I love animals so much! My dog is spayed, she's a wonderful little mixed breed. My Mom's purebred Papillion is spayed as well. Most people I know have their pets spayed and neutered.
Not everyone though, my own puppy was evidence of that. Her litter of 8 arrived at about 5 weeks old at the local shelter where they were listed as "strays". Most likely someone's Border Collie or maybe Aussie had an accidental litter, they weren't brought in with Mom, which makes me guess Mom had a home. Our shelter is great and they were fostered for 3 weeks, fixed, and being so incredibly cute, they found homes within two days of being available for adoption. Layla was actually the last of her litter to go to a home, and we feel so lucky to get her. She's a wonderful companion and is shaping up to have potential in agility too (something I never imagined doing but I just love training this dog and she is definitely an athlete). But like I said, our shelter is great, not all are.
It's funny though because I understand why people breed dogs and cats, in order to have specific traits in their companion animals. Everyone at agility class last night got in a discussion about their breeders and breed clubs and such, and I felt a little bit of envy, they do have a breeder to go to with questions about their specific dogs, they knew what they would be pretty much dealing with from their dogs, and how their pets would fit into their lives. That's not a bad thing and I certainly understand it, a pet is a long term commitment and people want to make sure to get the fit right. All that being said, Layla learns as quickly as any of the others in her class, papers or not; and I wouldn't trade her for the world. My husband's last dog was a show-bred Sheltie and he says our little Mix is the best dog he's ever had (she's his first mutt).
I think we have a duty to be responsible owners and make sure not to allow one precious creature to be created to only suffer. A close look needs to be given to where people are least likely to neuter their pets and why, and efforts need to go toward educating them. I don't know if it's more rural areas or where, but people have made progress on this front and now maybe the message needs to be refined to reach places it has not penetrated. When I was a kid I lived in a tiny rural Kentucky town and they started raising money for an animal shelter and I got so mad I just wanted to kick somebody. I thought the only reason animal shelters existed was to round up dogs and cats and kill them! Of course that was back in the 70's and somehow that's the message I had taken from media and others around me. In fact I was forbidden to ever have a female cat or dog, no one mentioned spaying and a male (un-neutered) dog or cat was the only way to guarantee you wouldn't end up with endless babies around. Things have come a long way!
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