It is indeed a balancing act, JBZ.
Research points to both benefits and risks - the individual owner must understand what those are, and what the relative risks are, especially for his/her breed. The owner must also take into account his/her individual dog's temperament - and most importantly - the owner's ability to act responsibly at all times, and to never, ever allow an accidental mating nor to allow his/her dog to engage in behaviors that are disruptive to other animals or people.
It's a big ask. Responsible dog owners do it. But sadly, there are too many irresponsible owners out and about.
In the US and the UK neutering is the norm among responsible pet owners. Neutering has been promoted heavily by the veterinary and animal welfare community in the last many decades, largely because millions of healthy unwanted dogs are killed every year. For some reason - maybe the individualistic nature of the society, I don't quite know - there simply is not a culture of sufficient responsibility around dog ownership and dog breeding in too many parts of the population, hence the overpopulation crisis. Neutering addresses that.
In southern and eastern Europe neutering is not the norm. Nor is responsible dog ownership among a large part of the population. Dogs, pet and feral, are too often allowed to breed at will, and owners simply abandon the unwanted pups. Strays and ferals are left to die in the streets. Neutering of pets and catch and castrate of ferals is heavily promoted for this reason - inroads are being made, but the culture is is still resistant. Unfortunately, the culture (speaking very broadly here) is still also resistant to owners taking responsibility for their unneutered pets.
In contrast look at Scandanavia. Neutering is not the norm - yet there is almost no problem with strays or overpopulation. Why? The culture of ownership is different - owners take far more responsibility for their animals - and the law backs this up, and (unlike Switzerland) people actually do tend to follow laws. In an ideal world dog ownership would be closer to the Scandanavian model... but we are far from an ideal world.
Take what is happening in Switzerland now. How many threads have we seen where a dog owner simply refuses to acknowledge that he/she is responsible for his/her dog's actions and behaviors? Far too many. How many people here have refused to comply with the federal and cantonal training laws? Quite a few. Neutering is heavily promoted in Switzerland because the average dog owner simply will not take responsibility for his/her pet. This is changing, but slowly.
I'll say it again: If you choose to keep your dog entire, you bear a great responsibility. You must train your dog to a high standard - and you must never allow your dog to father an accidental litter. Which means, for the majority of dogs, never, ever, allowing a dog to fulfill it's sexual urges. Whether your dog can live happily that way is something an individual owner must decide.
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The health issues - benefits and risks - require careful study.A decision - whether or not to neuter, and when to neuter - must be made with the individual in mind.
None of my own dogs have suffered any ill effects from neutering - either behavioral or health wise.
As said before, none of my dogs should ever be bred from, based on health and temperament. Two possess a serious genetic defect, three possibly inheritable conditions; allowing these to be spread further in the population would be unconscionable.
The dogs who came to me as entire adults were suffering from enlarged prostates, and one had testicular cancer at the time I adopted them.
One of my dogs developed osteosarcoma. Yet he was entire until age 13, so neutering was a non-factor in contracting that awful disease.
I have also dealt with the heartbreak of pyometra and mammary cancers. Given the high incidence of pyometra in entire older females, and given the mortality rate of a dog suffering pyo, neutering a female is pretty much a given to me.
I have had entire dogs. One of my girls could not be neutered young due to a heart condition that precluded elective surgery. That meant that twice a year for an entire month I had to dedicate myself to keeping her safe. She was never out of my sight, never off lead even in my secure fenced in garden. It was a LOT of hard work. If one has an entire female, one MUST be able to commit to this.
This girl, by the way, contracted pyo at age 8. Which meant that she had to undergo the surgery we had feared would be too much for her heart now under emergency conditions, when in addition to her heart problem she was critically ill due to the infection. It was a miracle she survived.
I should also note that while I am pro-castration based on my own research, based on my own experience of health consequences, given current research I am fairly convinced that the current trend towards juvenile neutering might not be in the animal's best interest. For now, I prefer to wait until the animal has reached maturity. I am continuing to read new research as it comes out, though.
I would encourage every dog owner to fully research the subject for yourself, to discuss the heath benefits and risks with your vet, to understand the behavioral issues related to the subject, and to make a decision based on fact, appropriate for your own individual dog.
Key to that decision is a pretty hard look in the mirror. If you chose to keep an animal entire, you take on an even greater responsibility. Can you commit to that?