If neutered dogs like mine can and do have orgasms all the time, I’m not sure I see that they’re being deprived.
I have a friend who’s never eaten chocolate because she’s allergic to it. She has no idea what it tastes like, so she’s not missing out.
I am a cat owner for 40+ years, and find it interesting that the ONLY time cats were mentioned,
"the number of euthanasias has plummeted, to two to four million euthanized cats and dogs annually now from estimates of more than 20 million back then.."
was to emphasize the authors point of view, is it due to a lack of data, a lack of the authors interest in finding the number of dogs euthanized... lazy journalism, or just making a sensational statement cause that number sounds important and significant. Perhaps the number of dogs didn't fit their need so they "threw in" the number of cats to make it support their thesis. Perhaps back then most of the animals euthanized were cats, or maybe ...
Four million dogs a year killed? That’s an incomprehensible number. And we call our solution the ‘Humane’ society.
1
The Times lately seems to give editorial space to the extremely-far-left fringes, and then all the regularly-left commenters clap back. Suggesting that shelters stop spaying their animals is unbelievably irresponsible if you know anything about what happens to unwanted animals that are the literal byproducts of not spaying, not to mention the environmental destruction and species-decimation that feral animals cause.
1
@Bob G.
We'll ignore your comment about the Times giving space to extremely-far-left fringes (See all the op-eds from the American Enterprise Institute), but to say the regularly-left " clap back?"
Did you read these comments? About two supported the writer.
2
'Woof', but this must be the cause of a hissy-fit for readers! Dr. Horowitz is a scientific fido expert, and our community lives for our dogs, although some of us can barely make ends meet.
It sounds as if a great majority of us are in The Dog House for having the temerity of castrating, or preventing a fate worse than death when offering a forever home to our furries.
She appears to have a bone to pick with dog carers, and perhaps there is some validity in her lecture:
An old woman lived with her dog, Spike, alone in the dark woods, until one day a fairy godmother came to visit and asked her to make two wishes.
'I would like to be a beautiful young woman again, and for Spike to turn into a handsome dashing prince', and her wishes were granted. Spike started making advances to the blushing maiden who was secretly delighted, and after cornering her in the bedroom, he leaned over and smiled, 'Aren't you sorry that you sent me to the Vet?'.
The above was pawed by Jer the Tuxedo; a tiny kitten when we first met, surrounded by other abandoned kin, he adopted this human and is now a magnificent healthy cat, and took his vows of celibacy four years ago.
In possession of two 'castles' now, he guards these with protective amber eyes, and carries his passport with him. It is known as a 'micro-chip' and essential for our dogs and cats who wander, or go looking for their carers.
As for humans who dump their pets and dump on each other, it is a reminder to do better.
Well put, every word of it!!!
"Consider who gets desexed: primarily shelter dogs, largely mixed-breeds."
This is a very strange statement and I say that as the owner of two pure bred, Alaskan Klee Kai who are both spayed. Any owner of a pure bred knows that spaying or neutering is part of the contract you sign when you receive a puppy, because only authorized breeders can breed their pure bred dogs. This is not a class-based issue in any way, which is what Horowitz is attempting to insinuate with that statement, which as I've illustrated is factually incorrect.
4
Wow, you expect what... in a society where we have humans in foster care, in cages at the border and homeless? We don't even take care of us, and you expect we can get people to take care of dogs. Make no mistake, I would love to see that, but have you actually been living in the US?
4
I'm an old lady who has had many cats over her lifetime. I always had them spayed or neutered. Every one of them lived to a very old age.
This opinion piece strikes me as absurd. The "alternate methods" to spaying touched on by Ms. Horowitz are far from reliable, and their cost would virtually prohibit them from use by the general public.
We must deploy effective birth control for dogs, or our country will be overrun by them, as are some places. Some time ago, the NYTimes published a piece about unwanted dogs in Rome.
Ms Horowitz: Put your supposed virtue-signaling aside, think clearly, and go witness unwanted animals being put down at your local animal shelter,
5
YES!! It's about time this information hit the big time. And no, I'm not a breeder or a "shower". Just a dog lover who has witnessed the differences in my dogs (all the same breed) that are spayed verses those that are not. Spayed girls get fat and their coats go from silky to frizzy. Those that have had ovary-sparing spays still have hormones and I see no changes. Unspayed are of course the baseline. Yes, there are certainly more subtile changes, but these are glaringly obvious.
And you are so right that this is a people problem which American society attempts to address by damaging our dogs.
If you own a leash, if you can build a fence, if you are a responsible person, you do not need to desex your dogs. Grow up, people.
3
If only we could teach them to use protection!
1
Before spaying and neutering dogs, what happened with unwanted litters?
1
I would love to know this author's opinion on reproductive choice for (human) women...
Go to the hills north of Hollywood and you'll be able to see how nice wild dogs are in their natural state.
Growing up my father either did not spay the dog we kept outdoors either because of inconvenience or we couldn't afford it. As one would expect she was constantly pregnant. I always wondered what happened to the puppies since we were never allowed to keep them. Only years later (after my parents divorced) did my mom confess my father drowned every litter. Is that what the author prefers? Me, I've neutered all three of my male dogs and they were (one died at 12)/are happy (at the ages of 12 and 4) and very healthy.
5
I was in Norway just a few weeks ago and was struck by our Airbnb host’s two beautiful perfectly trained, hard working border collies- who, when they were not herding sheep were chained outside in a shed 24/7. In Connecticut, that’s called abuse and illegal. I’m not sure if I would be holding up Norway as a model when it comes to animal care.
7
This is a pretty good piece. I had not thought about this topic at all. Food for thought, for sure (and I own two spayed/neutered Labs who are 12 and 14 years old respectively).
I had a long haired German Shepard who lived to be 12 1/2. He was not neutered. He was always on leash when we took him out, and well behaved. My husband was the one who made the decision not to neuter him.
He was an elegant dog, with a great personality, and I'm certain it's because he was not compromised hormonally.
1
Actually, they do exist for your convenience.
These are not working dogs. They are companion animals. They are not native species to the US. Dogs (and cats) consume a significant portion of meat and therefore contribute to global warming through methane gas.
And dogs will not take you to the doctor, watch your finances, arrange for caregivers, cook for you, etc. when you get old.
Sure, get a dog. Don't 'fix' if you don't want. But don't overstate your case.
2
Honest question, do/can we prioritize and appreciate the complexities of letting a human impregnate or become pregnant effectively? If we can't do it for ourselves, how can we expect to do so for another species?
3
@Chris
Outstanding point if you would equate a human life with a canine life.. Over 200 million Americans would scream YES THEY ARE THE SAME !!
The same people who hit a running rabbit or squirrel with their car .. do they feel they commit murder?
Doubt it!
I agree with the author when she states that Americans like convenience, and that dogs are here for our convenience. Given this reality, we can, as Ms. Horowitz suggests, advocate for a change in our society’s value of convenience for the sake of our pets’ health - or we can advocate for alternatives to the spay-neuter form of sterilization, specifically injectable sterilants, vasectomies, and tubal ligations.
Given that it would be nearly impossible to change the value of convenience so fundamental to our society, I suggest, in all seriousness, that the second option be explored. Low cost is something we also value. SO, if the alternative methods to sterilization can be developed so that they can be available to shelters and veterinary clinics at reasonably low cost, then problem solved. (Grants, subsidies, and donations from animal-loving celebrities and other people of wealth could also help lower the cost.)
P.S. The same arguments would also apply to cats. =D
3
As a small animal veterinarian who has worked almost exclusively in private practice in urban areas I have to say that I never recommend spaying and neutering for population control or for behavioral/convenience reasons. I recommend it purely because I see too many older intact dogs with life-threatening uterine infections, mammary cancer, painful prostate infections, and anal tumors, all of which can be almost completely avoided. I am very much open to and incorporating the new research and recommending especially for larger-breed dogs that we wait until 12 months or later to spay or neuter, but I still firmly believe that there is demonstrable health benefit. This article was a little surprising to me because I rarely think about this issue in terms of population control in my everyday life. And on a personal level my amazing dog was spayed before a year of age, is almost 17, has been very healthy, and though very loving has always had an adventurous, independent personality.
10
Well, Dr. Horowitz, people in Mississippi and Tennessee are already taking your advice to heart. Where do you think all the shelter dogs in New York state come from?
You point to Norway as some kind of panacea for "intact" dogs, but I think India, where 30,000 people a year die from rabies, is a more compelling example.
23
As in Norway, it is uncommon and even controversial in Germany to spay or neuter your dog. For a German, being a responsible pet owner means making sure your dog is well-trained and going through a breeder certified by an official breed club, not neutering your pet. Most of the problems seem to come from unlicensed breeders and puppy farms, neither of which are likely to spay or neuter their animals.
I can't say how many strays there are in Germany, but I haven't seen any, and shelters and rescues here actually import dogs from other countries, so they're obviously not being overfilled by German dogs.
4
@rbThere must be tons of irresponsible pet owners in Alabama because when I called the local city pound to ask whether they could provide any information on the life my dog lived prior to she and her two babies being dumped at the pound I was told that it was so prevalent that they had a hard time keeping up with the demand for space for these dogs..
3
The title of this article is incorrect--dogs are here for our convenience. We created them and rendered them unsuitable for natural living (they are no longer wolves)--a natural life would entail such facts as few puppies surviving their first year of life, as is the norm among wolves. Creatures like pugs, which can't mate or give both naturally, are inconceivable in nature. Pugs exist because we (not nature) like them--they exist for no other reason than our convenience.
9
My little Border Terrier lived to almost 16 and was not spaded until she was 14 because of an infection. She never had any puppies because I never let her have them. She stayed pretty healthy all her life except for her episodes with ticks which she and people and our area in the middle part of this country are susceptible to. She was a useful part of our family because with her we could keep the woodchucks out of our vegetable garden even though she spent most of the time in the house with us as our wonderful companion.
1
The healthiest dog we have ever had the joy of having lived with us for 19-1/2 years. He was only neutered when our trusted vet suggested that, at 16-1/2 years, he perhaps would be far less likely to develop cancer. He was well-behaved throughout his life and died peacefully of old age. While I appreciate the concerns of those with experience working in shelters, I would certainly follow Alexandra Horowitz's advice and, at the least, postpone such surgery. But then Horowitz won me over years ago with her brilliant "Inside of A Dog".
Ms. Horowitz: This is NOT Norway. Culturally, economically, politically and in terms of climate we are very different. It is naive to think that we can simply be as the Norwegians. In the US, there are TOO MANY unwanted pets. I know, because I am one of those people working to rescue them, get the vet care, transport and foster them so they can find loving homes. There are so many unwanted pets, that we have to kill millions every year. Intact pets breed. They escape from the house, jump over fences, run away in order to breed. They get in fights, get hit by cars, get lost and breed thousands of more unwanted pets who will be killed. Neutering has made a huge difference. When I was a kid, everyone had a pet that had puppies or kittens. “Free to a good home” ads were everywhere. Some people just took a box full of pups to the grocery and gave them out to anyone. And those who were not taken were ‘dropped off’ to be euthanized. I remember that and do not want to go back to it. I love your idealism. It would be wonderful if everyone loved and spent time on their animal, training them to obey and stay in the yard no matter what. But that is not going to happen. Neutering prevents millions of innocent animals from suffering, neglect or death.
16
@Concerned Citizen - I did say different climate. Although they have less hours of sun in the winter and it is longer, it is not significantly colder than our winters in CT. However more than 3/4 of the population lives in cities and pets are largely indoors or on leashes. Except for the sheep in the hills. They went wherever they wanted.
It is well and good to exhort people to be responsible about their pets but there will always be plenty who are not. They will let their unneutered animals run free or even abandon them, maintaining the population of feral former pets.
Stray dogs are primarily a nuisance, but the vast number of feral cats, maintained by people who feed them, have a devastating impact on birds, small mammals and reptiles, because cats hunt whether they are hungry or not. Cat lovers delude themselves when they think that trap-neuter-release programs have any significant impact on feral numbers; there are always too many unneutered strays which keep breeding and keep killing wildlife.
8
I agree, yes. We are the ones who need fixing. I've had two Italian greyhounds - Livie died a year and a half ago at thirteen, and Ti Lou is still alive at fifteen. Neither one was neutered. I couldn't bring myself to impose this on them, it seemed almost a mutilation to me, and as none of my childhood dogs had been neutered, I didn't feel the compulsion to. Livie was a sweet and beautiful dog, full of energy, who had two or three heats a year - the bleeding was minimal, and there were only about three days per heat when she became obviously fertile. They did not have puppies. But both dogs were very active and alive, very happy, and clearly greatly enjoyed their sexuality, as any animal would. It is a daunting responsibility to bring an animal into your home, one that is, in many ways, unnatural. I have so much respect for the intelligence of dogs, that, at this point, I'm wondering whether or not it is fair to keep them as "pets." I wonder if we should keep animals at all. Why do we have to bend other species to our will, in a way?
5
@JCam "Enjoyed their sexuality?" I would have thought that they never got to enjoy their sexuality because they were never allowed to mate. They just got to be frustrated twice a year.
3
Perhaps someone said it before, but it is absolutely false that "the extras must be killed."
It's not as if domesticated dogs, many (most?) of whom started out as pets, are a highly dangerous-to-humans disease. Even an excess (whatever that means, and its meaning seems to differ according to which homosapien's asked) former Fidos are NOT like an E.Coli bacterium or Ebola virus. They're not even like stray rats or rabbits or any number of reptiles and amphibians or ducks or geese -- all of whom are prolific reproducers and that generally roam freely, with no mass plan to render them all sterile except for a few belonging to breeders who then charge astronomical prices for "their" products. And even with, say, the pigeons which, in my and many others' opinion, overpopulate our urban and suburban communities and also are largely dependent now on humans' sloppy seconds for survival (hence their urban thriving), one doesn't often hear that, of course, "the extras must be killed." When was the last time you called animal control to catch and sterilize or kill flocks of pigeons? Heck, even raccoons aren't mundanely rounded up & killed (or sterilized) unless they've actually attacked a human or, maybe, a pet. Instead, they are left alone or, at most, caught & relocated to a different location.
An alternate to mass killing of Fidos (who get the name because of their fidelity): mandate landlords accept dogs unless they prove substantial undue burden would ensue.
2
@Human Ever been to Mexico? If you have seen the places where street dogs breed at will, it's not a pretty sight at all and even worse for the starving dogs. If you go to places without street dogs, it's because they are rounded up and destroyed. And in some places, dedicated vets and rescuers are holding spay and neuter clinics or transporting dogs out of the country.
2
Wow, there are so many problems with this piece that's it's hard to know where to start. I guess I'd start with humans being the problem. They may be, policy in this case needs to reflect how behavior is, not how we would like it to be.
As to the aggression finding, and improvement in 1 out of 4 dogs is still better than 0 out of 4 dogs, 25% compared to 0%. Maybe people should put up with the mess of an intact female, but they won't, so that means yet more dogs in shelters.
And does it matter if it was 20 million euthanized pets before the current 2-4 million...or 13.5 million before? Even her cherry-picked speculative data point makes current practice 4 times better than before!
And comparing the practices of otehr countries is always problematic, as conditions and culture vary...past and present. The bottom line is adoptions are up, and euthanasia is down, so we're doing something right.
11
The author may have a point. In a perfect world we would have time to worry about this. In our imperfect world, this is far down the list of things to deal with.
10
@Helene
we are dodging bullets in America, like in east Congo.
1
I suppose your comments work for a smaller audience than for the rest of the country. I live in the south where people don't take kindly to anyone telling them what to do with their animals. Dogs regularly run through the woods chasing deer which qualify them for being shot because once they get that taste of blood they can become aggressive to more than deer. Some are tied up on a chain for most of their life We know a neighbor who shot someone's male dog because he was pestering their female and then just threw it in the woods.
These clearly aren't the kind of people you are writing to, they would laugh at you suggesting they socialize their mutts. But these same people are the ones who need to get the message to fix their animals because they don't care if their dogs have litters and they should. You have one idea but make room for other options for animals who are not as loved as yours is.
11
Absurd. We've just had a 17-month old child shot by an active shooter because we have senseless gun laws and the author complains about the humane treatment of dogs and cats.
To the author: Try driving at night, making a wrong turn into an alley way and viewing a dozen frightened feral cats and feral kittens scattering from the light of your headlights.
YOU'LL NEVER FORGET IT.
I HAVEN'T. Summer, 1975.
13
@Susanna
I'm told we can walk and chew gum. We can deal with guns and other issues at the same time.
1
Although I agree that humans need to stop treating our animal companions as property and more as members of the family, I have several issues with this article.
First, I possess a uterus that does not work. With all due respect, I am decidedly not asexual (not that it’s a bad thing, I’m just not). Less hormonal, but certainly not asexual.
Second, spaying and neutering can, in many cases, improve the lives of animals. For all my fellow Star Trek nerds out there, an analogy: do you remember how, um, upset Spock was when Pon Farr happened and there were no female Vulcans around? And that’s once every seven years—dogs and cats experience this much more often. It’s psychologically unkind to force them to endure an unfulfilled hormonal storm multiple times a year.
Sexually active lifestyles can also be detrimental to animals, especially females, who tend to emerge worse for wear from mating and pregnancy (especially repeated pregnancies, and especially cats). As with humans, most of the concern here seems to be for the well-being of the male animal.
I’m not even going to touch the subject of overpopulation, as that should be abundantly evident to anyone who’s visited a shelter, spoken to a veterinarian, or been conscious long enough to see any of the ubiquitous ads for the ASPCA and similar organizations in print and on television.
10
"For me simply to bring up the topic of desexing for discussion will be, in the eyes of some, impermissible, so sacred is the policy — and so heartfelt (and good- hearted) is the intent behind it."
The author missed "common-sensical" in her list of adjectives related to desexing.
Anyone who's spent time volunteering in a shelter -- or even done a casual perusal of the "Pet" section of the local classified websites -- knows that the rate of euthanasia is far above 18%. Unwanted dogs (and kittens) that can't be sold or given away by home breeders (accidental and otherwise) are regularly dumped in the woods or the desert.
I'll buy that there are some breeds that should be desexed later than others. But it'll take an awful lot of evidence to convince me that the kill rate for dogs should be significantly raised by abandoning mandatory desexing.
11
Actually, dogs are here for our convenience. We humans created dogs by domesticating the wolf some 15,000 years ago. Most dog breeds have absolutely no resemblance to the wolf-a product of selective breeding for traits of interest. The author is probably correct that bad behavior by humans is probably responsible for a lot of suffering on the part of dogs, but dogs wouldn't even exist if it weren't for us humans, and they were created to serve us. But in regard to the real point of this article, I don't find the idealism expressed by the author as compelling as the practical reality.
7
Dr. Horowitz's letter carries messages that I found important and of great value to would-be so dial engineers.
One, is the unintended consequence of eugenics that is inherent in essentially rounding up and neutering dogs without human homes. I have personally seen a large somewhat "closed" population of dogs transformed from roaming packs of small, all-weather scavengers living comfortably among some residents of a Native Reserve, replaced by a population of pit bull and Rottweiler dogs initially -in many cases- purchased and cared for as household protectors. The "clean-up" was part of an ongoing struggle to overcome the logistic and financial concomitants of a prior "project" by the US government to eradicate and or confine native people who resisted Manifest Destiny.
Rottweiler and pit bulls were costly to buy and profitable to breed and sell, so we're protected from neutering. "Res dogs" were neutered, whenever possible. And the most wiley and aggressive among the "social control dogs" have been "plentiful, multiplied, and taken dominion over the earth". Another source of oppression.
I must agree with those who say that one only has to spend time in shelters and in places where people do not spay and neuter to see the terrible outcomes for the animals. I have been there and seen it here and abroad and the traumas these unwanted and neglected animals face is heart wrenching. I have had the great pleasure of having befriended and cared for many rescued animals. They were spayed and neutered, have been part of our family, and have lived long and happy lives. I will continue to be an advocate for spaying and neutering as long as the realities on the ground are what they are.
13
I've owned six dogs over the years. All but two were/are shelter dogs, neutered before we even met them. As a kid, we had one male dog who was left "intact," and a female lab that my parents wanted to have at least one menses before she was spayed. Our dogs did not run loose then, and they don't now.
Yet I have distinct memories of watching the intact male inching across the skim ice on the lake after he'd dug under the fence - because there was a female in heat on the other side. He wasn't an overly sneaky dog, but when he could smell the hormones half a mile away, there was little stopping him - even immediate danger. Our female pup's menses was awful - largely because we couldn't even walk her without being surrounded by males who would do anything to be near her in the Biblical sense. They tried to get into the house, they peered in the basement windows and sliding doors. They howled and barked, and she wanted nothing more than to escape at every juncture.
I understand in theory that we should find a way to provide permanent birth control without spay/neuter - but dogs would not know the difference. They are our beloved pets, but animals first and foremost. Pheromones are potent things that don't go away with tube-tying. I'm happy that Norway doesn't have a problem, but I'm glad that our solution works well to control overpopulation.
9
The research into the effects of early, or any, altering of dogs (and cats!) should definitely go on. We should know if we are causing harm to our pets. But it sounds pretty preliminary. And the only unaltered golden retriever I knew had joint problems and several bouts with cancer. The breed is prone to these.
Perhaps if we regulated the breeding of pets, as many other developed countries do, we would not have the overpopulation problems we do. But there are backyard breeders everywhere, and they have little to no concern for the "development" of the breed; they only want the money. Many dog buyers are unaware of this.
It's even worse with cats. People take much better care of their dogs. Many cats, even owned cats, are left outside and expected to feed themselves. Even those that are well loved are allowed outside into dangerous situations, especially at night. One does not "train" a cat.
Other methods of altering dogs and cats do nothing to change the sex drive, so males would still fight for access to females in season. I can't imagine how things would work to have two dogs or cats of opposite sex in a household without having to confine them, which is not a choice I'd like.
4
I adopted my amazing Chihuhaha/Min-pin when he was just 2 months old. He is 2 years old now. I believe as the author believes, and have had this discussion with others many a time. My pup has such an amazing personality. I did not want major surgery as well as messing with his hormones to affect him. He is under my supervision at all times, or is in a secure location. I feel it is my responsibility to protect him at all costs. I have already fought two large dogs that tried to kill him. I feel putting him through major, unnecessary surgery would be a major betrayal. I believe the decision should be made by owners on a case-by-case basis. Chico does not mount or mark, he doesn't run off, and he is very socialized with people and other pets. Most people who push spay-neuter, like many on this comment section, are fanatic to the point of religious, regardless of the individual circumstances of the dog owner or dog. I understand my situation is not the same as that of others. But I love my dog exactly the way he is .. intact .. the way he was created. I see absolutely no reason to put him through a completely unnecessary surgical procedure. I did neuter my male cat when he was a kitten. From experience I know it is much more difficult to keep an intact cat from marking or spraying .. or straying on the prowl! I also know my limits, and there's no point in leaving the cat intact if I may end up having to give up the cat it it's too destructive.
1
I agree with everything you say. Sadly, as long as humans continue to behave in this way, there is no other option.
4
My wife and I have raised three dogs from puppyhood to old age, and recently brought home a new puppy. All three of our dogs were altered soon after birth, and all had reasonably long lives (almost 16 years for our mutt, and 13 1/2 years for each of our Golden Retrievers). They also had great lives, doing what dogs like to do (swimming, going to parks, fetching, chasing squirrels, sleeping and dreaming).
I have read the recent articles suggesting health issues with Golden Retrievers who are altered young and we may delay neutering our new pup (who is half Golden) for a few months, but on balance, regular spaying and neutering is substantially better than the euthanasia of millions of healthy dogs.
5
This article is further proof that we need to break down the human/dog binary thinking, and realize that it is really much more of a spectrum.
1
Americans, as a whole, view things as disposable, pets included. How many people TRULY stop and think about the time, energy and expense of being a responsible pet owner? My dog wakes me up many mornings between 3 and 4:30 am just because. Does it wreck my sleep patterns? Sure. Am I going to give her up because it's inconvenient for me? Absolutely not. If people really considered what it takes to properly train and care for an animal, I think the intact/altered argument would be moot because there would, naturally, be fewer unwanted animals.
10
Millions of women have had hysterectomies without feeling or being told that they are"de-sexed." Just saying.
18
@Dr. M Yes, but usually not at so young an age as the dogs in question. And humans who are young are given hormones for the rest of their lives.
I don’t get it. If overpopulation is the true problem, isn’t a spay/neuter program a response to that problem rather than an evasion? It’s hard to disagree with the author’s cultural verdicts: we do value convenience. But after a close reading, I’m tempted to file this piece in the vast category of “If we behaved differently as a people, we wouldn’t have this problem.” OK. But we do.
10
I'm glad NYT offers different voices and opinions. I believe that over population of both dogs and people adds to the load on the planet. Let's be wise. Those who understand how to care for dogs who have not been neutered can take the time and energy to care for them. For many of us who have made a large effort to socialize, feed and exercise our beloved companions, having an animal who is also not spayed it just too much. So, for so many, this would lead to actually harming the animal by not meeting the animal's needs.
I am glad to read this essay, and must say, although I would like more people to be responsible and completely attentive to their animal's needs, this is too high an ideal for many. Thanks NYT for publishing this. It is just too high a standard for so many of us to achieve.
Unless we lived in Norway where we wouldn't have so much pressure on paying medical bills, educating our children, getting prepared for old age and all that. Change our American society, and maybe we will have the energy and finances to have our dogs as nature intended.
2
You Americans live in a throw away society. Here in the Netherlands we don't have a stray dog problem an neutering is not a common practice. Where i live there are 11 dogs in the animal shelter / human population is 80.000. My German shepherd bitch is intact and i have had no problems at all with other dogs, male or female. Take care of your animals and don't throw them away when you get tired of them.
9
As a European living between the US and Europe I am so fed up with comparing a tiny country like Holland to the USA. I am Swedish and how many Scandinavians and Dutch are there? 36 million? That is less than Spain (where I was thankfully raised) and where there is still a huge problem with unwanted dogs. It is getting better, much so I may add, but comparing The Netherlands to the USA is a joke. It is like comparing Dutch Gouda cheese to the plastic-tasting Swedish version of your fabulous cheese.
@Per Birkelund
Size doesn't matter ;) It's the mentality of the people. Just for fun: I just checked the website that lists all of the dogs in animal shelters here in the Netherlands. 425 dogs in the animal shelter / human population 17 million. Compare that to a city like Los Angeles. And i can honestly say i have never seen a stray dog here in 45 years.
1
@Patrick
Amen.
1
Domestic dogs ARE here for our convenience. They have been bred to be here for that very purpose over hundreds of years.
3
@Ron E .. They were wolves originally. They weren't created by humans from scratch. We coaxed them out of the wilderness with food and companionship to then turn them into slaves, for the most part. We have a profound responsibility, as humans, to make sure these creatures have reasonably happy, healthy, fulfilling lives. It's the least we can do. They are completely dedicated to loving us unconditionally.
I adopted my beautiful, funny, caring, Chihuahua (my second dog ever and my second rescue)) from a foster rescue group in NYC. Unfortunately she had to be rescued because the person who left her at the city pound in Alabama with 2 newborn pups couldn't care less about her welfare. Where was their responsibility? I guess she was ok as long as she didn't become pregnant. One thing I know for sure, this will never happen again thanks to the responsibility of the rescue groups.
3
"Dogs Are Not Here for Our Convenience." That's like saying corn is not here for our convenience.
Both are human inventions, naturally occurring organisms heavily modified for our convenience. With dogs, it's a case of we broke it, we fix it.
3
@Martin You're really comparing corn to sentient beings? And no, we didn't "invent" dogs.
1
Thank you. When I got my 10 week old puppy 9 years ago I refused to have him fixed. I wanted him to fully develop before I’d ever consider fixing him. I’m so glad I kept him intact. His behavior compared to all the fixed dogs I know is much more complex and independent. His sense of smell is far more interesting to him than other dogs. He list goes on. Living here in the city I felt it wasn’t as important.
3
Really you know that other dogs don’t have your dog’s acute sense of smell and behavior? What utter nonsense.
My little rescue and fixed dog smells up a storm and is charming and friendly and no worse for wear having been ‘desexed.”
1
I am sure the writer is a very nice person. I am confident she is a loving and responsible dog owner. I commend her for her passion. Mostly I respect her love of dogs. I am a dog lover myself. Respectfully I cannot disagree with her more. You see not everyone is as responsible as she is. We see it every day. I live in a college town. It makes me sad when I see a collage kid with a puppy. There is a good chance that dog is going end up in a shelter or if the dog is lucky at the parents of that student. The point is many people adopt pets with no clue as to the responsibility. So Dr. with all your kindness toward dogs. Everyone is not you or me or the myriad of people who are responsible. We do need to control the cat and dog population. I’d rather see it done before the puppy’s show up instead of having to destroy them after the fact.
10
My dog went through two 4 hour surgeries for breast cancer so severe that her rescue group leader thought she should be put to sleep instead. They didn’t know if she lived through the surgeries or if they would help. It was caused by the lack of spaying. Every vet I’ve asked said breast cancer in female dogs is caused by the lack of this surgery before the first heat cycle. Some of the issues in other dogs you described are caused by inbreeding. Overpopulation kills more dogs than these issues as well,
7
Alexandra - I think you forgot to add the statistics around what you seem to dismiss by putting quotes around “helps prevent breast cancer and uterine infections.” These are among the most common, sometimes lethal, and always expensive conditions that develop in intact dogs. These are far more common than the increase of rare tumors associated with neutering. Can you level the playing field by sharing the context and statistics for these conditions in addition to the more sensational ones?
9
I started reading this piece believing that I would be completely opposed to its message but...it turns out that I'm in 100 percent agreement with the author. The problem is really HUMAN overpopulation. I have always thought so, of course, and if everyone were actually responsible, loving and thoughtful pet guardians for the life of their pets then this would be a non-issue. But human beings, Americans in specific, are gluttonous, selfish and very, very wasteful. We continue not to respect other animals (we're animals, too) because we don't even respect ourselves. We euthanize pets with abandon but argue against abortion and euthanasia for humans. Americans eat beef and chicken at almost every meal- there's no concern or thought about how the animals are treated for this mass production. In short, we're a disgusting species and if anyone should be desexed, it is humans. Like so many other problems, this one is also self-created. I personally don't believe human beings are decent enough to resolve this. My rescued dog was spayed a week before we met her. She and I are similar in myriad ways, including that neither one of us has reproduced. But I still have my ovaries and I have not reproduced by choice. Her choice was taken away.
2
The author is a very compassionate person. Unfortunately, I don't think current policy is misguided for a number of reasons, not the least of which she cites in her very last sentence: ".. we are the ones who need fixing."
There are no words. I have worked in rescue in the south for many years and I honestly wanted to vomit while reading her ivory-tower ideology regarding spay/neuter. I heartily invite her to come work a week in Arkansas with a beleagured, broke, and broken-heaarted volunteer group desperately trying to save some of these animals. It's like a third world country down here in terms of animal welfare, and if you do the math on how many puppies an unaltered dog can create in a year your head will spin. Sure a responsible pet owner with adequate resources can control their pet's reproductive habits, but in poor, rural, uneducated areas of this country it's a completely different story. The fact that having an unaltered pet is frowned upon these days may be a little inconvenient for some, but it shows a much-needed evolution in attitudes about animal welfare.
20
@Jeanie "The fact that having an unaltered pet is frowned upon these days may be a little inconvenient for some, but it shows a much-needed evolution in attitudes about animal welfare." No, it shows that we have a bunch of group-think automatons with no independence of thought who like to point their finger at others from their moral high ground, regardless of the circumstances. My dog is fully under my control. He will not be impregnating anyone. He is happy and healthy, and does not need unnecessary surgery just to please the finger pointers.
The animals aren't the issue, dear author. It's the owners. In a perfect world we would all be responsible pet owners. The laws would be stiff and strongly enforced. Currently, we have laws but they aren't enforced. Law enforcement is simply overwhelmed with higher priority work.
I fought with 1 neighbor for 20 years while he owned 6 different dogs--none fixed, and all died neglectful deaths either trying to escape while tied up, or from other violent/painful means. (You really don't want the details.) He finally stopped bringing dogs home after the trouble I caused him over the last one.
Now I have a new neighbor with a 5 month old unfixed Husky (in Georgia, average summer temp 90+degrees). He currently weighs around 50 lbs, has no training, gets walked once or twice a week, and raises a huge ruckus when he's not the center of attention. I watched this weekend as the owner started a slapped together cage of sorts, which I don't doubt will be this beautiful, unfortunate creatures new home. I'm already putting together my list of threats to this family when this behavior begins.
Would fixing this lovely animal alleviate his future suffering? No. But unfortunately, neither is keeping him intact.
7
@Rebecca Why do Southern states permit outdoor dogs? Illinois doesn't even allow tethered dogs outside.
@atb, I wish I could say something that didn't offend. I think there's still a culture of animals as livestock and not pets, even when they are. (This isn't isolated to the South!) There are laws about tethering; they just aren't enforced. I tried all branches of law to no avail. They are overwhelmed. Now, I make their lives miserable. Yup, it's a bit risky, but effective!
Our 4.5 year-old German Shepherd is "intact". We read the literature, spoke with our vet, and weighed the pros and cons of neutering him. I am happy we did not. With extensive (and enjoyable training) he has grown in to a happy, non-aggressive house dog. He does not run free; was socialized with children, adults, and other animals from the earliest age; and is the healthiest pet we have ever had. Taking care of a pet in the family is a lot of work, and his health is a life-long commitment that cannot be shirked.
4
@Joe
And how often do you and your GS come across intact females that are in heat? My guess is virtually never. Which likely makes things much easier for you.
1
@Joe "Taking care of a pet in the family is a lot of work, and his health is a life-long commitment that cannot be shirked." Agreed! Unfortunately, dogs and cats are treated as disposable commodities. Dogs in particular, get extremely attached emotionally to their care-takers, and they often never fully recover from the emotional trauma when they suddenly find themselves at a shelter or in a stranger's home. I have three pets. Two cats and one dog. They all adore me, as I do them, and I can't even imagine how they would feel if I kicked them to the curb. There have been several times where I have considered it. Like you said, taking care of a pet is a lot of work. But I'm afraid I would be haunted in my dreams for the rest of my life for betraying the trust of these lovable creatures.
There are two separate issues here: 1) a responsible pet owner can usually successfully train and manage the appropriate care of an intact pet. Sure. But not everyone is a responsible pet owner. 2) There is no reason one can't prevent one's pet from reproducing - in theory. In spite of my very responsible parents, my childhood cat had a litter because Grandpa forgot to re-close the bathroom window while visiting from Florida. In the US many animals roam particularly in poorer rural areas where folks simply don't have spare cash to neuter their animals. There are plenty of people who make children without the intention or means to raise them, too. Given the enormous number of shelter mutts, I don't see any signs that we're in imminent danger of losing the mutt from the genetic pool. Norway aside, as others have commented, in many parts of the world enormous numbers of ill, half-starved feral dogs and cats are the norm. If a relatively safe procedure can prevent that, I'm all for it.
12
I don't have a strong opinion on this issue. But I would like to point out that the author's claim that we see this as a dog problem to fix by fixing dogs is simply untrue. As she states herself: "Critically, there are now much higher rates of adoptions, better “containment” (fewer pet dogs just let loose to run around), and better identification methods, which allow for reunion of lost dogs with their owners." The frame for the piece is faulty. Dog owners have also become more responsible.
2
Thank goodness!! Finally widespread attention to an issue that is so important. Who decides that all animals in the hands of the HS gets neutered or spayed. It’s hubris, appalling and inhumane to think oneself the arbiter of another beings life, reproductive potential, and rights. Luckily we would never apply this misguided philosophy to humans....
@Leslie I suppose you prefer the life or death decision to euthanize once a shelter is too crowded?
I don’t view this article as being for less fixing. It’s about less pet ownership. The way most people treat their dogs is not particularly compassionate for a DOG. Maybe it would be compassionate for a person, but dogs are not people or babies.
I have a hard time finding the ownership of any living thing to be particularly humane or compassionate. I’m not a fan of dogs and I’m not a vegetarian. I don’t prioritize the needs of animals anywhere near the needs of people. But I’m not a hypocrite about how much I love animals while expecting them to act against their nature.
2
We love our mixed breed spayed shelter dog. I didn't want her desexed but we had no choice. No spay, no dog. That was ok with me till I read this article. Everything is so complex
2
@Bill Simpson Ridiculous. You want more shelter dogs who don't find homes? Are you aware that 6m dogs are euthanized in this country annually?
I do only rescue of special needs homeless animals over 6. There will be plenty of other wonderful dogs that need loving homes when your rescue has lived to a ripe old age in a loving home.
It's not that complex. The number of homeless animals is obscene. The number put to death is equally obscene.
You seem to have done a good thing by choosing to give a loving homeless dog a good life. Don't forget what happens to everyone of his or her shelter mates you didn't take home.
1
@Bill Simpson
What do you think you’re missing out on?
1
The headline writer is off base by a mile. It is not news that humans originally domesticated wolves, morphing them into dogs, entirely for our convenience. Unquestioning love, devotion, warmth, guiding, protection, herding, hunting or whatever reason, people have chosen for centuries to have dogs.
Full disclosure: I love my dog to bits. He is a rescue from southern US, and came neutered at five months. He is so convenient, entirely suitable even.
3
Well done, Dr. Horowitz. You have tackled one of those elephant-in-the-room topics with candor and logic. We humans rarely want to “blame” our humanselves on topics that are not controversial. Thank you for helping those of us who read the article to see that elephant.
3
I wish we cared as much about people as we do about dogs.
5
This is a common sentiment, but, with respect, a faulty one. We see people caring about dogs, we see people doing harm to people, or being indifferent to the needs of people, and it’s a convenient and pithy thing to say. In truth, there’s no real relationship. We can, and should, care about people, and animals, even if we value people more. That’s our best incarnation, not a species or society that only chooses one or the other.
4
@Working mom
Are three million people euthanized yearly in the US?
1
I certainly agree with the last line: But we are the ones who need fixing.
So what's the plan for getting humans to become responsible stewards of ourselves, other species, and the planet? Seems to me, that as a whole, we're not cutting it.
Until then, the fewer pets available to suffer at our expense, the better.
7
have owned multiple cats and dogs over the years.
Never planned on breeding any of m y pets. So that doesn't come into play.
Roaming, getting lost & injured, eaten by coyotes, etc -- far more important than whether or not they will ever get to experience sex.
My cats have all been indoor cats, still fixed. I challenge anyone to prevent an unfixed male tomcat from spraying, even inside The stench from cat urine is overwhelming and difficult to remove. Never had the problem with fixed ones.
my male large breed dog was neutered after he turned 2 because of the joint issues mentioned. Females were spayed after first heat. My dogs roam free on 2 acres of woods when I am not home. I have an invisible fence that works incredibly well to keep them in; (no it is not cruel, just unpleasant. have tested it on myself). They never even test it. They get to exercise & run freely, swim in the on site pond, etc. However, it won't keep other animals out. I also don't trust that it will prevent them from leaving if they weren't spayed/neutered & a tempting other is in the area.
11
The people who most benefit from altering animals are the ones who sell them. keeping down the supply, cutting off the free ones a neighbor or relative might have given.
Wanting a kitten recently, I inquired at a local Manhattan pet shop. A perfectly ordinary kitten would have cost me $1000. ASTOUNDING!
1
@mike
A pet shop. A shelter would have been more reasonable.
5
You have got to be kidding me. Originally from the western US, I have lived in the south for six years. I have seen more unwanted, abandoned, stray, and feral animals in those six years than I have seen in my entire life previously. Because of this, I’ve become very involved with both shelters, and TNR with feral cats. There are simply too many animals here and not enough people to adopt them. I am appalled daily at the amount of animals that are released to shelters, especially during “puppy and kitten season.“ The author needs to come to the south and spend one day at one of the smaller rural shelters and that will be enough to change their mind permanently about the benefits of spaying and neutering, believe me.
16
The dogs we know today only exist because they were engineered to have certain qualities to make them valuable to people: work dogs, companion animals, rat dogs, herding dogs, etc. So, yes, they are here for our convenience. And it our responsibility to give them the best lives possible. In some cases neutering might not be necessary or advisable, but I can't imagine what would happen if we would reverse course and stop doing it as a norm.
4
I support the proposals in this piece - when I get into my time machine and head back to the mid-20th century and am in charge of setting animal welfare policy. Totally will do this.
For now, I trust few dog owners to consider adjusting their lifestyle and expectations to care for their dogs as recommended here.
(BTW, reference to a tiny country like Norway or Sweden with a homogeneous culture doesn't really make the case that "taking care of your dog" will of itself work as requested.)
7
Cats are a different story. Please spay and neuter your kitties.
2
The author needs to read "The Upshot" today....
3
Thought provoking piece. The best dog I ever had the opportunity to live with during a long lifetime of dogs was a pound dog named Manny. Of all the dogs that I have known, he is the one dog should have replicated. He was amazing. But, he didn't get that opportunity. Yet, I've met many a purebred dog who shouldn't be passing on its obviously defective genes. On the other hand, I didn't spay my Bernese girl Eiger. That's likely the reason she had breast cancer, because there is a clear link between breast cancer in large dogs and hormones. My personal experience shows that these are difficult questions without easy solutions. But thanks to the author for making me think about these questions.
1
I can't get over the headline, which seems very peculiar on repeated reading. Dogs do not exist in the first place for any particular reason, they exist, just as humans do, through the ineluctable working out of evolutionary processes that have no ultimate purpose. Domestic dogs, by definition, exist at the convenience of humans. Whether domestic dogs ought to exist or not is a subtle question, just as is the question of which species actually domesticated which.
5
I see the point of what the author is saying. I also see reality. The vast majority of Americans have no more concern for the proper training, care, and breeding of animals than they have for the proper training, care, and breeding of their children.
There. Said it.
It's just a damn shame that the miserable lives and immense suffering of millions of animals is the direct result of stupid Americans. And say the exact same thing for the millions of abused and neglected children who never have a chance for a decent life.
Perhaps the real solution here is to identify the humans causing the misery to animals and to children and neuter them.
7
Nice try, Horowitz. I'll be damned if I'm going to feel guilty about spay-neuter. In my community, I see people walking their dogs, a leash in one hand and a dangling plastic bag of droppings in the other. It's the law. That's what people with dogs do. I am also sure that many of these dogs are from shelters.
My point is that it's the ownership and caring for the pet that drives the need to own a dog, not its sex drive.Breeding and simply owning a dog are entirely different subjects.
Bow wow indeed.
7
Along with so many other things wrong with this article, "Dr. Horowitz," whose alleged expertise is studying dogs, refers to them as carnivores.
Dogs (and wolves) are omnivores.
4
@Discerning Wrong. They are carnivores. Not obligate carnivores like cats, but opportunistic carnivores. That means that while they can survive on some plant matter, they will not thrive on plant matter. The omnivore argument is a modern fallacy promoted by certain commercial pet food manufacturers who want you to believe that corn, wheat, rice and other fillers are of significant nutritional value to your pet.
3
@Discerning
Dogs are omnivores cannot be more wrong.
Dog is a apex carnivore, Cays are obligatory apex carnivore.
Humans are utterly selfish and created our dogs to serve ourselves. But humans created the problem of unwanted dogs, all of which are unsuited to our society. Wolves, the natural ancestors, are the only dogs that can survive without humans—and only without humans today. De-sexing our human-created dogs is as natural a part of this artificiality as is its creation. It is this idea of preventing de-sexing that is actually selfish, even hypocritical. If it were up to dogs to decide whether humans should be de-sexed, they’d likely be in favor.
4
Years ago, we had an intact beagle, kept that way to breed once, then spay. When she came into heat, we kept her in the house. The male dogs in the area set up a perimeter outside. It got ugly; they got in a fight and one got killed. The beagle was bred, had 6 puppies - then she was spayed. Never again
7
5 percent of people should have a dog. They all need exercise and the ability to do what they were need for. Man's need to have a dog as a pet is a very selfish one. Fixing them is a disgrace, however, necessary for as long as people want them. The herd has to be thinned, and I'm not talking about dogs. There were only 13 breeds prior to the Victorian age.
1
Well, I figured this article would bring out all the spay/neuter fans, and that they would skip over the part about it not being common practice anywhere but here.
For me, it said what I have always believed, just in different words. Subjecting our dogs to castration and hysterectomy is done for human convenience. Period. Putting dogs through major, unnecessary surgery for non-medical reasons is animal abuse.
The one problem I have with the article is the idea that exemptions for purebred dogs would lead to the mass production of purebreds and the extinction of mixed breeds. How ridiculous. If purebreds are so bad, why is the first question always "What kind of dog is he?" As in, what breeds.
3
I deeply sympathize with Ms. Horowitz's basic perspective, that domestic dogs, as fellow sentient beings, should not be regarded as merely means to an end, but as ends in themselves--as having lives that intrinsically worthy. But I completely disagree with her conclusions. If dogs are not here for our convenience, then neither can cattle be here for the convenience of domestic dogs (or humans, for that matter). The simple implication of her starting point is that breeding and sustaining domesticated animals is unethical. And, because wild animals are also intrinsically worthy, exploiting or harming them to sustain domesticated animals is doubly wrong.
That is the conclusion one takes when looking at the matter ethically and morally. It is the right conclusion. Animals are not here for us or for our pets.
The last thing needed is yet more extremists, like Anti-Vaxxers, pretending they're helping while increasing suffering and death.
There's a science based article with statistical data in today's Times: "Why Euthanasia Rates at Animal Shelters Have Plummeted. A cultural transformation: Spaying and neutering are now the norm, and rescue adoption is growing in popularity."
It states: "When a lost, stray or abandoned pet entered an American city’s animal shelter 10 years ago, there was a good chance it would not leave….In a quiet transformation, pet euthanasia rates have plummeted...falling more than 75 percent since 2009."
"For much of their history, cities' animal services swept stray dogs off the streets, brought them to the pound, and put them to death...In the mid-19th century, New York City adopted a policy to drown stray dogs."
By the 1970s over "25 percent of the nation’s dogs were out on the streets". Further, over "13.5 million animals were euthanized in shelters each year".
Since the 1970s, "the number of stray animals entering American shelters has decreased sharply--the result of a successful push to promote spaying and neutering of pets."
In 1971 alone "Los Angeles's shelter euthanized more than 110,000 animals". Thanks to "spaying and neutering pets", in 2018 that same shelter euthanized only an average of 10 animals per day.
It is unforgivable that millions of animals must die just so advocates against spaying and neutering can feel good about themselves.
13
Echoes of Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady singing "why can't the English teach their children how to speak?" are present here. We know the drill: "Why can't public education in the USA be more like that in Finland or Singapore?" "Why can't childcare options in the USA be more like those in France or Sweden?" And now: "Why can't "American" dog-owners be more like the Norwegians?" This opinion piece is not only an unhelpful model for policy analysis, but also addresses a problem so low on our nation's current set of priorities that it nears utter irrelevance.
4
I apologize. I couldn't get through the entire piece because it was Biblical in length. Really????????? Most of the dogs I know are treated better than people. I've seen dogs with their own special strollers, as their human caretakers give in to their every whim. People leave their pets better inheritances than family or friends. I love my own two dogs -- both rescues, both, oh God forbid, de-sexed. They've had a great life and I enjoy them -- I've even slept with them wrapped up in my arms. But if we now have a new movement to let dogs reproduce whenever biology decides, we will compound the overpopulation problem. As fact or fiction below said, "This is one instance where idealism is made completely irrelevant by reality." Amen for common sense.
6
"Be good to your pets" is a fine mantra that all owners need to embrace.
"You're evil if you spay/neuter your pets" is an ethical proposition on the same line as "Abortions are evil." If that's your position, fine, live that way. Keep it out of my life.
Oh, and if you're wondering, I adopt all my animals from rescue shelters, all of which are overcrowded. Why would I want to INCREASE the pet population when a painless, easy procedure is available?
8
The nay sayers in this stream are missing the point. To say it's about the human discomfort with euthanizing dogs goes to the very title of the article. The veiw point presented is precisely that it's not and shouldn't necessarily be about it what's easiest for humans. There is a very powerful point here about how the widespread spray neuter policy is affecting doggie diversity and how spay/neuter is pushing us towards what will eventually amount towards a preponderance of Frankenstein dogs. Also, really good points about the health issues associated with spay/neuter. I have a lovely, intact St. Bernard mix in the middle of the city and it's not a problem because he's well trained and well behaved. I'm so tired of the comments made by my judgy friends as to why he should be neutered. It's always something vague about my social responsibilty to neuter him even though he doesn't have the opportunity to impregnate dogs. Like he should take a hit for the team or be in solidarity with neutered dogs. It makes no sense.
4
It is so interesting that so soon after the Washington Post published this article on the destructive qualities of large numbers of free-ranging dogs (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-dog-is-one-of-the-worlds-most-destructive-mammals-brazil-proves-it/2019/08/19/c37a1250-a8da-11e9-8733-48c87235f396_story.html) this article comes out.
Yes, a lot has improved in the US for stray animals and, despite what was the intent of the statement made here, a large part of that is due to the widespread spaying and neutering of dogs. People are more likely to keep their dogs contained? Dogs are less likely to find any means possible to mate is one reason.
Having done years of work in developing contexts and seeing the large numbers of packs of dogs and the poor quality of their lives I must say that I pick up on no small amount of privilege when our great strides are spun through a narrow view of the here and now.
6
While this is an overall good article, well-researched, one must take exception to this statement: "In other words, commercial breeders of purebred dogs — a process of inbreeding — can make more dogs with impunity. " In fact, most purebred dog breeders breed dogs as a hobby for companions, show, performance events, hunting, and herding - they are NOT commercial breeders. Additionally, no one breeds with "impunity." The shelter industry has so influenced lawmaking that breeding is highly restricted. Indeed, it is the shelters and so-called "rescues" that operate with impunity. They have no legal obligation to take back or refund sick animals and are now creating major human and animal health concerns with unfettered importation thousands of disease carrying random source dogs from other states and foreign countries.
3
@Ampirion, breeding “highly restricted”? On the books, maybe, in a few cities. But I assure you that people are still breeding their dogs both casually and willfully. I know owners of purebreds purchased as pets (dogs that should have been desexed, a requirement that is usually in the purchase contract if the dog came form a “good” breeder) who decide to do a couple litters for fun, for the kids to have that experience, for a few extra dollars, to have a replacement for the dog when it dies, or to get into the dog show world by doing minor shows. These are often dogs with genetic problems that make them poor breeding subjects, which is why they were not sold as breed-worthy show dogs in the first place. In the rural part of my county you can find countless backyard breeders of unlicensed dogs. The animal control laws are not enforced.
3
We kill millions of dogs a year in this country because no one will take care of them. Stopping spaying and neutering will certainly not reduce that number. Use your head.
11
@Larry Brothers
Dogs and cats are not for human joy, if you can't them , do not own them. So then you do not create millions of unwanted pets.
Problem is not our pets, humans, reckless, callous, irresponsible. Humans.
1
Lets feed humans first.
3
Why NYT?
If I write a seemingly academic op-ed about why cats should take over the planet or why bananas make better sex toys than food, will it get published?
Ms. Horowitz can have her opinions, but why were these Pollyanna and illogical views given such important space?
Some reality-based & obvious counter-points:
• Dogs have been domesticated/bred for thousands of years for the sake of some form of human “convenience”. It’s why they exist.
• The average busy, cash-strapped American family is already challenged with pet dogs that require more training and exercise than they can handle. It’s part of why shelters are so full. Does increased aggression, or dogs humping your leg, bleeding on the couch and running stray to chase tail sound like positive change?
• Only one in four male dogs shows less aggression after surgery? ONLY? With 40+ million male dogs in this country, that’s 10 million less aggressive dogs.
• Spay/neutering works to reduce population and has drastically reduced needless euthanasia. This is fact. There may be drawbacks but they don't compare to the benefits. It’s good public policy.
• Euthanizing healthy pets is the worst job in the world. The next time you consider publishing an article about why over-run southern shelters shouldn’t send puppies north for adoption or why we shouldn’t spay/ neuter dogs, you should first visit a struggling shelter and ask if you can push the death plunger on the dog licking your face.
22
This opinion fails to confer those dog breeds or types which have been bred for centuries to bring down its prey, for its tenacity in face of pain. There are dogs that do not stop. There are dogs that cannot be saved. The safety of our communities is much more important I can say that if you are attacked by a vicious dog while protecting a 5 year old boy, watch your throat and back of your neck. That's where they try to go for the kill. If you are on your back with the dog trying to rip your throat out, grab its open mouth and keep it away from your throat. You can make fists and cram them in its mouth. Warning it hurts like hell but saved us. Also know that it may try to get back to its chosen prey, in our case a 5 year old boy. So be prepared to crawl after it and grab it again and again before it reaches or gets back to the child. If it gets the child it will be devastating. And DO NOT get involved in a tug of war. Grab that dog again and again and insert yourself into the battle. Make yourself its prey. Protect that child. How horrific do y'all think it is for me to be able to give such advice? #beentheredonethat #wontbackdown!
7
Thank you for writing this. We should go through a class to be the caretaker of a dog or pet before we get one. The way we regard the lives of animals with thoughtless cruelty is heartbreaking. I can see that many readers have missed a major point in your opinion piece. While others are backward looking. I think it is mostly well intended, and going forward, we need to be more aware and in touch with the lives, feelings, and the relationships with our beloved companions.
3
I do feel sorry for my dog, whom we met at the Petland store seven years ago, already "fixed," with tail nearly cut off and ears cropped. We love him enough that we hope he's forgotten what he's missed.
1
American pet owner culture is not going to change much. Encouraging responsible pet ownership is good. Discouraging pet ownership, especially in cities,is even better.
As an owner of a large horse who encounters dogs and their owners daily I can assure you that most owners of dog are clueless and want to remain that way.
6
Just FYI: Norway freezes in the winter. That fact alone will tend to keep the stray population down.
7
"Not always for the better", but is it usually for the worse? Let's be honest, doc.
1
Whoever wrote the headline, "Dogs are not here for our convenience" must be confused. Clearly, we are here for our dogs' convenience and they have trained many of us well. However, the author's proposal goes well beyond the training of most pet owners and is completely unrealistic.
4
Sorry, but I think we have bigger problems right now.
4
Ugh. Please. Let's say S/N increases odds of cancer. So, the dog will live 10-12 years of a pampered, loved, well-fed life, instead of the 13-15 they'd otherwise live without? Sounds like a good trade off. Dogs in the wild (go visit a developing country, or some rural areas in the US) usually don't look healthy. And non-neutered male dogs eat more babies. Just saying.
2
I recall our unspayed Yorkie girl adopting stray socks and fussing over them like puppies many years ago. I'm not convinced I've been somehow unfair to my current animals by sparing them the experience of raging hormones.
6
of so much mis information. did the author contact the AKC or just the animal rights groups like HSI/HSUS/ASPCA? breeding pure bred dogs is not "inbreeding" and commercial breeders very often breed mixed dogs. see all of the "oodles" and "puggles etc
2
Condoms for dogs, that's the answer--unless the Catholic Church objects. (Since dogs and other animals are frequently blessed by priests, this is not a frivolous exception.)
2
" give them up when they’re a nuisance or difficult "
A sentiment I heard loudly expressed on the radio this morning...
Swore he was being some version of "principled"
The type person who should never be allowed near a dog
My how holier than thou. This article is nothing but inflammatory. It is representative of our culture today in so many ways. The obvious is having the privilege to incessantly complain about a problem with no solution in hand or in mind. So many of us follow the authors lead about the problems our society faces and yet we are unwilling to compromise or work together for a solution. This unwillingness to problem solve will ultimately be our destruction.
“I don’t like this so YOU should change.”
Look to the White House for confirmation of how selfish and narrow minded our society has become.
3
I've read many of the comments here, and some of them are not just simply dismissive of the author's opinion; most Americans genuinely love their pets, probably a helluva lot more than they love their neighbors. Spaying/not spaying--each seems to come with bad consequences. Like so many other situations in this world, there is no right or easy answer. I don't believe in God, but if you do, you should realize that this one's on God, like so many other problems in the world that are seemingly unsolvable. God is all-powerful and all-knowing, certainly God's aware of the problem and it's on his to-do list. Please don't give me the "free will" argument either, it was God's choice to give us free will, too. In conclusion I must say the author is an optimist at best and seriously naive at worst. Half of the country is ok with tens of millions of people not having healthcare--how could you imagine they would care about what's best for dogs and cats?
Oh come on , this is the most ridiculous theory.
First , some of us would only adopt sheltered dogs.
Mine came from Nashville Humane a Pomeranian / Chihuahua female. And at fourteen and half is one of of the most beautiful one I have laid eyes upon.
We got Her when told was 6 months, of course spayed and neutered, the Vet later told us this one is not more than 6 weeks old.
This is what happens, sheltered dogs as a rule of thumb must be neutered .
2
My unneutered dog got pyrometra and an emergency hysterectomy. Painful and expensive.
1
Thank you so much for this article!!! I had just read the UPenn study which shows unequivocally in a very large study that neutering a male actually increases aggression, and the younger done the more pronounced. I had two golden females obtained a year apart. With the older one, I had a friend from argentina at the time who pleaded with me not to fix her until she had a litter, I did not want puppies, she said wait until first heat at least. I did. Second girl, the vet convinced me did not matter, we fixed her at 5 months. She gained a huge amount of weight (these dogs were biological sisters from different litters) and she was awfully anxious subsequent to surgery and it never went away. I feel awful we did that to her. How many dogs do you know on Prozac or CBD for anxiety? Guess what - likely all "fixed".
Our new male is in-tact. He is as sweet and gentle as could be. Not an aggressive bone in his body.
Think about how and when we start to feel "age", when do our joints start to hurt? When do we loose bone density? When do cancer rates climb? when your hormones fall!!!
Tubal Ligation or vasectomy I would consider if I was not diligent. But I will never ever "fix" another fur-baby of mine through gonad-ectomy. Even my females, who were "fixed" humped things. It's a dominance behavior...snipping won't change that instinct.
It increases many risks of various types of cancer studies show also.
4
It seems that the increasing concern over dog’s rights in the last decade or so has been accompanied by increasing dislike of humans. Preferring to neuter my dog, not wanting someone’s comfort Pitt bull in the next seat on a flight, choosing a purebred for its personality & physical traits, all of these have become crimes in the eyes of those who speak for the dogs. Dogs have always liked me though - go figure.
3
Another great article from "The Onion"!
9
Great idea! Lets stop sterilizing domestic dogs/make everyone a responsible pet owner. Doggie utopia! What could go wrong?
7
The problem isn't spay or neuter. The problem is that especially in America, a dog is considered an entitlement and a right. You don't need patience, space, or even money. There's a pervasive sense that anyone can and should have a dog and that the world should bend to the dog instead of the owner creating the appropriate environment.
3
A very thought provoking piece and makes me kind of wish our pomchi mix wasn't fixed so he could make pups as wonderful as he is. That said, I do want to take exception with the idea that neutering "desexes" a dog. Even though he's fixed my dog definitely still has a very healthy libido. Just ask that female he came across the other week who was in full heat. Where the body is weak the mind is strong.
1
When the author of this opinion piece has spent time in shelters - and perhaps has gone to veterinary school so she can perform the soul-destroying work of euthanizing healthy but unwanted dogs - THEN she can be feee to offer up her thoughts on spay/neuter.
1002
@Possum
You obviously didn't read the article. Only seven percent of dogs in Sweden are desexed. In Switzerland, it's illegal to do it. In Norway, it was illegal to do it until recently.
None of those countries has a problem with excessive stray dogs.
The reason is that dog owners in those countries are more responsible. They prevent behavior that would lead to stray dogs.
76
@Derek Flint - I actually did read the article and have also worked in the front lines of American and Canadian shelters for many years. I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, and I would love it if American pet owners became more responsible. It’s an admirable goal to work towards. However, until American culture and attitudes change for the better, we have to deal with the reality of the here and now. And for right now, that means spaying and neutering.
148
@Derek Flint
You're not suggesting that we can move a nation the size of the U.S. to think about animals the way nations the size of Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway do? Really? Not a chance--not a chance in a century.
60
It's pretty obvious that the problem is PEOPLE who don't take care of their dogs (or cats). As a dog lover that is heartbroken over all the horrific stories of animal abuse and abandonment I feel there should be more screening of potential owners but that is virtually impossible given the sheer number available for sale or adoption. The decision by shelters/rescue groups to spay/neuter is a reasonable one given the realities they face.
2
The generalizations are a bit over the top. There are those who look at dogs and cats as toys...and then there are those like myself who would NEVER give up a dog and have made great sacrifices to keep them. I agree 100% that it is harmful to spay or neuter an animal so young in life...harmful physiologically and mentally..
I have always waited until they are almost year so they can fully mature. For me, it's about convenience not because a shelter or some organization tells me to be a certain type of owner.
There is a certain senses of self righteousness and control that shelters exhibit when it comes to animals...that is more about the egos of those who run the shelters than really caring for the animals. When I tried to adopt a kitten, it was already spade at 8 weeks and they wanted me to sing a contract that it would never go outside!!! I refused. That's my business and cats inside for the whole lives (while an only option for some) is not a great idea....that's not who they are and it is cruel.
I agree with the article in that respect and that humans are neglectful and irresponsible about their pets.
1
@Harvey: So you would have allowed an unspayed cat outdoors for the first year? That means you likely would have ended up with kittens.
Spay and neuter your companion animals. It's taken a long time to get here with a lot of hard work by caring animal advocates and animal guardians.
8
We had a pregnant young feral cat show up at our back door a couple months ago. I worked with the local Humane Society to have her have her kittens there, and fostered the mom and the six kittens after they were born. It was moving to see how passionately the mom cared for the kittens, and how content she was with them. Being a mother seemed a central expression of her being, and in an ideal world every animal could experience that. But I have already had the mom spayed, and will have all the kittens spayed, because I think it is more humane to prevent overpopulation than to have to deal with it when there are too many animals.
10
In this case, as in many if not most cases involving most anything human-touched, it's the people that are the problem.
Owning dogs, or any other animal, should be an act of love, respect, and responsibility.
I have been around dogs, specifically upland game hunting dogs and cattle dogs, since birth (in 1957). We have an intact male hunting Labrador now who is as humble and easy to manage (as long as he gets his daily runs) as our "fixed" dogs. My experience is that intact dogs hunt and work a little harder than those fixed. When we have dogs for pets, as we now have a female Labrador and German Shorthaired Pointer (gun-shy), we have them fixed.
Use honest common sense (if there is any left anywhere with anyone) and let your situation, use, and experience guide how you manage your animals. And always, always, always give the benefit of the doubt to the animal.
MB
2
The problem is that most owners are ignorant of and suffer from anthropomorphism , the projection of human’s needs onto their animals. It’s terrible for owners and pets. It makes for unhappy people and unhappy pets.
1
I appreciate the author's interest in dogs, but I live in an area with many homeless people and many young people who do not always get the food they need to do well in school. I direct money and attention to institutions that help those people to improve their lot in this world. Why if I cannot do as much as I would like for those people should I devote time, effort, and money to ensuring all dogs have the most fulfilling lives possible?
4
@Interested Observer
No reason, for you.
But not everyone has the same values as you, nor do they need to. It’s not an either/or.
I am very impressed by your virtue signaling, though.
1
Dog breeds are actually here for our vanity nowadays much more so than for our utility. Humans made dogs. Mutts, cross breeds, no breeds, Heinz 57s, and complete mongrels are cool!
5
My current dog is a cross-breed between German Shepherd, Dalmatian, Boxer and Pit Bull. I didn't know that when I adopted her from the shelter. I had a DNA rest done after she bit another dog. she's a combination of three breeds bred to guard humans and our property, and one bred to bait bulls.
I love her, but her breed combination is not "cool." She's never been abused. She's just a dog-aggressive dog. We have to walk her on a muzzle in case she sees another dog whom she decides needs to be nipped.
Our previous dogs were purebred Irish Wolfhounds, not competition quality, just for pets. No aggression problems there. They are called the "gentle giants" and that is what a person will reliably get when buying a puppy from a breeder.
Goldren retrievers are also a fairly reliably gentle breed. This is one reason why people prefer purebred dogs. Their personality types and behaviors and needs are more reliable.
1
I 100% agree with you. Its not all about human beings!
This is a provocative piece, and while I'm a dog lover who has steadily supported spay/neuter, I appreciate Ms. Horowitz's willingness to challenge conventional wisdom on a difficult topic. I have two points of contention -
First, even if there were "only" 13 million kills per year before spay/neuter became common, the drop to 2-4 million per year is precipitous. If it's not due to spay/neuter, then it means that Americans have become much more responsible pet owners (a sentiment that is not consistent with much of the article). Personnally, I would require some evidence before I could dismiss spay/neuter as a primary factor in the drop.
Second, I think it's sadly far too premature to worry about a dying canine gene pool. The statistics I'm familiar with are 1.6 million dogs adopted from shelters in the US annually, with approximately 700,000 euthanized. I suspect that the vast majority are mixed breeds. That's a lot of wasted lives.
9
Yeah, I'm not sure why the author thinks that Americans generally don't take care of their dogs. Pet ownership has increased, and an entire industry centered on doggie daycare, dog parks, dog trainers, dog bakeries, dog carriers, dog TV, and dog walkers/sitters has blossomed from that increase, for better or worse. I do hear stories of people seeing abandoned dogs, but I don't think it's as common as the author suggests. In other countries, it does seem as though the dogs have better off leash training, but since most American cities require dogs to be leashed, I don't think that makes a practical difference. On the other hand, I think Americans pick up after their dogs more often than people in other countries I've lived in.
2
Exactly! A terrible waste of animal lives.
Why not encourage learning about animal’s needs and responsible pet ownership BEFORE allowing people to buy pets, from ANY source?
1
The vital take away from this article is human responsabilty. Many readers have responded with the work involved in keeping their pets intact. It requires a level of commitment that is equal to raising children. It isn't for everybody and has as many plus and minuses as well, as, having children. Many pet owners are well intentioned but unclear on what cats, dogs, horses, birds require when they live with us. Many parrots live to a hundred years old. I don't wish to see a world where dogs and cats, who are domestic animals roam unloved, scared, and helpless in the "wild." The wild is the natural state for bears and wolves, not dogs and cats. What this article really talks about is our responsabilty as caretakers of these creatures. We have to rethink our values on domestic animals. A policy of extreme measures is unworkable. A deeper understanding of our role, as creators of these breeds of cat, cow, horse, pig, chicken, dog, etc is needed. Regardless, these animals are here and we are the responsiable parties. We need solutions but in order to find solutions we need to invest time in education. That's the hard part.
2
I recommend Dr. Horowitz start a chain of intact-only doggy daycares and report back how that panned out.
16
Like many of the commenters here, I have seen the very real problem of stray / feral / unwanted animals in the US. That’s a real problem, as contrasted with the issues the author brings up.
And, as dogs in their present form were created by selective breeding, by humans, to fulfill certain roles, they sort of ARE here for our convenience...
4
Too many people own dogs who really shouldn't. The dogs are everywhere, cities, parks, apartment buildings overrun by dogs. Bad enough as it is, it would be a total nightmare to have them "intact". May be, if only people who *should* own dogs - the ones with big houses, living on a lot of land in rural or semi-rural setting, etc. kept dogs - it would have been fine. But that is not the case. There are 5 dogs on my floor alone - I already feel like I am living in a kennel. This dog obsession is out of control. No thank you, having them fixed is the least you can do for your neighbors who just want to have some stretches of quiet time in their homes.
5
As a pet owner, I have to agree with you somewhat. I currently own an elderly dog whom my family adopted when I was in high school. I decided to bring her with me to the city a couple years ago when my parents basically said they could no longer take care of her. At her age, I knew adoption was out of the question, so I figured it's best if she spends her golden years with me. Though this is the best decision for us, seeing her go from an environment where there's a big backyard and a porch and a creek to my apartment has been a bit sad for me. Her personality has changed, but I still think she's happy overall. If it were not for the fact that this was a family dog, I would never consider owning a dog in my situation. I would not get a puppy if I lived in my current apartment or worked with my current schedule. Unless you're very active or someone who works from home a lot, I don't think it's fair to own a dog in a small apartment. Even if it's a small dog. They are fantastic animals, but really consider their needs and what you can provide for them before adopting one.
1
@Sophie K
I'm a dog lover and owner and I agree with you. The only people who should have dogs are those with the time, money, and/or space to properly care for them, and that exempts most. Unless you're prepared to spend thousands per year for daily care and exercise, have someone at home to be with them all day, or live on a farm, stick with a cat.
I'm someone who likes dogs more than people and likes to see them everywhere. But population must be controlled to make sure quality of life stays high, and a significant part of the problem is simply excessive dog population density -- not sterilizing them would make this problem incomparably worse.
1
@Sophie K: Right. If dogs weren't so heavily marketed, with all the pet stores, maybe the idea of serious owners who could rationally consider leaving a dog un-spayed or neutered would make a small amount of sense. As it is, even the author of this article has to conclude that "It's us who need to be fixed", which is to say, the article is essentially meaningless. And yet, there are probably people who will find the romanticism appealing, without noticing that Horowitz acknowledges at the end that it won't work.
I am not a pet person, having grown up in the country where dogs and cats were not 'working' animals, although the cats sometimes killed mice or rats. The dog sometimes went hunting with my father, but they rarely brought home any game.
I find that many people who have pets, at least in the city where I now live, have no time to actually care for them to the extent that the pets need care. They certainly don't train them well, and when you approach on the sidewalk the owners often think you are supposed to 'adore' their dog as much as they do. They jump on you, sniff at you, bark at you, and the owners are often saying at the same time, "he's just friendly". Spare me.
I've been to France and England where many people have dogs. They even take their dogs into restaurants in England, where the dog lies down under the table not to move until its owner tells it to get up. They don't bark, sniff, or jump on you. They are well-trained, socialized (to people) and their owners may enjoy conversation about their animals, but they don't expect you to pet or coo over them.
I can easily understand how people get a dog, somehow thinking it's "fun" and having no understanding of how much time, energy and money it takes to own a pet, dog or cat. When I hear what a friend pays to have his dog's teeth cleaned ($800) I am appalled.
I prefer to stay in the 'no-pet' zone myself.
5
The US is not Norway. Some of this is less consistently caring ownership, but we also have a doggie overpopulation that's horribly out of control. Anyone who's listened to dozens of dogs screaming in agony and terror in gas chambers -- the most common method of putting down un-homed dogs at US shelters -- knows we have a real crisis here.
Plus, in a land with too many loose dogs, I can attest to the wild side of life with a bitch in estrus. It wasn't just some oozing on the carpet. She tracked her hormonal magnet out the door in her paws, the neighborhood doggie noses picked up the scent, and we were quickly besieged. At one point, as six loose male dogs circled frantically outside the front door, two male dogs literally jumped through our living room screen to get to her, her humans banging away frantically with pillows trying to fend them off. It was utter hormonal hysteria.
If everyone were responsible enough, it does make much the most sense to wait until a dog is at least 6 months old to spay/neuter, for health reasons. Some even believe that bitches should have at least one litter because the hormonal impact of pregnancy and lactation is so important to their health. If I had a choice, I'd do this. But with my two shelter dogs, I didn't, and until we have a different country, I don't see a way out of that policy. And yes, humans should definitely be ashamed.
3
I enjoyed your article and agree it's the human population that needs fixing in so so many ways.
3
Given the climate of the United States, we can't regulate vaccination to control the spread of communicable disease, so how does the good doctor think to control the miles of dead dog corpses littering the hallways of shelters? This opinion is literally that - an opinion. Without spay and neuter, we would have dead dogs in our streets, roads, and backyards. Convincing Americans to do the right thing by their animals is a great goal, but creating a society to undertake it is a long way off. I also think the author missing the fact that there are breeds of dogs being maintained, cherished and appropriately trained. We are limited by our societal structures and this lavish piece of nonsense gives no mind to the fear and suffering unwated dogs and cats go through - including euthanasia in the shelter.
4
"A cognitive scientist." Well, that explains the cold detachment and scolding tenor of this column. in modern society it seems that there is always one group or another being singled out for a guilt trip, and dog owners are apparently today's lucky winner.
So we are now supposed to reassess the long-standing wisdom of spaying and neutering pets? It's long-standing wisdom for a reason.
Information about responsible pet ownership is always welcome, but this column is more preachy than enlightening. I think I will now re-read Frank Bruni's recent uplifting thoughts about dogs.
Emphasis on "uplifting."
4
When the shelters are empty and we're not euthanizing millions of unwanted animals every year, then you can talk to me about not neutering/spaying.
11
Put me in the camp of those who compare pets to slaves. I don't think people should keep pets.
3
In Norway, Sweden amd Switzerland they take care of their dogs. They also do an admirable job of taking care of their people. In the U.S. we cannot say the same, shame on us.
Wish the article focused on feral cats. There is a great need for them to be spayed/neutered.
8
Except that dogs ARE literally here for our convenience and would not exist but for human involvement. Reducing the "animalness" of a canine is how dogs came to exist. There may be reasons not to spay or neuter, but this isnt it.
humans have been in the GMO business a long long time, see also modern chickens, cows, horses, etc. Population control seems to be a debt we owe species we have in effect created.
4
Much as I admire Dr. Horowitz’ dog views, I fear this essay misses an essential point, that over-population subjects masses of dogs to neglect, abandonment and overt cruelty. She correctly points out this problem has been caused by humans, from prehistoric people domesticating wolves to today's unethical, uncaring breeders. It’s also true that non-altered dogs can be perfectly well behaved. My wife and I have had 2 non-altered males, a Briard and a Portuguese Water Dog, fine on leash, in dog runs and loose in the country. We’ve also had four fixed rescues, currently a Podenco rescued in Saville. They have been as well behaved and healthy as their predecessors. Our Pod and her backstory lead me to my view that humans, the creators of the problem of excess dog population, must mitigate it.
Back to my Pod, if you have a strong stomach, search treatment of Galgos and Podencos in Spain. These lovely dogs are used by commercial hunters for a year or two and then disposed of. Thousands of these dogs crowd shelters and desperately need homes. Whatever the downside of fixing our current four-legged companions, this may be their contribution to the greater good of dogdom.
I am deeply attached to my Pod to the point that if she were not spayed would I not allow her to have a litter of little Pods in the hopes that one would be like its mother? Then, when the time came for the next dog, I would not be in a position to give some equally deserving and unique animal its proper home.
6
@nycarl With you on this as to choice not to breed. I do adult special needs rescues. Dogs over 6 that are very hard to place. Took in a new pair -- sick, injured, starving -- 2 years ago. I have adored every one of my dogs. And there will be space in my heart and home for the next ones.
1
@nycarl my hero!
I grew up in the country in the 1950s. My grandfather, a farmer, neutered our male cat, probably without anesthesia.
I heard other men of my father's and grandfather's generations speak of drowning newborn kittens as a chore that had to be done twice a year.
I'll stick with spay/neuter.
9
@catdancer, it’s true. My farmer uncle drowned the unplanned puppies his purebred collie produced. He considered the mutts to be rubbish.
Thank you for having the courage to tell the truth in the US...and based on the comments I see here, it definitely takes a lot of courage.
As an American dog owner living in Germany, I can tell you that the culture of dog ownership is indeed incredible here. It is a true responsibility to have these companions and the potential fixing of any dog is usually done only when absolutely necessary. There is even a temporary hormone chip you could have implanted to see how the animal would behave if the surgery was done.
Despite the lack of fixing, most people I know in Germany are importing homeless dogs from countries like Greece, due to the lack of strays here at home.
On top of that, most dogs are highly trained and well socialized, which has many other benefits. They can go in almost all stores and restaurants (not just the patio) and that without faking emotional support dog paperwork.
I can go on and on but it seems most people don't want to hear how they could be more responsible and have a better, richer, lives with their pets.
8
@David I doubt that the issue is NYT readers. I took in a heartworm positive 6 year old and her injured companion. Both from the South. When everyone here gets the memo to properly care for their dogs, not let them run loose, not medicate for hideous diseases, etc., then I'm happy to talk about alternatives.
Until then, stop encouraging people to adopt an approach that doesn't work here. Instead, work on spay/neuter, proper licensing and adopt from a shelter.
@David As a new retiree who is considering adopting a pound puppy at some point, I really value your attitude and perspective.
Whichever side of this issue one may be on, it is worth paying attention to the point that de-sexing causes hormonal disruption. Just as in human women after hysterectomy, for example, this can result in all kinds of discomforts and problems. We should be more mindful of this.
5
I have found an effective method of dealing with the fecundity of pets and the physiological and psychological, let alone philosophical implications of the Stay-Neuter question.
I no longer own pets...
At a certain point in my adult life when my old neutered (castrated) tom cat went the way of most old toms (kidney failure). I thought about it and decided that I could no longer justify keeping a pet at all.
I have never been a dog person since childhood and the series of cats (all toms) that I have owned became more and more unjustifiable. So after took up a solitary existence again I stopped owning a pet with the passing of Mr. Cat... and I have never looked back.
The neighborhood birds and small rodents no longer smell Mr. Cat and come around the property with impunity.
The Fisher cat, Bobcat Foxes and Coyotes who used to skulk about the house looking for a Felis domesticus meal now go about their business hunting deer mice, song birds, wild turkey chicks and cotton tail rabbits in the meadow and unlike the domestic cat they eat what they kill!
My advice is that if you have scruple about Stay - Neuter is simple don't have a pet at all. The planet will be better for your decision.
5
I used to volunteer at a reputable breeder's facility of a large, powerful breed of dog. Many were the stories of intact males digging through floors, chewing through drywall,/insulation/wiring, bloodying their mouths chewing through chainlink fence, climbing over 7' or 8' chainlink fence, howling non-stop day and night, and more ... because an in-heat female was on the other side. And she was also trying very hard to be with him. It is no joke providing a home to an intact dog who wants to breed more than life itself.
7
What an extraordinarily ignorant article. I challenge the author to visit large parts of the country that live with the pet overpopulation problem due to long breeding seasons and a resistance to laws that lead to responsible pet ownership. There are definitely areas of our country that could eliminate spay/neuter requirements. Some cities in the North are receiving thousands of dogs from places like my own humane society in the South. The estimates of about 1.5 million animals euthanized each year seems accurate based on our experience, but that's half of what it was 10 years ago. Most of the success has been with dog populations but even in Northern states "importing" dogs from the South, feral cats are still a very significant problem.
I dearly love animals too, but being ignorant to the issue because of your limited experience is not a solution to large/serious a problem.
14
@David
The author rants about this "desexing issue" and uses Norway as frame of reference for pet ownership (a rich, white, homogenous country with no cultural diversity). Maybe I'll take this article seriously when they suggest an ACTUAL solution to dog overpopulation instead of telling us to keep our dogs intact with no solution on how to address all of our stray dogs/shelter dogs.
2
I love my pets a lot. And I probably anthropomorphize them to an extent that would be alarming if I told people about it.
But the notion that an animal might "want" to have sex for a reason other than to satisfy some physical urge or drive to procreate, as is suggested by the sentence "We're happy to ignore the question of whether dogs want to have sex", instills in them a set of emotions that are far more complex than even I would ascribe to them.
Animals "want" sex like they want food or sleep. I have a hard time believing that if you remove the hormones that drive the sex drive, any animal would still "want" sex.
7
Dr. Horowitz is a cognitive scientist. I like scientists. However, she doesn't live in rural Floyd county, Georgia. And she hasn't worked hard, as I have for the past 15 years, to rescue the profound numbers of unwanted dogs and puppies from abuse and neglect, both off the streets, or from our local "kill" shelter. Our county is surrounded by a 50 mile [minimum] radius of woods and the poor. One side of our county is bordered by rural North Alabama. There are worse things than shooting an unwanted dog in the head [the country folks often do this]. I've seen enough torture of unwanted dogs and puppies to baffle the brightest imagination. I need to say no more.
15
We can’t get Americans to stop gunning each other down in our streets. How are we going to get people to monitor their dogs cycles, and care for them like they would need to be cared for without spaying and neutering?
13
@Robin
I love this! The author is complaining about this "injustice" yet proposing no practical solution. So for now I'll keep adopting my dogs and spaying/neutering them and worrying about the REAL injustices of the world, such as gun control.
7
What about cats?
7
Dogs are not here for our convenience? Nonsense. Like it or not, all domesticated animals exist for the convenience of humans, whether they are here because we want them for companionship, labor or food. Decry the fact if you like, but don't deny it.
9
I actually felt sickened as I read this piece. I wonder how many times Dr. Horowitz has actually gone to a shelter? I vividly recall being in a shelter on a hot August day, trying to pick out a puppy. There were litters and litters of them, and plenty of adults with sad eyes and pleading paws that reached out to us. The shelter worker said, "Oh, yes. It's puppy season. People drive up with a load of puppies in the car and dump them off as fast as they can". This was in New Jersey, by the way. It was heartbreaking. We eventually did pick out a puppy, but I left that place shaken instead of happy. My other encounters with shelters (several dozen now) have been similar, although I am now more mentally prepared. Is this the world Dr. Horowitz envisions?
Additionally, the topic of rabies has not been mentioned. We are fortunate that our rate of human rabies cases in the US is extremely low. But in other countries, humans contract rabies more frequently, and feral dogs are often the culprit. (Google India and rabies and you will see what I mean.) In the US, shelters and other animal welfare groups not only spay/neuter, but they vaccinate. And pet owners in the US are given the message that responsible owners spay, neuter, and vaccinate. If the author has a problem with this, she is free to not spay and neuter her dogs. But don't go spreading the idea that spaying and neutering is somehow bad.
20
Bravo to Dr. Horowitz!
It is brave and rare for someone with an extreme amount of training to site the repercussions of the current uniform dog policy within the US. Its somewhat amazing that desexed dogs are the norm & that sex for dogs is only permitted for those that are ‘terminally’ inbred. The list of chronic diseases, that are mostly caused by inbreeding (as well as the life blood of any suburban/ urban vet clinic $) are mostly preserved by only allowing “pure breeds” to have a full life.
Rightfully, Dr Horowitz reminds of far off places where dogs are not overpopulating and they are not desexed. Its possible, somehow we have forgotten that in the US.
In closing, if desexing is so ‘humane’, you would think that many a divorcee or parents of late-night teenagers (those ignoring curfews) would be in favor of such a cure-
Hopefully, people will recognize that sharing your life with a dog requires a certain amount of training for the owner not just the dog. Any person with ASPCA will concur
Thank you for being brave and honest Dr Horowitz!
3
@Scott Bergen
She reminds us of where dogs are not overpopulated by referencing Norway, a rich white homogenous country, yet suggests no solution to our own overpopulation of dogs.
So yes in that case bravo, someone wrote an article complaining about the "injustices" of the world yet offered no solution except to just "be like Norway". Oh yeah, I'm sure that will happen.
1
@Maya
I don't think that "rich. white and homogeneous" explains why Norway and other European countries have more sensible dog policies.
The US is rich and white (albeit not homogeneous) and we have the opposite policies.
3
@John B The U.S. is not white and many parts of it are much poorer than Norway.
2
As a veterinarian, I have euthanized countless animals. The ones that haunt me, though, are the healthy shelter overflow dogs that I was regularly called upon to euthanize at a couple of clinics I worked at. I rescued a few, bringing them to no-kill shelters that would accept them. But not all were able to be saved - there just wasn't room. This happens regularly in certain parts of the country.
I strongly believe that an overall spay/neuter program works to everyone's benefit. Some people can keep "intact" animals, and that's fine. But I'd hate to see the overpopulation problem get worse instead of continuing to improve. Veterinarians are at the front lines of these issues, as evidenced by the suicide problem in my profession. I know that it was not my fault that those dogs (nearly all of whom were young adult intact males) were slated for euthanasia, nor was it their fault. Yet the outcome was devastating for all of us.
23
My biggest pet peeve is someone sitting behind a computer screen, complaining about the injustices of the world yet not proposing a tangible, systematic solution to implement. Thousands of healthy dogs are euthanized in shelters everyday. Yes dogs are not here for our convenience, yet this is the current situation. You referenced Norway- a white, rich, homogeneous country that has absolutely no cultural or income diversity. So, as an animal advocate the MOST responsible thing to do right now is adopt, not shop and spay and neuter. My dog is a rescue and is neutered, and perfectly happy despite being "desexed." If I had come hours later, he would have been put down. So please tell me more about our overpopulation of dogs and the "injustices" of "desexing" them.
16
I place the author of this article in the same category as anti-vaxxers. Why tinker and tamper with something that has worked for years to help control dog populations. We see the harm that dogooder anti-vaxxers have done to public health my nurturing virulent outbreaks of previously-eradicated childhood diseases.
All one has to do is travel to Greece where many Greeks seem to have a “live and let live” (or is it “love”?) attitude toward stray dogs. The idea of animal control and dog catchers is a foreign concept and people actively campaign against efforts to control canine populations. In many places bedraggled and motley packs of dogs roam the streets and fields and beaches. Not only is their plight sad to see but some of these dogs have begun to go feral and band into packs that menace children and adults alike. Last year there was even the sad case of a British woman in northern Greece who was set upon and killed by a such a wild pack. This whole “natural animal rights” movement has gone too far and we need to remember that, at the end of the day, dogs are animals and need to be seen and treated as such.
18
This was persuasive. But it also reminded me why I don't want a pet.
1
Comparing small, rich European countries to the USA makes no sense. More apposite comparisons would be Europe (as a whole) to the USA, or countries like Norway to somewhere like Manhattan.
When you take a small slice of the pie, you end up cutting out many of the underlying problems that lead to pet overpopulation (e.g. lack of sufficient resources to devote to pet care and training, education, etc). And Europe as a whole does have a dog overpopulation problem.
In short, northern Europeans can stop being so smug until they manage to solve pet overpopulation in countries like Greece and Spain. America doesn't just include rich places, it includes poor places too.
10
@Seb You said it better than I could have. Except I would have compared Norway to New Hampshire or someplace rather than to Manhattan.
3
I am the happy owner of two wonderful rescue dogs who started life as part of a feral pack in a village on the Alaska Peninsula. In rural Alaska, vets are few and far between and spaying and neutering are rare. The feral pack is a common fixture. It's a nuisance at best and a hazard at worst. In the case of my dogs, the feral pack was attracting wolves into the village. The wolves saw the feral pack as an easy food source. The people of the village saw the wolves as a danger to their children. The easiest way to discourage the wolf pack was to eliminate the food source, and the feral pack was hunted down.
My dogs were identifiedas by a rescue groups as rehabable. They were 10 months old when I adopted them. Both were severely underweight. The female dog was losing her hair at an alarming rate. The male dog had visible injuries from a wolf attack and had an ear whose tip was damaged by frostbite.
Feral packs are not limited to rural America. My father and our neighbor used to hunt them in our Detroit neighborhood when I was a toddler because they would stalk small children. A single dog is rarely a serious problem. A pack can be a dangerous menace.
In a perfect world, all dogs would have safe, happy, loving homes with responsible owners . The reality is that we have far too many abandoned dogs and that those dogs often end up at kill shelters. We may not completely solve the problem through spaying and neutering, but at least we aren't adding to it.
13
are you kidding me??? How in gods' name is a pet owner going to "take responsibility" for managing a dog with full reproductive capabilities. Are you going to teach them abstinence??? Look how well that works in the schools....
17
@Smokey geo
If you cannot handle it, do not own it. Dog is not your robotic toy, a early sentient.
Respect .
What does an intact dog gain from being intact but still being made to live as a pet (leashed, caged, indoors, etc.)? If they're not allowed to fulfill their urges to breed, I would think this would create a lot of stress for the animal, over and over again. If we're going to make them live how we want them to live (which I'm not saying there's anything wrong with, now that we've arrived where we are with them as a species), I would think they'd be better off psychologically without constantly desiring and being denied reproductive opportunities.
Also, spaying and neutering allows households to keep several individuals together in relative harmony. Multiple males, mixes of males and females, etc. I'm willing to bet this possibility leads to more overall adoptions. I have a mixed-sex group of cats at home, which would not be possible (and yeah I'll say the word "responsible" since I don't want to oversee the creation of more kittens to find homes for) if one or all of them were not "fixed".
9
I'm sorry, but dogs are in fact here for our convenience. I've never been a dog owner and never will be, but the fact is that the varieties of dogs that are raised as pets have been aggressively bred specifically to be pets. There are still wild dogs on this planet but they are few in number compared to pet dogs, and very different in behavior.
8
Pure quackery.
14
And then this from the Times today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/upshot/why-more-dogs-and-cats-are-making-it-out-of-shelters-alive.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
2
A thought-provoking article. I volunteer at an animal shelter in the San Francisco Bay Area, and most of the dogs we spay/neuter are 2-3 years old, because that's when the untrained, rambunctious teenagers, no longer so cute, show up (most as "strays"). Almost all the little girls have had puppies already, and many of the older females have had multiple litters. The problem is absolutely with the human attitudes, but good luck with that.
7
A byproduct of spay/neuter programs is that many poor people who can't afford to neuter and macho people who refuse to neuter their dogs have pit bulls, so a huge percentage of dogs now are part pit bull, which almost nobody wants.
9
Sorry, ridiculous.
13
Didn’t think NYT would resort to click bait.
14
This is irresponsible drivel from someone who has obviously never had any real world experience rescuing dogs or doing any volunteer shelter work. The NYT should be embarrassed for printing this.
16
To me the article suggests a high level of qualification for pets' owner, one need to be well educated and have high social responsibility and moral, etc. This is ideal but hard to achieve. Same can be explained for the politics of our country. To be able to vote in democratic systems effectively, one should be able understand the complex of political, economic, social basics and find the priority and long term effects of any policy. Unfortunately, this did not and will not happen, Donald Trump is the President. Dogs and Cats have to get spay-neutered. All I am saying is any meaningful options should be based on the reality.
2
I’m glad to see the vast majority of comments supporting sanity. I am a long time dog owner who is sick of irresponsible owners ruining it for all of us. I’m sick of seeing “emotional support” dogs yapping and peeing on airplanes, sick of dogs sitting at tables in restaurants, sick of people who ignore leash laws, who refuse to pick up their dogs poop, and who generally create unsafe situations with their lack of common decency. Please don’t add aggressive, intact dogs to the already annoying mix.
15
The world is falling apart and the most-commented op-ed is about whether or not to desex dogs.
3
Professor Horowitz is affiliated with Barnard. This basic fact informs the reader from outside of NYC that there is a shortage of adoptable dogs in Gotham. While this may be true, IT IS NOT TRUE elsewhere in this country.
All dogs, the special beings that they are, NEED A FOREVER HOME. The reality is that most dogs WILL NOT get a forever home.
Our late Airedale/Afghan daughter/dog Muffin was spayed early in her fifteen (15) years of life. [She was literally half human/half dog; Canis sapiens, as I was fond of saying.] Her unique personality was not impacted by being desexed.
Muffin tested on the cusp of canine genius. She was both a therapy dog and a nursing home dog. My late wife often referred to Muffin as HER EASIEST PREGNANCY.
The special dogs know that they are special. No self-esteem issues for Muffin! Rather than over-think about dogs, why not celebrate what these furry people bring to our lives?
4
The questions raised here are based on the lives of dogs in urban suburban environments. The crush of people and people with pets make spay-neuter policies a viable and some view necessary requirement to deal with populations of unattended dogs.
I raised my dogs in a rural environment. Strays don't last very long here. Bobcats, coyotes, cougars, cars and starvation are the fates awaiting them. Besides my dogs being pets they were working dogs keeping wild animals away from gardens, orchards, other domestic animals and protection, my private furry police force. They were fenced in a spacious area and trained not to go beyond that line even if a gate were open without a family member with them. Most were intact some were not. However long they lived, they had a dogs life and I have enjoyed every minute.
4
It's not easy being progressive, forever looking for things to be transgressive about.
3
I find Dr. Horowitz interesting, but this topic is one for veterinarians and animal control professionals -- and she has neither of these credentials.
I am particularly suspicious of the claim that neutered purebred retrievers are more likely to be overweight and lame than intact dogs of the same breed -- but for some mysterious reason, "mixed breeds appear to be exempt."
Could it be that the healthiest, best looking purebred dogs are kept intact for breeding, while the less desirable ones are neutered? Also, it might be the case that those dogs kept intact for breeding are owned by masters who better manage their weight and health.
11
This is one instance where idealism is made completely irrelevant by reality. You'd know that if you've ever spent time in a place where no dogs are spayed or neutered.
887
@fact or friction My dog's favorite place in the world is our local dog park. He (neutered male) has been attacked a few times by non-neutered male dogs--mainly doing aggressive "humping." It creates a real problem.
34
@fact or friction
I did better than spending non neutered- spayed humans.
Humans rape and sexually assaults female genders, it never been observed dogs or cats.
3
@fact or friction - Get the facts, "fact". A better alternative is vasectomy / tubal ligation. Stop thinking the only solution is to take a hatchet to your puppy. Spay/neuter is advocated ONLY for "behavior" modification, which means FAR fewer people should actually own dogs/bitches. Don't try to change the animal to suit your own convenience. Get a goldfish.
11
Most people who get dogs do so for their own comfort and anxiety levels, nothing to do with the dog otherwise. They don't take responsibility, assume we all want to listen to them howl miserably any time of the day or night, or smell droppings left for days between houses and someone else is going to pick up their droppings in the park. And, why would anyone think that scrapping up dropping means the lawn is now clean? I see dogs in the park all the time that obviously need worming or other kinds of health care, as well as training. That being said, I don't think all dog owners are irresponsible, just most of them. Until this dog thing calms down, and people stop putting fake comfort animal vests on untrained dogs, we need to keep numbers down. With less dogs, maybe the price per dog will climb and people will think twice before getting a dog to calm their jitters.
3
My I suggest not using the word “desexed,” when describing the practice. Spay/neuter is much preferred. I don’t like that I was desexing my puppy when I had her spayed, although it is a clinically accurate word.
We need to encourage pet owners in getting their pets fixed and the “desexing” term might discourage the practice.
7
@Steven Carter
Can you also do same practice on humans and say neutered?
Dogs and cats have life too.
Since when castration is very ethical thing. This easing life for human comfort simply the Most unethical thought ever created.
This opinion perfectly demonstrates a persistent error in thinking about the role of the human race in the anthropocene epoch. We cannot undo past history, and we cannot re-create some idealized state from the past, real or imagined. The only way is forward from the world we have created, and a world in which our imprint will always be present even if we ourselves were to become extinct.
For example, some folks think if they have a plot of land that has been under cultivation for years they can just "let it go back to nature," and somehow it will not be a mass of opportunistic weeds but a meadow just as it evolved in the millenia before man disturbed the landscape.
I am not sure just which idealized state of dogs we should aspire to, but as a child I remember trying to reign in our dog in heat and ward off those she attracted.
8
One needs only to travel outside of rich countries (and sometimes just to rural areas in wealthy countries) to see the misery in which stray dogs and cats live in. We have a romanticized image of stray dogs, thinking they can survive well by finding food in the garbage and becoming part of a pack.
The reality is that the suffering they go through is simply unimaginable for us, just the poor nutrition they have causes them painful and mortal diseases in the kidneys and other organs, and that without taking into account the cold or hot weather, skin problems, or if they find a human that uses them as an object for torture (which happens extremely often am afraid).
I have plenty of experience rescuing dogs in my (third-world) country and donate to organizations worldwide that rescue dogs and cats in developing countries. (Many of them find homes for the animals in rich countries, so this is a global problem in which we can all affect the outcome.)
I’m sorry but the author’s point is absolutely selfish and deeply lacking in compassion for other beings.
14
The whole idea of purebreds is sick. It's anti-science, and anti-nature. The fact that the vast majority of selective breeding now is for superficial looks, often at the expense of genetic health, makes it even worse.
When the shelters are empty, then breeding for certain qualities (temperment, hypoallergenic, etc.) will make sense. Until then, breeding purebreds is just wrong - a twisted vanity project.
6
Americans can't even handle the insignificant hassle of driving slower and driving less to save the biosphere that supports them. To think they can collectively manage the responsibility of containing the fertility of their dogs without the spay/neuter option is fantasy.
13
Ms. Horowitz apparently lives in a fool's paradise. Besides her questionable claims that desexing doesn't change behaviors, she fails to address the huge issue of animal overpopulation. If she's ever spent any time in a municipal shelter she'd see what happens to unwanted pets: They suffer and then they're put to death. Multiply that by at least 100,000 a year and then make the argument against spaying and neutering.
Her essay is filled with "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts," but the reality is most people are irresponsible at best and cruel and selfish at worst. Spay/neuter might not be an ideal solution, and sadly it doesn't keep pace with the number of homeless animals being euthanized daily throughout the US, but there's no doubt it helps.
15
Would this apply to cats?
I invite you to come with me next long holiday weekend. I will be at the shelter picking up a dog to foster. I can only take one. I already have 2 and the place I live only allows 3. You can drive me home because I will be crying about the hundred or so I couldn't take with me. Many of them will be dead the following Monday.
13
Re: “Not here for our convenience” — Actually they are. Domesticated animals were created by us and our dependent upon humans to thrive. We’ve genetically engineered the poodle, pug and greyhound from their ancestor wolf.
We are responsible for them- they are not wildlife, to benefit from non-interference
8
What an irresponsible article. I guess the author feels we don't kill enough pets in this country already. More dogs would certainly be killed if failure to neuter caused urination around the house or bleeding. The fact is, we don't have wild dog and cat packs roaming our streets, dogs and cats live in our homes. The declawing of front claws of cats, and neutering all pets makes life better for both human and pet, and means they are more likely to remain in our home, and not abandoned. Isn't that the goal? Failure to spay and neuter is irresponsible. What a pity we never neutered Trump 45 years ago. Maybe it could have improved his behavior, and stopped him from urinating on White House furniture. We could have saved ourselves a lot of pain.
4
I doubt that many de-clawed cats would agree that this has made their lives better.
But, yes, the suburban housewife with upholstered chintz furniture will find that the de-clawed cat makes her life more satisfactory.
2
Eye opening - especially the part about European countries not neutering their dogs and not having a problem with overpopulation. I wonder if the same attitude of blaming 'them' rather than 'us' permeates the war on drugs, i.e it's not our problem that we consume so much, it's 'their' problem for producing so much.
1
The author specifically mentions Norway, whose entire population numbers a couple of hundred thousand, not “Europe”. Guess what? Go to South America and see sad, homeless dogs, who have heartworm and live in garbage dumps before they die. But hey, they sure are “free”.
@Hector I did say European countries not "Europe". Why go to South America when I can see sad homeless dogs here? I believe that the authors conclusions are a bit more nuanced than yours - she does say that in the 40's and 50' America got along fine without neutering or spaying so something to consider.
Their is a popular tv show on Nat Geo. that features a country vet called D. Pol. I'm always saddened by the number of folks who come in to his office with these poor dogs that have been repeatedly bred over and over and are usually in the office because the same over bred dogs are pregnant again and are having problems. I notice they are always insistent that the dogs even though in distress manage to keep the puppies. If this is what's shown, the idea of the number of folks doing this under the radar is frightening.
3
Until vasectomy/tubal ligation becomes standard and American dog care standards shift, I will adamantly affirm the message to spay/neuter our pets. Pet care deemed *responsible and acceptable" here fall along a very broad continuum: from "over-pampering" that becomes detrimental to canine health to the "free-range" style that produces neglected, abused dogs.
I have 'rescued' dogs from both types of owners.
Owners in huge swaths of the US still don't 'fix' their dogs -nor vaccinate nor chip them-but do allow them to roam around, vulnerable to injury, disease and/or producing litter after litter. The shelters there are unabashedly high-kill operations. Those few dogs identified as 'adoptable' are rescued by local volunteer networks- who foster, then transport lucky dogs to out-of-state "adoption-focused" shelters. I volunteered at just such a shelter with dogs from brought monthly from WV, where we "fixed", chipped, socialized, treated skin & eye infections, sometimes heartworm, and privately fostered pregnant dogs. Our beloved then-5 year-old collie-mix came to us thru that system.
Yet last year we adopted a small, pure-bred dog, who was chipped & 'fixed'. His owner abandoned him in their upscale urban neighborhood nearby:I guess an 11- year old dog, mostly blind and missing teeth wasn't "cute enough" anymore? (We disagree!)
Today, too many Americans remain irresponsible pet owners (on many levels!) to reverse the message "Be Responsible-Fix Your Dog".
7
This is the canine equivalent of an anti-vaccination argument.
I think the world has taken leave of its senses.
I have a four month old shelter puppy, who had been neutered right before we adopted him. Training him to have good manners is a constant job, more like having a toddler in the house (and I’ve had two toddlers simultaneously) than I could have imagined. If I had to try to manage his “natural urges” on top of his penchant for chewing my furniture and eating anything and everything in sight (dog food, people food, cat food, paper, sticks, rocks), he would be living in someone else’s home.
This is the first dog my husband and I have had since we were both kids, and after 30 years of having cats, I actively look for information about caring for a dog. I’ve realized that that space is occupied by similar “experts” as I found in the child development arena: that is, those lacking any common sense.
SMDH
18
Many European countries have high annual dog license fees
(regardless of whether the animal is altered or not) AND stringent laws of dog ownership which are strictly enforced. Our no-kill shelters have a hard enough time keeping up with all the unwanted animals that are the direct result of irresponsible and accidental breeding practices. Unless people are willing to volunteer a great amount of their time at their local animal shelter - and not just for a month - spaying/neutering works for me!
10
@Alke
Yes, Eurrope mamages both dogs and cars better than Americans.
They tax large engine cars heavily. Most ban diesel cars.
And they have rigorous licensing rules for dogs.
Irresponsible dog owners can lose the "right" to keep a dog.
Much more sensible.
3
How much time has this writer spent in shelters in which puppies and adult dogs face death due to the decision NOT to have the parent dogs spayed or neutered?
How many enthusiastic but ill-informed purebreed dog owners do not have their dog spayed or neutered because they have a half-baked idea of either showing or breeding the dog?
Having volunteered at a small shelter for over five years I have witnessed the result of unspayed/neutered animals that are dumped by owners when the dog or cat no longer firs into the owner's lifestyle.
Spay or neuter your pets. Please.
14
I agree with the author's final comment that we are the ones who need changing but in this day and age is that truly realistic? I simply cannot see it happening.
2
As a Norwegian dogowner, I want to tell sceptics that having intact dogs is not a problem at all, and if it was a problem, it would in most cases be so because the owner should have thought twice about what kind of dog he wanted, or if he should have one at all. As mentioned in the article, we have very few spayed/neutered dogs. I meet lots of dogs while walking my own, which I do three times a day. Not once have we been in a scary situation.
In Norway, you will not find more than a very few shelters for dogs in the whole country, and you will not find many mixed breed dogs, because dogs don't run loose. Whereas Americans think of sterilizing their dog as the responsible thing to do, we feel that taking responsibility means training and socializing our dogs, and if we're not sure we want a dog for their whole life, we don't get one. Of course, things can happen, people get ill, babies are born with allergies, and what not. But in those cases, we actually sell our dogs to someone who really wants it, we don't give it away to a shelter. So even though we only sterilize dogs for medical reasons (not for convenience), we don't have a surplus of dogs. Seems to me, the US view is more about what suits humans than animals, which is sad, because it is absolutely possible to do both.
565
I love your story but the question becomes what do you do to people to make them to behave in this way. Because in the US many people do not behave in this way, and if there is no 'fixing' procedure, the country will be overrun by aggressive dogs. Let's discuss how the US as a society could change behavior of Americans, that they were behave more like Norwegians. Let's discuss how effective it will be, and what should we do with growing population of abandoned dogs in meanwhile.
129
I totally agree. I went back and forth about fixing my dog. I thought about all these things you describe. I thought about the possibility of mixed dogs being extinct in the future too.
I asked the vet about long term possible side effects, and of course, they do not know, or don't care to share.
We ended up fixing her, because my husband couldn't understand why keeping her whole was important, and is more convenience minded. It does make me sad but, I am giving her a good life.
27
@yulia
You're absolutely right. Changing established norms is extremely difficult, and would have to happen over time. The typical Norwegian way of dealing with an established problem like this, would be to write new laws. For instance demanding that everyone chipped their dogs for identification, then fine the owner of dogs found running loose. But most of all it's about attitudes, and those can not be changed easily. I think most Europeans would see that laws could make animals' lives better, and thus welcome those not too strict, whereas the American ideal of freedom, may be a hindrance, in that many would feel that the government should not concern themselves with the individuals' choices about their pets.
55
What a load of nonsense.
There are 90 million pet dogs in the US...just imagine the consequences if they were all un-sterilized. The happy local dog-park where dogs can socialize off-leash would turn into a pit of aggression and chaos the minute a female in heat came near. We could say goodbye to dogs romping with each other peacefully on off-leash trails and dog parks. All dogs would be required to be leashed, indoors, fenced, or separated from each other at all times -- no more socializing or free play outdoors. Accidental injuries and deaths from dog fights would skyrocket, as would strays and euthanizing -- either that or dog abortions.
I love my two mutts, but we are hardly in danger of mixed breeds going extinct. I could go online and find 300 local puppies for adoption in about an hour.
Dogs are not people, stop projecting your human attachment to your testicles onto them. Dogs who are fixed as puppies have zero idea that anything is missing. That's a human concern. People with intact males are relying on other owners to sterilize or confine females indoors.
A happy dog is a dog who gets opportunities to run free in the woods or pasture, sniffing, jumping, wrestling, romping, getting dirty, and meeting and playing with other dogs. Not a dog who spends its *entire* life tied on a six-foot rope to a human or confined indoors or to a small yard. Allowing dogs to experience full joy, via regular off-leash play sessions, is only possible with mass sterilization.
24
I am appalled by the lack of critical thinking skills demonstrated by most of the comments here, especially those who are claiming themselves to be veterinarians. The author of this opinion piece has made some very good points regarding the policies of spaying and neutering as well as negative health and behavioral effects, yet so many of you are so brainwashed that you fail to take those points into consideration and instead react by saying that she is flat out wrong. Regarding the health issues, consider this: if these were people, not dogs, would you remove their gonads at 1 year? 3 years old? 10 years old? Of course not, because they are not physically nor emotionally mature and it is widely accepted and understood that doing so would lead to long term negative health effects. So why would you do this to your dog or cat? And don't say "but they're not human"--they are still sentient beings whose maturity both physical and psychological depend very much on gonadal hormones.
Humans are lazy, mentally and physically, and that is why the author titled her piece " Dogs Are Not Here for Our Convenience" . Get it? No, I didn't think you did.
7
All the spayed/ neutered dogs I have owned have lived a long life and died of old age. My aunts 2 attempts at dog ownership ended when they were very young as both (intact) males bolted every time the front door opened and the result was that both were hit by cars. Dogs aren’t human children and human owners are not prepared for the challenges that owning an intact dog present. I wouldn’t put my child in a crate and go to the movies either, but it’s acceptable to for me to do that with my dog.
8
Acceptable to whom? That’s the point.
1
@Me So, you just proved my point. Thank you.
1
Actually, dogs exist entirely for our convenience. If it weren't for us, they would still be wolves. Spay/neuter is a solution to a problem we have created. Perhaps, not the best solution. But many dog owners aren't even responsible enough to pick up their animal's poop off the sidewalk. They certainly aren't going to be able to manage intact dogs responsibly.
10
Sigh. I so wanted to never have to discuss this topic again after 45 years as a practicing veterinarian.
Castrating a dog to curb aggression is only effective when that aggression is hormonally related. So inter-male aggression between intact males may be reduced, but some male dogs are aggressive for reasons more to do with temperament and rearing practices, and neutering will not change that behavior.
No one will want to enter your house if you have an intact male cat, unless they are really fond of the smell of cat urine. You will also be making many visits to the vet to treat all his battle injuries.
An intact female cat will come into heat repeatedly, weekly, unless she copulates. She will drive you crazy with her pleas for sex, and she WILL get pregnant if there is a tom cat around.
If you have an intact female dog, then you will attract an amorous crowd of male dogs from far and wide, some of whom have been known to physically break through your defenses such as doors, and windows, to get at your bitch. And your bitch will run, dig, sneak away, or break out faster than you thought possible.
One of the most difficult surgical procedures a vet faces is removing a massive pus-filled uterus from a large dog who is probably also in renal failure at the time.
There are no "natural" dogs, so any attempt to argue that we are interfering with natural processes is problematic.
Getting cancer as a result of living longer is not an argument against living longer.
27
@Hacoah, thank you.
1
There are thousands of stray dogs in India that breed, feed and live and get run over on the streets. It's not a pretty existence. Yes, maybe vasectomies and tubal ligations are better. But, there are still the issues of bitches coming into heat. My mother's little terrier, had to be locked up in the bathroom when she was in heat, as the neighborhood strays would try any way to break into the house and breed her. Yes, we have domesticated wolves, but let's not make this situation worse than it is.
7
This opinion is nonsense. Decades ago, Paul Ehrlich wrote the "Population Bomb." Although the "Population Bomb" was "prophetic" in one sense, in a broader sense, it did nothing more than state the obvious: too many people; too many dogs and other pets; and too much livestock. At the time Ehrlich wrote his book, many people scoffed. Yet, how right he was. Where are we now? Ms. Horowitz is one of many who adamantly refuses to acknowledge reality. We must change our habits, and we must changes those habits now. Dogs are a part of the climate problem, and spaying and neutering must be a part of the solution.
6
I find this article's message deeply irresponsible. Clearly we humans are to blame for the suffering of all animals who trust us with their care - pets, farm animals, feed stock. We fail them miserably - all the time - much to their detriment. Spaying and neutering reduces the number of dogs and cats on the streets. Period. It's the least we can do.
10
Dogs are exactly "here for our convenience". They are a long-domesticated species, not some wild genome finding it's own a-human evolutionary pathway. We have been playing God with dogs since the first villagers began capturing and selectively breeding curious wolves into now worshipful mutts. Of course this doesn't lend license to abuse but let's keep the facts straight.
2
Ah, the vision of the future. No meat. No air travel. No private cars. And millions of stray dogs and cats. Sounds like progress to me! [sarcasm]
5
I would like to see a law passed that would ban breeding for profit, completely. There are far too many dogs dying in shelters every day, so I disagree with purposely bringing more into the world to make a profit. Breeders will say it's to preserve the integrity of the breed or some nonsense like that. It is what it is... they are profiting financially from the sale of animals, pure and simple.
4
Let's just be honest-Americans aren't up to responsible dog ownership. Or responsible much of anything else lately. Guns, education, the environment, government- the list goes on. We are failed stewards...
7
This sort of thinking is a product of well-known disease affecting many Americans: Afluenza. This is a first world problem, and given issues like Climate change and the rise of fascism and authoritarianism, it should be at the bottom of the list.
6
Most dogs in this country have a decent, long life. Better than dogs in less prosperous countries, where they live, starve and die on the street after producing many puppies, and MUCH BETTER than the billions of innocent creatures were are busy torturing on factory farms for our convenience.
5
Let's be real, domestic dogs in our country live a lot better than many humans in other countries.
My puppy had a false pregnancy after her first heat. My vet had advised me to let her have a first heat. In retrospect, I wish I had spayed her earlier. At 9 months, her teats swelled, she leaked milk and laid around moaning for days. This article fails to address this reality and it can happen after every heat. Seeing it first hand, I wouldn't wish it on any dog or doggie "parents."
8
I would suggest the author spend some time in the Navajo reservation of northern Arizona. Feral dogs are everywhere. They travel in packs, are shockingly skinny, flea and tick-infested, mangy looking by any account. They fight, mate and scrabble with each other continuously. The weaker ones always succumb to the unspoken rule of pack hierarchy, resulting in deformed and limping dogs everywhere. Females are found in snowdrifts up against buildings, suckling ever more puppies. The townspeople throw stones at these dogs, who are forever begging for food, sometimes very aggressively. Children grow up kicking them; this is taught by example from the adults. Nobody feeds them, nobody shelters them in inclement weather. The winters are brutal. The people don’t value their pets, and simply shrug when their dogs run off to join the ever growing wild packs. Needless to say, very, very few dogs are spayed or neutered. This is the ugly result.
10
Well this is why we have states with stray animals. Without spaying or neuters, dogs and cats will be classified as invasive species and displace hundreds of species of animals. Cats are already a factor of killing species of birds. Don't tell people to no neuter because it's probably the worst thing you can do.
4
Desexed is loaded term. Neutered males are still interested in females, especially if they are in heat. Spayed females do not lose their mothering instincts. And both sexes remain competitive with other dogs of the same gender and remain very concerned about hierarchy. Fixing a dog does not make them asexual.
9
Homo sapiens and their domesticated animals make up 94% or more of the verterbrae biomass on our planet.
The choice of what species should reproduce is much more than the question of canines.
5
Here's a modest suggestion. Unless you can produce a doctor's certificate indicating special need, you can't have a mammalian pet.
Dog and cats consume enormous amounts of carbon-produced resources, kill wildlife, and are generally annoying (as are their owners). Animal slaves (pets) are a luxury the planet can no longer afford.
1
While the intellectual in me can appreciate the provocations in this essay, it reads like a graduate student conference on animalities. It’s desperately out of sync with reality. I couldn’t help but notice another article: Is dying at home overrated? And to think I thought you hit a low with: Swipe right for your favorite presidential candidates. Journalism, people!!
4
This article feels like trolling. I love my pets and feel that spaying and neutering is responsible. I also think this was an odd editorial choice for the Times. We also only have shelter animals we adopted to join the family (teste and ovary free), I really do not understand the author's point of view. In our area we have kill shelters, animal control also euthanizes animals. How is her approach improving the lives of animals who have been domesticated for centuries? Way too many animals are abused and abandoned for a variety of reasons. It is my opinion this is some kind of click bait. I should not have taken the bait.
9
Shall we talk about gelding livestock? Generally without anesthetic? Surely it is not respectful toward those animals. Steers do not get to live their best lives. That meat pig who ends up on your plate never got to be a boar. Your handsome and compliant gelding saddle horse might have been a resplendent stallion, if allowed. Have you ever seen an ungelded goat? They are randy as all get out.
3
I wish Dr. Horowitz could have come with me to the home of an obviously incapable dog owner with two intact dogs. The male had impregnated the female who had given birth to a litter of 12 puppies. The woman was now keeping the poor terrified dog in the closet to prevent further pregnancies and was attempting to sell the puppies. The mother dog was being fed rice with gravy even while she continued to nurse her litter. If the Humane Society had not stepped in, I don't know what would have become of these poor animals.
7
What an odd and irresponsible ax to grind.
8
Let’s acknowledge that there is a non-zero number of IRresponsible dog owners. And there are feral-cat crazies and lonely people who dump loaves of stale bread for birds and rats to devour. There are cat lovers who are certain that THEIR cat never kills birds. There are dog lovers who figure that “just one” feces deposit can’t be significant. City life cannot be regulated the same way as extreme rural areas. More people are moving to cities than to rural areas.
2
This article rivals Mr. Stephens' recent article in its inanity.
5
Admittedly the idea of a doggie vasectomy or tubal ligation is intriguing. But is it wise? I've had two large dogs, both rescues. One was intact and the other was neutered before adolescence.
If you're thinking of getting your dog a vasectomy instead of neutering him, ask yourself: are you prepared for your dog wanting to date? To fall in love? Doggos do fall in love. Think of wolves and the lasting pair bonds they form. Think of yourself in freshman year, pining over a cute boy or girl you couldn't have. Do you really want to put your dog through that? Are you ready to let your dog follow his heart, or his "parts?" Imagine how different the dog park would be if all of the dogs were competing with one another for a prom date.
My intact dog fell in love. I have photos of him and his beloved gazing at one another like Lady and the Tramp over a plate of pasta. It was truly heartwarming, yet also heartbreaking because they spent most of their time apart.
Some dogs are gay. Unfortunately and beyond any kind of reason this makes some people squeamish. In your heart of hearts ask yourself, could you fully accept it if your dachshund is a lesbian?
Our neutered dog lived his life as one long puppyhood, attached to us and playful into old age. He had no interest in girls, unless they wanted to play ball with him. I think he had a happier life.
We concluded that, unless you can allow a dog to have a self chosen mate and puppies the humane choice to neuter a dog just before maturity.
6
The author needs to learn that all domesticated animals exist for our pleasure. If we didn't breed them and feed them, they wouldn't exist.
3
I await a future Times opinion piece arguing that we shouldn’t vaccinate dogs for rabies, due to a not-yet-disproven risk of autism.
12
@CA Meyer You got me to laugh while I'm busy thinking about all the idiots out there like the owner of my rescues who didn't treat for heart worm or think a leg injury needed vet attention. Thanks!
As an empty nester, lifetime dog owner and dog lover, I am currently the owner of my last dog. This dog will be my last because I will not take on the additional expense, time and responsibility of being a pet owner. Dogs have greatly enriched my life. Is suspect I am not alone, as many my age are choosing to be pet free at this new stage of life. Having said that, I think this article is absurd. All of my friends are responsible, good dog owners and not one of them is equipped to manage an intact dog. I watch the young parents, and young professionals who want the joys of a dog, but realistically, do not have the time or experience to own an intact dog. I’ve talked to my vet and vet techs at length, and they all agree that spay/neuter is best for the dog and best for the owner. Please, please don’t encourage yet another attempt to create chaos and havoc in our country.
7
Spaying and neutering my be a substitute for dealing with the issues of an intact dog, and such altering may be uncomfortable for some. Perhaps even unnecessary in some very responsible owners' cases. But why are we as a nation just fine with tail docking - done to days-old pups - and ear pinning/cropping, both of which are mostly purely aesthetic as very few of our dogs are truly working dogs? I would argue that spaying/neutering, even when to correct our own failures in raising an animal, are a better solution to a 'problem' than surgically altering an animal simply because we think it looks better or is cuter. Oh, humans. What fools we are.
3