The Parton team - celebrating 10 years of a remarkable partnership which, against so many odds, is still going strongly 10 years on! Endal has given, and still is giving every day, so much quality of life that Allen thought he had lost forever. Allen says Endal still acts like a 10-year-old child, but Sandra says that is just the male in him!

K9 Perspective

The magazine your dog would want you to read

Editorial Issue 30, February-March 2007:

The spay-neuter question
answered in statistics

EVERY week of every month of every year, anywhere in the world, far too many unwanted pet dogs are killed - the lucky ones humanely, and the unlucky ones perhaps in street 'cleansings' with iron bars, or by any means available to callous owners or city pounds.

In total, thousands upon thousands of hapless animals die - animals that never asked to be born but who exist because their mother's owner was not the sharpest pencil in the box!

We all know someone like that ... the woman who says she can not afford to have her dogs neutered, yet she can afford to go out every weekend, smoke and drink. Or the man who "couldn't possibly stop his boy having fun" but is quite happy to drown unwanted offspring or bash them to death ... on an ongoing basis. Where did they leave their logic?

The plain fact of the matter is that there are too many unwanted dogs in the world today that are suffering needlessly, and it seems to me that there is only one way to go to rectify the stupidity of the humans who have allowed it to happen. Just think how much better the world would be if pedigree dog breeders, puppy farmers and idiots all undertook to breed no more litters until all the unhomed dogs had been adopted.

Lovely thought isn't it? Dogs would become much more appreciated as they would no longer be a 'throw-away' commodity - a puppy would be a cherished achievement that one had to wait for on a list, and only the most suitable homes would ever get to be puppy parents.

But unfortunately that will never happen as pedigree breeders will always pursue their perfect showdog and those quality litters that will bring in enough money to make continuation profitable (even though they know that about 60 percent of the dogs they breed will go to pet homes or be given away); puppy farmers will always be as unemployable in a legitimate job as they were before they began rearing pups; and idiots of course remain idiots.

Thank God for the majority - responsible and considerate dog owners who treat their chosen companions with respect and lifetime care, and have them neutered or spayed because their pet is a cherished member of the family.

To spay or neuter is not a question that needs any thought. If you are not the owner of a pedigree show dog that is likely to produce champions, then your dog should be spayed or neutered. It is healthier both for the dog and for the adopting family. Dogs that are not neutered will inevitably roam and mix with street dogs or unwell dogs and often arrive back home with fleas, ticks or worse. If you care, you will neuter - it's as simple as that.

To conclude I must give a few words of praise for the organisations that operate in many countries of the world, often third world countries, who will spay and neuter stray dogs to prevent the numbers of strays growing, or for those that are not so tame, feed them with food containing birth control medication. These dogs are live creatures and deserve to live out their life with as little disruption as possible. The best we can do for them is to make sure they have no more mouths to feed from their meagre street scraps. These organisations doing such a good job have said "we can't offer them a home but at least the buck stops here". We all owe them a heap of gratitude. - Elezabeth