Sheila,
Thank you for the thoughtful and informational response.
While I do think we need more studies on early spay/neuter, I do think that at shelters are options are limited. It's weighing out the benefits of early spay/neuter as it relates to pet overpopulation. My dogs are from the shelter or rescues but if I had a puppy, I would wait longer to spay/neuter as I do see the benefits and it makes sense to me.
Here in WI, I (and other professionals including certified behavior consultants and veterinarians I work with) seem to all be saying we are seeing more behavioral issues than ever before. Why? I don't think there is one reason or any easy answer. I have a couple thoughts –
AMAZON😊 One is we live in a society where people can get Amazon delivered TODAY so often we want the "quick" fix and if it we can't get that we return the item.
BREEDING We have dogs that come from mills, backyard breeders and other less that ideal situations so we have genetics and early learning that can have a huge impact on the adult personality. Most people are unaware the huge impact genetics, epigenetics and the parenting of mom have on their dog as an adult.
TRAUMA Layer on top of that we have transport, multiple stays at shelters, taken from mom/litter too y young and more all during early learning when the brain is like a sponge for learning what is safe, unsafe and neutral in their world. I see so many dogs that have truly experienced trauma and their guardians don't realize it.
SOCIALIZATION Next we have a lack of understanding of what socialization is and either missed socialization windows or sometimes OVER socialization with the adopter that takes the dog to soccer games, daycare, dog parks and the bars from early on all in the name of "socialization"!
BREED Then we have often a complete mismatch of adopters and breed or research so people pick the border collie based on looks not doing the research to learn they need a LOT of stimulation and can have a need to control movement and can be cautious of strangers so we are fitting the square peg into the round hole at times.
EXPECTATIONS Then there is the expectation that dogs should love all dogs and people, go to daycare and the bar and more. We put a LOT of expectations on another species with very different rules than ours. We sometimes ask more out of them than we would our partners, children, etc..
TRAINING METHODS I could go on and on about this one but we bring another species into our world and then "teach" them by telling them what NOT to do and shocking them and more. Most of my aggression cases have been on shock collars, prongs and more! It's heartbreaking the lack of understanding and regulation of the training world for our "best friends"☹!
ANXIETY Lastly and most importantly I think our current mental health crisis in this country is having an impact on our dogs. Anxiety is at an all time high with people and even teens in our society. I do believe (and there are some pretty compelling studies) that dogs mirror behavior and are impacted by our stress.
So I think the key is education on body language, what is socialization, humane training methods, understanding stress/anxiety/trauma, and addressing our own stress and anxiety to create a more humane world for our companions. Then we can begin to have other conversations.
Carol Sumbry
Certified Behavior Consultant, Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Trauma Informed Professional - Canine
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Carol Sumbry
Elmbrook Humane Society
WI
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-09-2024 12:08 PM
From: Sheila Segurson
Subject: Community Conversations - 8/26/2024 - Behavioral and Medical Impacts of Spay and Neuter
Hi @Julielani Chang,
THIS is the super tough question - how to balance the benefits of population control with the potential for increased aggression and anxiety in some animals.
Yes, it's a super complex topics, but since you've asked i'll share my opinion. In both situations, we're talking about potential harm. If we don't spay/neuter there is potentially new animals brought in the world. I have a 3 year old dog who isn't spayed but i'm not allowing her to be bred, and that's why it's 'potential'. It depends where the animal lives, whether they're allowed to roam, and how closely the animal is monitored while they're in heat. For dogs who go into heat twice per year, that's about ten days of risk per year. For cats who are induced ovulators and go into heat more frequently, that's many more days. It's 'only' ten days, but the risk is significant. Intact male dogs can smell a female dog from far away, and will often go to great lengths to access that female.
But what about the risk of potential aggression and anxiety in dogs? It's also a potential risk. Dogs who are spayed/neutered are at higher risk for certain behaviors (like aggressive behavior toward strangers). With this 'potential', we don't know whether that increased likelihood of behavior problems is because the dog was neutered or because of some other reason (one example of a potential reason would be people who spay/neuter also don't socialize their dogs adequately because their veterinarians tell them that the dog can't walk outdoors until they're 4 months old). That other reason might be the ACTUAL cause of the increased in behavior problems.
When we live in a community where lots of animals are being killed in shelters, spay/neuter is the appropriate choice IMO. Until we have more information about why more neutered animals have behavior problems, when we can't be certain that a pet owner is going to prevent breeding, the appropriate choice is to spay/neuter because we know a lot more about the consequences of not preventing breeding than we do about the association between spay/neuter and behavior concerns.
Having said all that, i have deep concerns about why most of us feel that we're seeing more dogs with behavior concerns and also more severe behavior concerns. We don't have research, but I have lots of hypotheses regarding why this is happening. Some of my hypotheses are: the stressful/painful procedure (and not removing gonads), inadequate socialization, puppies learning from their undersocialized mothers which could increase potential bhrs like aggression to strangers, less than ideal breeding (breeding for physical appearance or sport rather than for being a good family dog; puppy mills), to name a few. Not to mention that many of our dogs live less social lives (on a day to day basis) than in the past, but then we expect them to be social when we have a party. There's also a possibility that owners of intact dogs (much smaller population than spay/neutered dogs) who completed these surveys keep their dogs differently than people who spay/neuter, and that's the cause of the results.
I feel that many of these other factors are likely bigger reasons why we feel we're seeing more behavior. So, i focus on NOT keeping puppies in shelters and educating shelters and pet people about the importance of socializing puppies and HOW to socialize them. I also focus on educating pet people about trauma and it's impact, the importance of creating positive experiences and preventing negative experiences for their dogs, as well as avoiding training methods (that cause trauma).
Having said all this, personally i fought hard to not spay my GSD mix until she was two (had a super hard time getting the org i adopted her from to agree to it) and have a 3 year old dog who isn't spayed. She's my COVID pup who has behavior concerns, and i'm not spaying her yet, just in case spaying her makes her behavior worse and i know i can prevent her from being bred. We KNOW that our hormones impact our health and behavior, so it's not out of the question that removing hormones has a behavioral impact.
I'd love to hear what you think!
Sheila
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Sheila Segurson, DVM, DACVB
Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist
Director of Community Solutions
Maddie's Fund
Pleasanton CA
9258608284
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-28-2024 10:23 PM
From: Julielani Chang
Subject: Community Conversations - 8/26/2024 - Behavioral and Medical Impacts of Spay and Neuter
Dr. Segurson, Thank you for your response. I agree that spaying and neutering are vital for population control, and we're still feeling the effects of disruptions during COVID-19. I'm curious about your perspective on a related issue: How do you balance the benefits of population control through spaying/neutering with the potential for increased aggression and anxiety in some animals? I understand this might be a complex topic with varying viewpoints, so I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.
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Julielani Chang
The Life of Kai: Compassion Connections Inc.
Davis CA
Original Message:
Sent: 08-28-2024 01:43 PM
From: Sheila Segurson (she/her)
Subject: Community Conversations - 8/26/2024 - Behavioral and Medical Impacts of Spay and Neuter
Hi @Julielani Chang,
Great question. Science tell us that if the primary goal is to prevent on reproduction, we should be focus on several things such as: females (because one male can impregnate many females, spaying females is more important) and s/n 70-80% of the population in our target community to reach a steady state.
If you read Urfer's desexing dogs paper they talk about the lack of research showing that there isn't enough evidence to confidently say that efforts to s/n companion and shelter dogs has an effect on population size. Success has been demonstrated in free-roaming populations.
Having said that, my personal view is that s/n programs HAVE had an effect because i feel that the reason many of us say we're seeing more puppies and kittens these days is because of the reduction in s/n during covid. But that's just a thought and not backed by any research!
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Sheila Segurson, DVM, DACVB
Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist
Director of Community Solutions
Maddie's Fund
Pleasanton CA
9258608284
Original Message:
Sent: 08-26-2024 04:21 PM
From: Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
Subject: Community Conversations - 8/26/2024 - Behavioral and Medical Impacts of Spay and Neuter
Unanswered question from the chat:
"Does behavior S& N resolve the problem? Is the data robust? Thanks." - @Julielani Chang
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Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
Maddie's Fund