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May 31, 2007

The first time I heard people announce the reproductive status of their dogs, I thought, “Who cares?” It sounded to me like Gomer in that episode of The Andy Griffith Show, where he makes a citizen’s arrest. When people come in repeating, “Intact male,” all I hear is Gomer saying, “Citizen’s arrest.”

After spending a few weeks at rally obedience classes, however, I realized just what a big deal that can be. These dogs present with a certain attitide, a certain presence, a certain I don’t know what. It’s no wonder Lilly responded … in this case, negatively.

You see, most of my friends live with rescued dogs who are altered. Lilly never had a problem with them. But, we already know that she’s super sensitive, super soft, bordering on autistic when it comes to noise and motion and high-strung energy.

In early 2007, after more than a year of shutting down at agility, she began snarking at any dog in the building at rally.

Along with rally, there were CGC classes, conformation classes, and competitive obedience classes, so the whole place was brimming with intact dogs who were trained to carry themselves in a way Lilly found intimidating. She even told our animal communicator that she felt the dogs “mocked” her.

Sadly, even though I pulled her after just a few weeks, she transferred her new fear of other dogs to all other training venues — even her favorite work-and-play class with Gigi Moss (our big-picture trainer). I was crushed. It had always been the one place Lilly showed continued progress. It was the one place she seemed like her real self (the confident, smart, most excellent girl I know and love).

It’s taken me 5+ months to unravel the behavior pattern that started at rally, which we tried as a way to build ring confidence. The goal was succeed there in hopes it would carry over into agility. Instead, it added to our training challenges in a most unwelcome way.

I’m not necessarily saying there is a cause-and-effect relationship here. In my quest to solve the mysteries of Lilly, I simply spend a lot of time looking for correlations, for changes that match our timeline of behavioral reactions. And, the pattern of fear-aggression toward other dogs started at rally, where there were a whole lot of intact dogs.

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. I’m glad the humor worked. It’s hard to write funny. ;o)

    Yes, I did not fit in very well there. Even when I tried to make polite small talk, I’d get an earful.

    Maybe Lilly was just keying into my discomfort. Not sure.

    She has a new playmate who is intact, and he’s a total doll, so maybe you’re right. It’s the dog (not the gonads).

  2. That comment about hearing “Citizen’s arrest! Citizen’s arrest!” when people came in announcing that their dog was intact was so funny I laughed out loud. It so perfectly describes the type of place and person you were/are dealing with in Rally and Obedience.
    I used to do Obedience with my dogs–before agility happened. And every so often I think I might want to go back and put a CD or CDX on one of my dogs so I’ll sign up for a class and I remember why I don’t do Obedience or even Rally anymore. It’s such an uptight sport. Everyone is so concerned about qualifying and so worried that their dog is going to make noise or act like a dog (gasp!) that they’re probably leaking stress hormones on the floor.
    It doesn’t really seem like the type of place I’d want to be if I was Lilly.
    And, for what it’s worth, I trial with lots of people whose dogs are intact. Not only do they never feel the need to announce it, no one would ever know by the way their dogs behave. I mean, after all, we’re all intact (well, most of us) and we don’t run around acting weird and aggressive every time another intact person comes near us. Personally, I think it’s that those people are somehow wanting to make it seem like their dog is a little more special, a bit *more* dog somehow than those of us who have neutered and spayed animals.

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