She's in heat and we are doing our best to keep her in the house so that we don't have lots of little puppies to deal with.
I've got a few questions for all you dog owners out there. The first is a medical question and the second concerns medical-ethics.
- Anyone have a dog that lost a tooth? That happened to SP. Is this normal? Will it grow back? Do we need to take her in for treatment?
- What about neutering? Is it ethical to take that away from an animal? Is it ethical not to? Its a practical ethics quesion for us these days.
Use the comments link to give me your imput!
4 comments:
Hi Andy,
I like your blog site - it is bookmarked & I will be sure Paul sees it! I love the pictures, since I have never been to Israel.
I couldn't figure out the signing up deal to leave a comment on your site. Anyway, just wanted to comment on having your dog neutered. YES do it. Animals like dogs do not have sex for pleasure! When they are in heat they are miserible because they are being driven to reproduce by instinct and hormones. What if she gets out accidently - slips out the door maybe? Because she is in heat, she will be very determined to get out. They do not get relief untlil they are bred. There are too many unwanted dogs and cats in the world: I am sure Israel has shelters just like Seattle, full of unwanted puppies and older dogs. there's just too many. Your dog will be a better behaved, happier and longer lived pet because she has been relieved of the burden of reproductive instincts. You won't have to deal with the mess, either. Almost all vets will agree that unless you intend to breed her, have her spayed. Yes, it is not cheap, but your family and your pet will be much happier - maybe there is a low cost spay/neuter clinic in your area. I think that it is unethical NOT to neuter your pet, unless you are a dog breeder.
Anyway, that is my two cents. I am always on the side of the animals. We made them pets, so we have a responsiblity to care for them properly.
Hope everyone there is well. We are busy with the holiday season, and are out of school for two weeks. Gotta keep the kids busy!
Yours,
Erin
ps, your dog is really cute! Ask the vet about the lost tooth. Erin
Hi Erin.
Thanks for being the first one to make a comment on my blog. I posted it for you. It was pretty easy.
As to your comments, I would ask, "Driven to reproduce by instinct and hormones."?
But isn't that at least part of the experience for humans as well? For some the 'drive' is probably more important than for others. And for some it would probably be a good idea to be "relieved of the burden of reproductive instincts" My point is that its there for people to. So in this sense I'm not really convinced by this argument.
On the other hand, she's not reproducing now and she doesn't seem to be missing anything!
I am posting anonymously because here in olympia i don't want the ADNL the anti-Dog-netering-libertairians to know who i am and what my views are. Now, that is not the anti-dog-neutering librarians (ADNLIBS) who as you probably are aware are very peaceloving, pacifistic and generally gentil except for the fact they yell alot about how you should be quiet. Anyway, I think you should snip little SP because than you won't have all those nasty boy dogs cringing around outside your house and hiding under cars and in the bushes and in your roof drain gutters. Now all this cringing around may seem a small thing to you, but those doggy dudes are busy pounding on each other trying to set a pecking order as to who SP will find most desireable. Of course it has nothing to do with sp's tastes but has instead Darwininian consequenses having to do with who is the best cringer and thumper of the lot. Bernie, one of our earlier dogs was so old he could hardly move with the bad hip displasia. he kept going out and cringing around and getting the snot beat out of him until he couldn't walk and had to drag his hind legs ahind him . I finally had to lock him in so he wouldn't drag his legs out in the middle of the night. Anyway, for the sake of old Bernie and those of us like him, please do SP. PS losing a tooth like that is not natural unless she mischomped on something. have the vet check it out when she is getting snipped. The only advantage to not getting her snipped is that the kids get to see a litter of pups being born which I must admit is a kick and a half. Of course than you have to deal with a litter of pups about half of which will be excellent at cringing and thumping.
Hi Andy, Your dog looks very sweet! I LOVE dogs, but can't have one because of where we live. I've always heard that it's much healthier for dogs and cats to be neutered. There's less chance of them getting cancer. It was fun being in Seattle with everyone for Jeremy's Bar Mitzvah. The dogs were wonderful too! Best wishes to you and your beautiuful family, LOve, Susie P.S. Sorry your fishy died. It was fun to read the other comments!
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