The Truth about Dogs and Sex

For my first post I am going to discuss something I overheard at the West Jordan dog park the other day. This is something that I think it is important for everyone to know.

A man had brought to the park his unaltered male (meaning the dog still had testicles) German Shepard. The dog wasn't ill-behaved or anything, but it was what his owner said to another man, who was the owner of a solid black female German Shepard, that got to me. I think to make this a bit easier to understand, as well as type, I am going to give them pseudonyms.

The owner of the male will be called Buddy.

The owner of the female will be called Princess.

Their conversation went something like this:

Buddy: "How old is she?"

Princess: "She's about two."

Buddy: "Have you had to put diapers on her yet?"

Princess: "Huh? Oh, you mean . . . ? No, no. I got her fixed long ago."

To elaborate on this conversation a bit, Buddy was asking Princess if his dog had gone into heat yet. Possibly to find out, later in the conversation, if Princess would be open to seeing if Buddy's dog, and Princess's dog wanted to mate.

There are a couple of things that irked me about this conversation. One: Dogs have the ability to reproduce as soon as six months of age. The average female dog will go into her first heat at six months. While her eggs may not be completely fertile, it is still possible for her to become pregnant. This is how a lot of  'oops' litters occur. If you want to avoid that first 'oops' litter, I suggest you consider getting your dog fixed before she is 6 months. I will have resources on where you can go in Utah to get this done for relatively cheap down below.

The second thing that bothered me was that it appeared that Buddy was using the dog park for a hookup for his dog. I understand that there are people out there who, for various reasons, do not want to fix their dogs. But please do not use the dog park as a place to scope out potential mates for your dog. It is vastly inappropriate and, to me, it is the same as going to the local playground to find a hookup for your two-year-old son. There are other, more appropriate places, you can go to find a mate for your dog.

For those of you who do not know much about spaying and neutering, here are some interesting facts:

• Dogs can have numerous health problems related to the reproductive organs: Testicular cancer, ovarian cysts, cervical cancer, uterine infections, mammary gland tumors, just to name a few. Also every time a female dog is bred, she runs the risk of developing a pro-lapsed uterus. A pro-lapsed uterus is where the uterus is hanging outside of the dog's body.
• Male dogs who are not fixed are more likely to be aggressive with other dogs as well as have very strong desires to roam in search of a mate. Dogs have very good noses and they can smell a female in heat from at least a mile away.
• Spaying and neutering does not make your dog fat. Constant access to food and poor exercise make your dog fat.
• A neutered male dog is just as fierce and loyal to his family and home as an unaltered male dog.
• Dogs do not harbor any resentment towards their humans for getting them fixed. Resentment is not an emotion that dogs are capable of.
• 97% of fatal dog attacks in 2006 were from dogs who had not been fixed.*

All of these issues can be avoided or remedied by getting your dog fixed. There are some places in Utah that offer very reasonable prices on spay and neuter surgeries.

The following offer spay surgeries for $65 and neuter surgeries for $55.

Best Friends Animal Society Spay & Neuter Clinic - Orem
Address: 845 N 100 W STE 107
              Orem, UT 84057
Phone: 801.432.2124 x 10

Salt Lake Spay & Neuter Clinic
Address: 160 E 4800 S
               SLC, UT 84107
Phone: 801.262.6414

HeartSong Spay & Neuter
Address: 600 S State Street
              Clearfield, UT 84015
Phone: 801.614.5212

The Humane Society of Utah
Address: 4242 S 300 W
              Murray, UT 84107
Phone: 801.261.2919

All of the above places also accept free-fix vouchers from Best Friend's UT. If you qualify for any type of government assistance, you qualify for a voucher program where you can get your animals fixed for low-no cost. (BTW: Pit bull type dogs are free to fix anywhere in UT where the vouchers are accepted because there are too many unwanted Pit Bull's in UT shelters.) To get more information on the Free-Fix program, call 801.432.2124 x 16

*Source - http://network.bestfriends.org/initiatives/pitbulls/pages/justice-for-the-victims.aspx