Dogs neutering and spaying impact on pet dog behavior

Neutering and spaying dogs and the impact of a Compulsive Spay and Neuter Mind Set on pet dogs

part 1

Dog neutering and spaying

Impact of The Compulsive Spay and Neuter Mind Set on pet dog behavior
Part one

Before I get into why a Compulsive Spay and Neuter Mind Set is bad for the future of pet dogs in a modern society I need to clarify that I do support spaying and neutering the majority of dogs. It is my belief that sterilizing most dogs can have a positive impact if done judiciously.

In many ways dogs are more alike than some breed fans would have us believe. Research suggests that dogs are not all that much different from one another. There is often a bigger difference between an individuals ability to learn within a breed, than between breeds. Dogs have different levels of emotional reactivity. Emotional sensitivity affects learning more than does intelligence. While breed traits don’t determine raw intelligence they can influence performing some very specialized skills. The skill needed for these behaviors make dogs born with the proper internally influenced traits far more dependable than training alone can accomplish. I think of traits as an exceptional ability that allows some dogs to excel at certain tasks. This includes a pet dogs huge job of physical, mental, and emotional, support for people.

To make a dog into a task specialist, humans have exaggerated certain traits with selective breeding. The traits humans find so useful are enhanced versions of natural dog behavior. Within a breed some dogs are more likely to inherit certain traits and not others. However, not every dog of that breed will display the same level of trait related behaviors. Breed traits increase the chance of getting certain behavior, they don’t guarantee it. This means a dog bred for fighting will have a much better chance at being a good fighting dog than a dog bred to be a lap dog. But not all dogs from fighting stock make good fighting dogs. Some dogs from fighting breeds are friendly and these dogs will make good pets. The same goes for the lap dogs, not all dogs from these breeds are friendly. Some individuals within pet breeds will have aggression problems and not be good as pets.

Selective breeding allows us to control the chance of getting certain types of behavior. We increase our chances of getting a certain behavior by manipulating behavioral traits. Even if society does not intend to breed selectively, there are always selective pressures on dog populations.

Through selective breeding it is possible to make the majority of dogs from fighting breeds friendly. It is also possible to make the majority of dogs from friendly pet breeds aggressive. The scary thing is that socioeconomic pressures and/or government regulation can be the unintentional controlling factors that regulate selective breeding.

I am not going to go over all the areas where selective pressure influences our pet dogs, but I will mention three. The first areas of selective pressure the modern dog faces is local governments tendency to institute compulsive spay and neuter policies. I call this the compulsive spay and neuter mindset. In addition to the new social taboo on breeding we have two additional areas that are particularly troublesome. They are the incentives of harmful breeding, and the socioeconomic gains of dog fighting.

The spay and neuter mind set is maintained by socioeconomic and moral incentives.

Many good people have developed some well meaning value judgments against breeding any dog. Extensive social conditioning from spay and neuter campaigns have given these values emotional impact. Our good intentions to stop dog over population may have put in motion the beginning of more serious social problems. Mandatory spay and neuter laws creates a system that takes good dogs out of the gene pool. Preventing our best behaved dogs from breeding will have long term effects on the general dog population. The negative effect will be accelerated if there are selective pressures for traits not desired. These are the traits that cause society so much trouble. Some that come to mind are unstable aggression, excessive barking, separation anxiety, and high activity levels, all of which can lead to housebreaking problems. Here we are talking about the reasons people give for wanting to keep or not wanting to keep their dogs. Those who Breed dogs with undesirable traits are enough outside the system as not to be controlled by licensing laws alone. Out of control bad breeding will increase the impact antisocial dogs have in the gene pool.

A compulsive spay and neuter mindset mainly benefits those who spend money to control unwanted dogs. Governments spend millions of dollars controlling unwanted dogs. From the government’s sometimes, myopic animal management point of view, eliminating surplus dogs, perhaps all dogs, would be beneficial. This is because it would cost less to control dogs and cats if there were no or few pets.

I have read that animal rights groups like PETA have a goal of eliminating all pets. There are a sizable number of animal rights activists who think death is better than being a human’s pet (slave). These shared goals make local governments and animal rights extremist perfect bedmates. The government’s microeconomic view is based on the costs of public health and this year’s budget. While animal rights extremist think pet ownership is immoral. For those in animal control, eliminating as many non-paying dogs as possible makes economic sense. Governments want to see tangible benefits for using scarce resources. This gives authorities a big incentive to mandate the spaying and neutering of as many dogs as possible. Especially if it can be made to look like it’s in the publics best interest.

Another benefit governments see in pet dogs is a source of revenue for animal control. Most local governments have some licensing scheme. The new trend is to place a high licensing tax on owners when they have dogs capable of reproducing. The trouble is we are using high fees to equally punish both good behavior and undesirable behavior. The extra good dogs are the very ones we need for making the future generations of local dogs better. The problem with this is that outstanding canine good citizens are discouraged from reproducing.

Unintentional and/or Selective breeding of undesirable traits often comes from hard to control forces that compete for responsible pet homes. In particular I am thinking of care-less back yard breeders or puppy mills, as well as the breeding of fighting dogs. The cost of Bad Behavior is just the beginning, medical conditions linked to bad breeding can have high costs too. Government policy is partially responsible for this, and so are the policies of many Non Profit Organizations.

The outcome of these policies are for the most part unintentional. However, it puts governments and dog lovers in the business of instituting the penalties and rewards responsible for breeding either GOOD or BAD pets. As this series of articles progresses we will look at the other two areas that are both hard to control and often select traits counter to good canine citizenship - care-less breeding from back yard breeders/puppy mills, and fighting dogs

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