Labrador Retriever Forum
While I agree with you Seriously, that there will always be people who will not take good care of their dogs, Lablover makes an important point for two reasons. The first being for those who DO care about their dogs, the misinformation given about early S/N not affecting their dogs, could lead them down the wrong path, when these individuals are the type who will take what they think is good advice to heart and follow it.
The second point is even for people who don't even own dogs, listening to that program makes them think early S/N is a non-issue, which is not the case. I would much rather have any public media outlet putting out the message that early S/N can cause dogs serious health issues, including cancer, so that that message goes out and the public hears it. This way when some whiz kid in their town proposes an ordinance for early S/N, the public can respond to this proposed ordinance knowing this amounts to "cruelty to animals".
P.S. what makes you sure that all dogs or even most dogs in shelters are the results of a "whoops" breeding?
Just my two cents. 
Perhaps the OP could provide factual info & suggest to the producers of the show that this information be addressed on the show as well???
CM, that is a great idea. It probably would also be possible to send the show's producers some web links to studies which proved the adverse effects of early spay/neuter, and see if they could get one of the studies' researchers on the show!
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Perhaps the OP could provide factual info & suggest to the producers of the show that this information be addressed on the show as well???
While I don't think tug of war is bad in general, I know many trainers for field work, who feel tug of of war is the quickest way to ruin your dog from having a "soft mouth". I would like to hear from people on the board who train for field work and what they think of the game "tug of war", or if they would ever allow it with a dog destined for field work. 
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http://dogs.about.com/od/funphotos/qt/tugowar.htm
Seriously, you and I are going to have to agree to disagree. No power on earth could ever get me to do a medical procedure on a dog, where I KNOW it might lead to the decline of the dog's health in the future. Also no one is going to convince me that a prospective dog owner should have this information hidden from them when it concerns the dog's future health. Not going to happen where I am concerned!!!
I do agree with you that some dogs wind up in a shelter because people purchase them without realizing how much work they can be, and then want to give them up once they find out. The only difference between our views is, under your choice the early spayed/neutered dog winds up in the shelter as a time bomb whose poor health will expode upon his new owners some years down the road after they have adopted it. Under my view the dog can be spayed/neutered later, and the adoptive owners will have a healthier dog in the long run.
I guess people will have to follow and live with their conscience when it comes to early spay/neuter. 
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Beg to differ...many dogs in shelters are there because they were bred for the sake of breeding, sold in a parking lot to someone who shouldn't have bought it in the first place, and then discovered what work a dog was in the first place. Where they the result of whoops? Who knows...but I get plenty of calls about people who can't afford to spay and neuter and then end up with puppies they didn't anticipate for...that's how they get to shelters.
IMO most people just can't deal with the responsibility...so why should the animals suffer because it *may* be better to spay them after they reach maturity....
oh and please, don't pull out that lame link to canine sports...we're not talking peformance dogs here people...we're talking skinny, whippet looking house dogs that are usually out back in kennels.
