All Dogs are Dawgs

The world is full of examples of why you should spay/neuter your pet and my story is no different. My dogs love going to the dog park. I love taking them. Usually, we have a great couple of hours burning off steam, running with other dogs and chasing the ball. Occasionally, we have incidents. Today was such a day. After a vigorous game of fetch, my little girl, Scout, was ready for a drink. As she bent down and thirstily slurped up a bowl of water, an itinerant whippet caught her scent and momentarily lost his mind. He jumped up and mounted her then and there.

Scout, not at all swept away by his charms, turned with teeth bared and bit him on the snout. The feckless whippet thus defused, she finished her drink and continued her game. This all happened in a matter of seconds, mind you. One moment the dogs were a swirling sea of snouts and discovery; the next, Canine: SVU.

Thank goodness I know to spay/neuter your pet, I thought. Otherwise, a moment’s inattention could have made Scout a reluctant mother and me, a reluctant…grandmother? Anyway, I would be the person footing the bill for the unwanted litter, as I’m quite sure the mischievous whippet would not volunteer to contribute. And then what – file for puppy support? Haul his tail onto Jerry Springer Spaniel and demand a paternity test?

Dogs don’t log on to Match.com to find the ideal companion before proceeding with courtship and marriage. They have hit-and- run booty calls at the dog park. All dogs are dawgs, which is why YOU should practice safe Rex.

Of course not. Dogs can’t be held responsible for their indiscretions. They don’t log on to Match.com to find the ideal companion before proceeding with courtship and marriage. They don’t do family planning. A lot of the time, they don’t even have consensual sex. They have hit-and-run booty calls at the dog park. They can’t help themselves. All dogs are dawgs, which is why it is so important to spay/neuter your pet.

Let’s say my scenario with the whippet happened prior to Scout being spayed. A female dog can start reproducing as early as four months of age and can get pregnant twice a year (a cat can get pregnant five times a year!). Let’s say Scout gets pregnant once this year and has six puppies. Then let’s assume half those puppies are female. In four months, those three females can also become pregnant and have three more female puppies each. I am now potentially responsible for the birth of twelve female dogs (and twelve more male dogs) in JUST ONE YEAR. (And these numbers are extremely conservative in light of the fact that each of these females could become pregnant a second time this year.)

So do I now have twenty-four puppies living at my house? No! I can’t afford the care and feeding of twenty-four pups! I can barely handle one! These puppies will have to go to a local animal shelter. Since I live in Los Angeles, this means they will likely be euthanized along with thousands of other healthy, adoptable pets this year. All because I didn’t have my dog spayed.

There is no good reason for not “fixing” my pet. I know that in my area, there are subsidized facilities offering discounted, or even free, spay and neuter services. (If you’re in Los Angeles, check out our handy, low-cost spay and neuter zip code lookup tool. For pet owners outside the L.A. area, the ASPCA provides great low-cost spay and neuter resources.)

So enough with the excuses. Spay/neuter your pet because it is the right thing to do for your pet’s health, and the only way to reduce the devastating loss of life in our shelters.

The Michelson Found Animals Foundation’s mission of saving pets and enriching lives is made possible by the generous contributions of Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson.