The dogs of today have come a long way from those of 5 or even 10 years ago. Not only can you book your dog in for a few hours at the local Doggy Daycare, but you can buy them jackets or outfits that will bring out the colour of their eyes, pamper them with a day at the Dog Spa where they can get a "Pawdicure" done with just about any shade of Nail Polish, and feed them a large array of diets varying from kibble to wet food to even to raw meat

With the major advancements in canine health it is hard to believe that even though so many pets today are spoiled beyond belief, that there are millions that go everyday without anything to eat, or a place to sleep or even an owner to take care of them. In today's society there are puppy mills running steadily and selling their "products" to pet stores, backyard breeders selling accidental litters for large profits and that the issue of spaying and neutering dogs is still not quite considered serious or necessary.

So many people wish to breed their dog "at least once" in their lifetime just for the sake of having puppies that will either be sold to the first person interested or perhaps to the highest bidder. Shelters and municipal pounds are overcome by the amount of unhomed dogs in their care. Its overwhelming to say the least and is extremely difficult to open an abundance of these facilities.

Sadly, even though most shelters have a packed house, there are still millions of dogs (and cats) that are homeless throughout the nation. Spaying and neutering is a very necessary procedure for today's animals. Although raising dogs from puppyhood can be a fulfilling achievement, it is more important to be able to grasp a hold of the problem that has been created.

From the view of a veterinarians side, spaying or neutering your dog will bring many potential health problems to an end. In females alone, there will be no risk of Pyometra, and no possible risk of cancers of the uterus, ovaries, or mammory glands.

In neutered males, there will be no potential risk of testicular cancer, they will present much less aggression towards other dogs or animals, and will reduce the urge and even the act of marking. From the medical view of sterilizing (spaying or neutering) your dog, there are many more pros then there are cons.

The negatives of sterilizing your dog would be that they cannot reproduce. An obvious con but crucial nonetheless. Nowadays it is not uncommon to have litters upon litters of puppies being born in shelters. Although this is a sad yet very real occurrence, staff at these shelters take it upon themselves to see to it that the lives of these puppies will not end up like their mother. Spaying or neutering puppies can be done as young as 2-3 months of age as long as the dogs are healthy.

There has been much controversy over this action as some have protested that this will have a negative affect on their development or that this will deny them their fullest growth potential, which is not true. If anything, sterilizing a puppy at a younger age is as safe and will enable them to recover from the surgery quicker than they would if the procedure was done at an older age.

Spaying or neutering, although done daily in a veterinarians office, may seem like a scary surgery to a new dog owner. This procedure is a quick, safe, efficient and a very necessary surgery that will normally take under 25-35 minutes. This is done completely under anesthetic so the dog has absolutely no recollection of the surgery and will go home the same day.

Either dissolvable or regular stitches will be used to suture the surgical site and a cone or Elizabethan Collar (E-Collar) will be issued so the dog does not try to lick or tend to the site. There is no pain medication to go home and recovery is usually between 14-21 days. Suture removal will be done between the 7-14 day mark after the surgery, and from then onwards, the dog will be at no risk of becoming impregnated or will not be able to reproduce.