Difficult decisions

My current guilty pleasure is watching The Circle. I snuggle up on the sofa, dogs by my side, to watch this strange but addictive reality show. Who will the Influencer block tonight? Who is a Catfish? Who is being honest and who is playing games? In the unreal environment in which the contestants are placed, these decisions seem enormous. It's gripping stuff!

We all face decisions every day — some are simple and without important consequences (shall I have Marmite or marmalade?) and some are less so. It was a simple decision for us to get a puppy; naming her Tofu took greater thought; the decision to vaccinate, socialise and take her to puppy classes was easy — the evidence to support all these is strong, and what we all want is a healthy, confident adult dog.

A less easy decision has been that of neutering her, and when the best time to do this would be. The reason this decision is difficult is that there are pros and cons. Indeed, an article we published last year by Caroline Warnes concluded that: 'In the absence of clear information particularly regarding the health-related effects of neutering it is currently very difficult to give neutering guidelines that will be suitable for all dogs, and that will reliably reduce the risks of them developing specific diseases' (Warnes, 2018). Until more research becomes available, it is better to work out the risks and benefits of neutering for each individual dog based on the risk of unwanted mating occurring and the presence or absence of problem behaviours influenced by sex hormones, in addition to the owner's preference. Clearly Caroline feels that as the owner I have a choice — neutering is not a ‘given’.