Güenther is going in for surgery tomorrow to get neutered. i honestly don’t know how to feel about this, but everyone around us seems to say that it is a good decision. While we never intended on breeding him, and we understand all of the health reasons and such for doing this… i still can’t get past the fact that tomorrow, my dog will return to me a couple ounces less than when we brought him into the vet. They say that it is supposed to reduce aggression… eliminate the possibility of testicular cancer and unwanted pregnancy (you think?) … and reduce the urge to roam. the thing is… he is far from aggressive as it is, and he does not roam at all… (see this post). I suppose that as testosterone begins to enter his crazy little brain, he could change and become more aggressive… and might want to roam more. I just hope that the surgery doesn’t really change him drastically. i’ve heard stories of how pets have gone in for this and come back completely different animals as a result.

All I know is that we didn’t cut his tail off because we knew he liked it…

I don’t suppose that it’s just a male thing either, this hesitance to castrate my dog… Melissa has asked me several times if I think we’re doing the right thing. I honestly don’t know for sure how to answer her. I’ve heard from several people that it is the ‘humane’ thing to do. I really can’t see how they consider it ‘humane’. Perhaps the answer is in the word… ‘humane’. Seems it’s more about us than them, doesn’t it? If it was really good for the dog, perhaps it would be considered ‘canine’?

They say it’s going to be about a 10 day recovery period for him. I believe it. I have a friend who had a vasectomy done, and his balls turned black and blue and his sack grew to the size of a small melon! He couldn’t sit for more than a week, and walked around in shorts with ice strapped to himself! I don’t have any kids… so perhaps i’m out of the loop on this… but why anyone would choose to do that to themselves is beyond me.

my poor dog.