the young man said adjusting his crotch with the hand that wasn't holding the beer bottle. Ah, the things you hear when you don't have a pair of pruning shears I thought. Of course, I could be wrong, this defender of maleness may be one of the dog owners responsible and careful enough to keep his dog from unplanned breeding. But I thought it more likely he'd enjoy the sight of his randy mutt mounting some stray bitch in heat. And I would pretty much bet he wouldn't go looking for the pups with a list of happy homes and money for vaccinations. I had carried home too many starved and battered strays to have much sympathy with this viewpoint. There are too many dogs! There are too few homes! Every September the large park near my home becomes a dumping ground for the unwanted dogs who were cute puppies in the springtime but proved to be a real responsibility when they grew a little older. Their lame brain owners think the dog will thrive in the great outdoors or that other dog owners will take them in. Wrong! Other dog owners already have a dog and winter follows autumn! The owner of the Cocker Spaniel bitch screamed at the owner of the male Doberman, "Get your dog off her, she's in heat!" Boom, puppies! Why didn't you have them neutered and spayed? "Well, we might want to breed Sissy." "Zack's a purebred you know." Won't those little CockerDobies be cute? There are too many dogs. There are too few homes. Spay and neuter your pets and donate money to spay neuter programs because: 50% of healthy dogs brought to shelters are euthanized. Only one in five shelter animals finds a home, millions are euthanized or suffer as strays every year. Female dogs are in heat for roughly three weeks every six months, bleed for a week and then are able to conceive for another week or so. Unspayed females are frequent victims of breast cancer (50% female dogs) and pyomatra (pus-filled uterus). Unaltered dogs can be victims of testicular cancer, prostate disease and hernias. Very early spaying and neutering can also cause health problems. Neuter or spay just after sexual maturity. 39,000 dogs and cats were euthanized at shelters operated in N.Y. City last year. An average of at least four dogs are killed every hour. Only 3% of lost dogs are reunited with their owners. It costs more than $4,500,000 a year in taxpayer dollars for shelter and related animal services. Each year 25 million unwanted pets meet death through accident, disease or in pounds. Humans have a long-standing pact of mutual protection with dogs and we are still human... I think. | back |