Are dog owners required to neuter?

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d0gg0l0ver

Lurker
I'm planning on adopting a puppy, sold by a private seller who recently had a litter of puppies on their farm.

The pup I want to adopt has his shots but hasn't been neutered, and I want to know if there would be any repercussions to adopting him and keeping him intact?

The owner doesn't plan to make me sign a contract, they just want to find him a good home.

Any advice / knowledge would be appreciated.
If I'm posting a common question, I'm sorry! I'm fairly new here.
 
most adoption places make sure they’re neutered before homing, without request. It just makes sense, especially with how many tens of millions of animals are put down every year.
but if neutering isn’t a prerequisite for this farm, don’t neuter him if you don’t want to. Neutering him just negates/lessens his chances of getting testicular cancer.

there will shouldn’t be legal repercussions unless you allow there to be- be aware of what you sign. Be sure you’re not signing anything that could exempt you as the owner if you DON’T get him fixed.
 
It's region specific but no there is not an issue in most places. Some cities do have a registration/fee to pay to keep intact animals but it's usually low and used more as a tool against backyard breeding operations (pitbulls mainly.) A lot of the pitbull breeders are at best a little off their rocker. Creating a business name like "Lockjaw Breeders LLC" and selling dogs clearly meant for fighting.
 
transguy54 said:
Neutering him just negates/lessens his chances of getting testicular cancer.
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Not to seem rude, but this is hardly a reason to do so. Sure, if you castrate an animal, the chance of him getting testicular cancer goes down. But at what cost? All the hormones produced by those lost organs are not going to be able to be produced, and he will not fully develop as he would have. Lessening the chance of an already uncommon issue does not make up for the loss of bodily functionality. I have often heard the analogy of removing your pancreas to negate the risk of pancreatic cancer. Well sure, afterwards, pancreatic cancer would not be an issue. But it was not a guarantee you would get cancer to begin with, and worst of all you lose all the benefits of having a pancreas.

Sorry for the rambling.

As for the original question, it is really up to the individual breeders whether or not they will neuter the dog before they give them to you. At least that goes for private breeders, it may be another story with industrial ones.
 
It is an interesting question, I have done a little research for myself regarding purchasing a companion when I am in a position to be home full time, my choice is a cane corso , apparently it will be extremely difficult to get around the rules of owning such a beautiful companion due to breeders restrictions, I'm not sure I want to go the road of back yard breeders but seems the only option to keep an intact friend.
 
kinkysara said:
It is an interesting question, I have done a little research for myself regarding purchasing a companion when I am in a position to be home full time, my choice is a cane corso , apparently it will be extremely difficult to get around the rules of owning such a beautiful companion due to breeders restrictions, I'm not sure I want to go the road of back yard breeders but seems the only option to keep an intact friend.
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Some breeders off “breeding rights” for a fee in which you’re allowed to keep them intact. Usually isn’t cheap but then again neither is buying a quality puppy.

You could also talk to the breeder, discuss your disagreement with neuter and offer to sign a contract that says you won’t breed. In theory it’d be no different than signing a contract that says you’ll neuter.

You could even offer to get a vasectomy as opposed to a full neuter. Any reasonable breeder would ok that. Might have to travel or have your puppy shipped but that’s part of finding the right breeder. My male Malamute, I got him from a breeder in Idaho, I live in Massachusetts. Drove across the whole country because the breeder was perfect for me.

Worst case, they say no and you find a different breeder.
 
d0gg0l0ver said:
I'm planning on adopting a puppy, sold by a private seller who recently had a litter of puppies on their farm.

The pup I want to adopt has his shots but hasn't been neutered, and I want to know if there would be any repercussions to adopting him and keeping him intact?

The owner doesn't plan to make me sign a contract, they just want to find him a good home.

Any advice / knowledge would be appreciated.
If I'm posting a common question, I'm sorry! I'm fairly new here.
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Depends on where you live, but generally no, there is no legal obligation to neuter unless you signed a contract, and even then it’s sort of a legal gray area.

Most towns and cities, at least in the US, offer slightly cheaper registration fees for spayed/neutered dogs($10 for intact, $7 for altered in my town). And bombard you with ASPCA ads and force the “responsible owners spay/neuter” garbage down your throat. But that’s about it.

Ultimately, it depends on where you live. I can’t speak an for countries but in the US, no, you’re not required to neuter unless you signed a contract from your breeder.
 
In our area here (sw Minnesota, se South Dakota), if you get one from the shelter or from a rescue society, it's not an enforceable requirement but an explicit, strongly stated expectation. But if you adopt one advertised in local media or online, say in Craigslist, there is no legal requirement, no obligation at all, to neuter an animal.

Schemes for the former vary by institution you adopt from. At the shelter in Sioux Falls, the animal is either neutered there before you ever saw the animal and cost is either picked up through donations/charity or passed on to you in the adoption fee; or if yet intact, you must sign a contract promising to have the adoptee neutered within the first six weeks (or whatever). But no one follows up on that. No calls, no letters, nada.

If you adopt one from the rescue society near here, you not only must pay the adoption fee but must also leave a check written out for $100 with the center. When you show proof of spaying/castration within the first six months, the center will rip up that check. But this is a really silly scheme, seems to me. The cost of castration for a dog at our local vet is $240 (we inquired). Spaying a female would run more, but I don't remember the exact amount. At another, little vet in a tiny burg a little farther down the road recommended by the center as a better value, the cost of castration for a dog under 40 pounds at time of castration is $120; larger, animals, $180). ... So ... yeah ... just let them rip up the check. So much cheaper to just add $100 to the cost of adoption and leave the dog intact. You're saving money keeping them whole.

Silly people.
 
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d0gg0l0ver said:
I'm planning on adopting a puppy, sold by a private seller who recently had a litter of puppies on their farm.

The pup I want to adopt has his shots but hasn't been neutered, and I want to know if there would be any repercussions to adopting him and keeping him intact?

The owner doesn't plan to make me sign a contract, they just want to find him a good home.

Any advice / knowledge would be appreciated.
If I'm posting a common question, I'm sorry! I'm fairly new here.
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If its adopting(rather than buying breed specific) from someone private you're not required to spay/neuter. Thats the normal way.
If someone like a vet asks just say no thanks.

The US fucked up way is where you have to sign a spay/neuter contract.

Here in Europe most of dogs are intact and no one seems to have any problem with it.
 
Hoorah for Europe....

In the States, those agreements are for purebred Owners with Kennels and Showdogs to avoid new competition, based on their own breeding work. Its much like a copyright on any other created property. I wouldnt be surprised if its done in Europe, though it may not be widely practiced. One does have a right to the fruits of ones labor.

In some municipalities, Obedience classes may not be open to an unneutered Male, and possibly not to an unspayed Bitch. If you've not got her trained to basics by the time of her first heat, boo on you. They dont need the issue in classes that arent for profit, in any case.

Many of the so-called "aggressive" breeds may also be excluded, or even banned from cities, or Apartment complexes. That ISN'T fair, but its not easy to fight when someone got eaten by a dog, or required serious surgeries to repair damage to face or body.

Responsible ownership is required. Even Zoos are not always as responsible as they should be
( read some of these threads and its obvious...you know who you are)
and we are seriously outnumbered in the mundane world. They make the rules based on what they see. We dont want to be seen as Different? Then we need to think like we aren't.
 
saddlebum66 said:
Hoorah for Europe....

In the States, those agreements are for purebred Owners with Kennels and Showdogs to avoid new competition, based on their own breeding work. Its much like a copyright on any other created property. I wouldnt be surprised if its done in Europe, though it may not be widely practiced. One does have a right to the fruits of ones labor.

In some municipalities, Obedience classes may not be open to an unneutered Male, and possibly not to an unspayed Bitch. If you've not got her trained to basics by the time of her first heat, boo on you. They dont need the issue in classes that arent for profit, in any case.

Many of the so-called "aggressive" breeds may also be excluded, or even banned from cities, or Apartment complexes. That ISN'T fair, but its not easy to fight when someone got eaten by a dog, or required serious surgeries to repair damage to face or body.

Responsible ownership is required. Even Zoos are not always as responsible as they should be
( read some of these threads and its obvious...you know who you are)
and we are seriously outnumbered in the mundane world. They make the rules based on what they see. We dont want to be seen as Different? Then we need to think like we aren't.
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Was fighting my old landlord for years back for wishing to have another rottie after I lost my old girl when I moved to my past house years ago. However the options is open again now that I’m out. Still sucks that a good portion of peoples insurance goes up for it in some places though
 
It's not really THAT difficult to get your breed intact... Just bust out those dollar bills. You're looking at some show winning breeder who breeds a specific mastiff they have an area locked down with? Yeah they're not going to give you an intact high end dog without paying a premium. But think of it this way, you can propagate that breed further on down the line if you wish.

Just looking at the Cane Corso in particular... I just found a local breeder of showdog quality dogs for 1500-2500 including breeding rights. Pet dogs have a discount.
 
ShanoirII said:
Not to seem rude, but this is hardly a reason to do so. Sure, if you castrate an animal, the chance of him getting testicular cancer goes down. But at what cost? All the hormones produced by those lost organs are not going to be able to be produced, and he will not fully develop as he would have. Lessening the chance of an already uncommon issue does not make up for the loss of bodily functionality. I have often heard the analogy of removing your pancreas to negate the risk of pancreatic cancer. Well sure, afterwards, pancreatic cancer would not be an issue. But it was not a guarantee you would get cancer to begin with, and worst of all you lose all the benefits of having a pancreas.

Sorry for the rambling.

As for the original question, it is really up to the individual breeders whether or not they will neuter the dog before they give them to you. At least that goes for private breeders, it may be another story with industrial ones.
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…I’m not a fan of neutering. It’s just the only *slight* plus of it. There are a multitude of cancers all can dogs get- you can’t just remove shit in fear of possible cancers.
I’m wouldn’t consider forced castration for any animal, unless it becomes necessary to maintain a happy, healthy animal.
Only, the question wasn’t asking about my thoughts on it.
 
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personally I am strongly opposed to the castration of connivance which has only one goal to fill the boxes of veto by extolling all the benefits .. only on the contrary and that in no way excludes to protect the male dog from cancer ... on the contrary !. To say that this would prevent abandonments or deaths, what about the laxity of imports of dogs and cats from Eastern countries which are the main cause of the sometimes ridiculous crosses. Personally, this already makes my 7th whole male dogs and never them testicular cancer, except that at half of his life or when he is senior, a visit every 6 months to the vet to check his prostate in order to check its diameter ect ....
 
Your dog , your decision , at least that is the way it works in Scandinavia
 
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ShanoirII said:
Not to seem rude, but this is hardly a reason to do so. Sure, if you castrate an animal, the chance of him getting testicular cancer goes down. But at what cost? All the hormones produced by those lost organs are not going to be able to be produced, and he will not fully develop as he would have. Lessening the chance of an already uncommon issue does not make up for the loss of bodily functionality. I have often heard the analogy of removing your pancreas to negate the risk of pancreatic cancer. Well sure, afterwards, pancreatic cancer would not be an issue. But it was not a guarantee you would get cancer to begin with, and worst of all you lose all the benefits of having a pancreas.

Sorry for the rambling.

As for the original question, it is really up to the individual breeders whether or not they will neuter the dog before they give them to you. At least that goes for private breeders, it may be another story with industrial ones.
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Also neutered male dogs are more prone to kidney diseases.
 
It depends where you are.

There is no requirement in the UK except possibly amongst certain breed clubs to protect it from irresponsible breeding.

Many vets here push neutering on health grounds but the research behind it is on shaky ground. It has been proven beneficial not to neuter before adulthood as this enables timely growth plate closure.

I don't believe in neutering just sensible care and responsibility.
 
CanisLupus said:
It's not about us, it's about animals being mutilated for no real reason.
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Youre preaching to the choir, but thats not the point. No breeder worthy of his line is going to deliberately put himself out of business. Buy a purebred, deal with the breeder's needs. That is NOT unfair; either you want one of his dogs or you do not.
Notice no one is asking about mutts. No one requires anything of them, except when they're "Aggressive " breeds and crosses, and that's inconsistent from city to city.
 
saddlebum66 said:
Youre preaching to the choir, but thats not the point. No breeder worthy of his line is going to deliberately put himself out of business. Buy a purebred, deal with the breeder's needs. That is NOT unfair; either you want one of his dogs or you do not.
Notice no one is asking about mutts. No one requires anything of them, except when they're "Aggressive " breeds and crosses, and that's inconsistent from city to city.
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I assume you mean mostly PIT mixes? Breeders for those are frequently apeshit insane thinking their dogs are worth 5-6 figures because they have max "game."

Unrelated to that though, reminds me of a story I read online about a person who was selling goats/bucks. She sold some uncastrated/unregistered (so presumably worthless to her) bucks to someone down the way who said they only wanted to use them for their herd. Turns out that they were studding them out at 50% under her rate and taking her business because in reality people didn't really care about the linage of meat goats nearly as much as she thought. From that point forward she banded all the bucks for free.

With dogs it's not nearly that extreme, but it reminded me of it. MOST decent breeders will sell you breeding rights even if you just say you want to be able to propagate your dog later on in life once or twice for personal use. Hell a lot of times they will want to stay in touch with you in case they want to use his genes later.
 
NEVER, would mutilate an animal because it is a "nuisance" that it is intact, as it is born it must die .. who are we to decide on the animal's genitalia ??? we just have to be more responsible in the care ... and if we cannot or do not want to be responsible, I do not recommend that they have any pets.
 
Whether spay / neuter is mandatory or not totally depends on where you are. Several (U.S.) States have bills that come up for action with each legislative session, but so far, no state has a mandatory S/N law on the books. However, many cities, towns and counties have had such laws in effect for years. You most likely will find mandatory S/N laws in major cities and/or the counties that surround them. Some do have fairly reasonable loopholes or workarounds which typically require payment of an additional fee. Some of the fees are affordable, some are not.

I did find at least one locality where "Breeding is illegal." Period. Even that one has an "intact permit" available, though it is expensive and you need to jump through a lot of hoops to get it.

Basically, (insert your favorite search engine here) is your friend. Search for mandatory spay and neuter and add your your city, town or county and state.

Be prepared to wade through pages of Legalese.
 
Camously said:
here in California it is unless you have a breeding permit or the dog is a show dog
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Ugh is that really everywhere in CA? I couldn’t find any local laws in my county that mandated neutering for ALL dogs. I was only able to find laws that mandated neutering for adopted dogs and rescues. Wondering if anyone in Cali has experience working around this issue? I’m looking into owning a pup
 
breedmeplease said:
Ugh is that really everywhere in CA? I couldn’t find any local laws in my county that mandated neutering for ALL dogs. I was only able to find laws that mandated neutering for adopted dogs and rescues. Wondering if anyone in Cali has experience working around this issue? I’m looking into owning a pup
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Same I’m looking for a pup too I was even considering trying to get a breeding license but that may not be a good idea as well for the most part the law was put in place to stop the overpopulation of dogs and homeless ones too but it’s far too strict
 
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