Remember When Dogs Used to Have Balls?

Over the course of over 45 years with dogs, I have only had two that were not spayed or neutered (one of which I own now).

I am pro spay and neuter for a couple of simple reasons: I don't like to see a couple of million dogs a year trotted off to their death because they were "accidents," and I don't think watching two dogs have sex is a demonstration of human talent or creative ability. You produced another litter of puppies-for-pets. Really? We needed that? Why? Did you do all the health tests on both the sire and dam? Did you work them at least three seasons? Do you have good solid homes for all of the pups? Or are you just another hump and dump breeder?

People like to blame pet stores for all the dogs that are killed every year in America's shelters, but less than 4 percent come from pet stores, and only about 10 pecent come from "breeders" (a term that encompasses everything from puppy mills to back-of-the-free-newspaper dog dealers, to legitimate show or working dog breeders). 

About 30% of all shelter dogs come from "friends" and another 10 percent each come from "strangers" or are "strays." 

A two-year survey of dogs turned in to a Las Vegas, Nevada shelter found "more than 85 percent of the animals came from a neighbor or friend’s litter" and "fewer than 5 percent were from pet stores and no more than 1 percent or 2 percent were from professional breeders." 

And you know why? Simple: when people pay a lot of money for a dog (and pet store and show dogs cost $600 and up), they are slower to buy, more stable in income, and generally a little more reticent to kick their money to the curb.  

A dog that is sold for less than $300 is a dog whose life is at risk for abandonment!

The good news is that today, because of the ubiquitous nature of spay and neuter, far fewer dogs are going to the pound than ever before, and most of the smaller and younger dogs are being adopted, especially in larger urban areas.  

So who are the dogs left behind?  Who are the dogs still being killed down at the pound?

Mostly, it's the old, the sick, the very ugly, the common black non-descript mongrel lab, and a massive tide of Pit Bulls.

Pit Bulls represent about half of all euthanized dogs in this country; nearly one million dead dogs a year, or about 40,000,000 pounds of dead Pit Bulls being carted off to landfills and incinerators.    To put this another way, more Pit Bulls are killed in shelters every year than the TOTAL number of dogs registered by the AKC every year.

To be clear, the Pit Bull problem is NOT because of the Pit Bull "haters" but because of Pit Bull "lovers" who do not spay and neuter their dogs. 

What's the deal with Pit Bull owners? 

One issue is that a lot of these dogs are owned by young men not so very different from Bill Burr, the comedian in this video clip. 

These folks have a transference problem -- cutting off the dog's balls seems a little too close to cutting off their balls.  To which I can only say Get Over It, especially if you have a Pit Bull.  

We are killing 40 million pounds of Pit Bulls in this country every year. 

If you don't think that's not enough, or if you think your dog is so special that you still need to breed another litter or two of Pit Bulls (or any other kind of pet dog), then you are very much part of the problem, and that is not a laughing matter. 

• Related Links:
  ** Hump and Dump Dog Breeders
  ** American Canine Demographics
  ** Beyond the Blue Solution of Dog Shelter Death  
  ** Between Two Lies, Lost Opportunity for Pit Bulls
  ** Is 400 Million Pounds of Dead Pit Bull Enough?
  ** The Vanishing Pet Shop Puppy
  ** Pit Bulls In the River
  ** Doing Right by Pit Bulls
  ** Silence and Excuses Kill More Pits than Vick
  ** The Business of Diamonds .... and Dogs
  .