Barbara, you don’t win people to your side with sideswipe insults like that for anyone who makes a decision you disagree with.

2. The dogs studied died between 1995-2000 - further indicating this was an old study - first used for a different purpose.

3. The major flaw in the 2009 study is the control groups of dogs used. They used one group aged 9-10 yrs. - and another group aged 13.3-14.3. The study only included 183 Rottweiler dogs in healthy home environments. We already know that the benefits of spaying include greatly decreased risk of breast & ovarian cancer. The average age of onset for breast & ovarian cancers in Rottweilers is generally younger than the control groups studied, thus all Rottweilers that died of breast or ovarian cancer at a younger age would have been excluded from the study. This would compare to taking a group of female smokers 90 years old and over - and concluding that cigarette smoking has no effect on women’s health since they are still alive at 90. All the women who died of smoking related diseases at younger than 90 years of age (common) would not have been considered in the study.

4. There appears to be other factors that contributed to the longevity of the Rottweilers in the 13.3-14.3 age group. As a group they weighed less at 79-90 lbs. - versus the younger group that weighed 90-100 lbs. Also the older dogs were shorter. Studies have long shown smaller, thinner dogs live longer by two years on average.

5. The oldest Rottweiler group - 13.3-14.3 - had a considerably larger number of mothers that achieved exceptional longevity - showing a genetic link to their longevity.

6. The 2009 study greatly contradicts much broader previous studies on ALL breeds and MIXED breeds - in reputable journals that show unequivocally the spaying prolongs female dog’s lives and that breeding shortens their lives.

7. The study is flawed also because he states that the average life expectancy of a Rottweiller is 9-10 yrs., when the majority of resources indicate it is actually 10-12 years - thus the “exceptional longevity” of 13 is not that extraordinary. Even more notable is the major cause of death he shows for in Rottweillers in the 9-10 yr. group is indeed cancer - 73% dying from it.

8. The study was originally completed to show that Rottweilers that lived past the age of 10 had a reduced risk for cancer. 73% died from it in his 9-10 year group and only 25% died from it in his 13.3 to 14.3 age group. This is the REAL information the study revealed - and the main thrust of the 2003 paper.

But this risk is almost always misrepresented — even in survey articles found in referred veterinary journals — in a way that implies that spaying needs to be done before the first or second estrus, or else there’s a 25% lifetime risk of mammary cancer, and no mammary cancer risk reduction for spaying after 2 estrus cycles. There is NO research data to support this very common assertion. NONE.

The actual published veterinary research shows that spaying dogs before 5 YEARS of age corresponds with a very large reduction in the lifetime risk of mammary cancer. What has apparently happened is that somebody misread the first of these two studies — published in 1969 — and everybody else who claims to reference that study keeps repeating the same misrepresentation.

This misreading of a 1969 mammary cancer study has apparently been the single biggest source for 40 years of recommendations to s/n dogs by 6 months of age in order to optimize their health.

Sonnenschein EG, Glickman LT, Goldschmidt MH, McKee LJ, “Body Conformation, Diet, and Risk of Breast Cancer in Pet Dogs: A Case-Control Study”, American Journal of Epidemiology, 1991, Vol 133, No 7, 694-703

Schneider, R, Dorn, CR, Taylor, DON. Factors Influencing Canine Mammary Cancer Development and Postsurgical Survival. J Natl Cancer Institute, Vol 43, No 6, Dec. 1969

http://retrieverman.wordpress......tity-belt/

I seem to get calls from a lot of people who start out with “The vet/trainer/behaviorist/groomer said neutering would calm him down/make them stop fighting/make him/her house train/not bite grandma but it didn’t work!

Further exploration reveals that doggy was never properly trained, socialized, walked and that the sum total of formal advise or even trips outside the house were to go to the vet for shots or a disasterous outing to the dog park or drop in training class with an un-leash trained, unsocialized dog.

Neuter or spay will not fix anything. It may remove some degree of distraction. But give me a well socialized dog of any reproductive status over a neutered or spayed shut in any day of the week.

As for health, complicated. I have been keeping tabs on a number of aging dogs for some time. Ever since I realized that the people with dogs in my breed that were living into their teens were almost never spaying or neutering retired show dogs unless there was a compelling reason to.

While I do know of one confirmed death from mammary cancer, it seems pretty uncommon in my breed. However, almost all the girls who made it to 12, 13, 14 were spayed late in life (7 and over), usually due to a pyometra scare or cystic ovaries.

One died of ovarian cancer. But at 15, well over her expected lifespan.

At the last nationals attended, the difference in the intact male veterans versus the majority of the female veterans was astonishing. The dogs looked half the age of the bitches, all of whom were spayed. While “the stress of having puppies” is the conventional wisdom mantra given for the lack of fitness in the older females, I don’t buy it. The two who looked the best had both had pups later in life, around age 6, and had been intact until 7 or 8. They looked years younger than some of the females who had been spayed at 2 or 3.

My oldest current girl is 8. Spayed at 7. (She had two litters, producing a grand total of 3 puppies, lest anyone wonder if I was keeping her uterus around to crank out puppies) She developed cystic ovaries last year so we spayed her. Her once a year, mild seasons had been a breeze to manage so I never felt the need to rush her to surgery, the cysts were detected on a routine ultrasound all my older dogs get once a year.

Beyond cancer, there are also the orthopedic implications of early spay/neuter. There is some evidence that it may increase the risk of cranial cruciate ligament rupture. My breed is prone to ccl injury. We have seen an increase in dogs surrendered because owners cannot afford the 3-5 K needed to fix a ccl. I don’t know that the National rescue is keeping a log, but the last two we had in locally with ccl injury were both young, altered males. I have just sent out an inquiry to several high volume rescue chapters to see if that is the trend. If so, then the club may need to look into researching whether early spay/neuter is leading to more of these types of injuries.

I do usually spay my girls once they retire from competition and after they have a litter, if they have a litter at all. But I am in less of a rush to so as I once was.

I think that is the case — that the near-universality of sterilized animals has created a situation where an intact animal reads as “abnormal” to other dogs — and, in fact, to people, too. This idea that so many trainers have that intact dogs are hard to manage or handle? It’s nonsense. It’s their lack of experience with intact animals that creates that situation, not intactness per se.

I’ve been rescue fostering for twenty years.

I also breed and show, so my own dogs are mainly intact.

Who socializes the unsocialized dogs? Well that would almost always end up being my intact girls and boys.

Well socialized with a good temperament is well socialized with a good temperament.

Last dog who caused a great big uproar was the neutered as a 4 month old, now 5 year old male who came in ready to shred everything out of fear, years of isolation and a complete lack of doggy manners.

Last two intact fostersmales (only briefly intact! :) ) came from back grounds of good experiences with people and other dogs. They barely raised an eyebrow here, except for one old spayed girl who took a fancy to one of the newcomers and flirted outrageously with him for a few days.

My dogs have to get along with other dogs, other intact dogs at shows with sometimes several thousand intact dogs and kids and cats. Gonads just don’t seem to be the root cause of any issues. But then again, my dogs, like Gina’s and Christie’s, are extensively socialized, trained and expected to to behave, testicles and ovaries not withstanding.

Maybe the hormones of an intact dog or bitch do rile some dogs up. But maybe that’s a lack of exposure to the full range of the doggy universe at play. My friends in European nations such as Switzerland tell me most dogs are intact, but they are expected to be responsibly owned, trained and socialized. And in most cases to accompany their owners most places, all the while being around many other strange, intact dogs. apparently aggressive incidents are very rare.

And these same places also have very low rates of homeless pets. Responsibility, it’s just such a good thing.