0n (12 Apr 05) WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote to SEAN DENNIS...

-> *** Quoting WAYNE CHIRNSIDE from a message to SEAN DENNIS ***

-> WC> Fourth?

-> Now the fifth. :)  My wife asked me to areafix this echo for her. ;)

 WC> Good, dogs make better people.

 WC> I've a Pit Bull that's 15 years old, gentlest dog I've ever met
 WC> and I've NEVER had to discipline.

 WC> Not neutered, house dog and now on steroids due to a degenerative
 WC> spinal condition.

 Wayne I replied to this already but then a question came to mind that
a calls for a new thread.

We're all told neutering is best for the animal. Not just to limit
population but to lower risk of certain forms of cancer. But now I
WONDER if that latter bit (about cancer) isn't just a ploy to
encourage neutering seeing how long Sparky has lived. hmm!

BTW I am all for neutering. There are millions of dogs out there
waiting for a new home. On Petfinder.com alone if you do a specific
search on shih tzu in the Fort Worth, TX area... there's 450!!!! Just
that.. It breaks my heart. So many wonderful dogs given up because the
owner 'got tired of them'...

I can see getting tired of a dog who has a lot of problems but there's
way too many people who buy/adopt on impulse... They don't ask
questions.

One question many potential dog owners forget to ask is not" is the
dog good with kids", no. They forget to ask, "are my kids good with
dogs?"

We adopted our shih tzu mix Patches when he was five years old from a
woman with three kids and two other bigger dogs. The kids said they
loved to toss Patches in the pool. And one of them who was trying to
comb Patches' tail when we were there visiting, did not do it very
gently. It took me a month to win Patches over to trusting me to groom
him gently. (I had to cut out the hair mats)... And we found hates to
go in the pool. We gave him a good lease on life there the last five
years ... he was a funny dog I tell ya.

But back on topic.. I think we DO do animals a favor by neutering
them. Yet I would like to know about the validity of the 'decrease
cancer risk' claim.

Cindy


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