If you’re on the fence about whether or not to spay or neuter your dog, you may be surprised to learn it has multiple benefits. A significant one is helping to reduce the stray dog population, but it can also make your pup a better pet and companion. Below are some of the issues you may experience if you don’t schedule a procedure.

5 Common Problems of Intact Dogs

1. Excessive or Frequent Bathroom Habits

Male dogs may exhibit behavior to mark their territory, particularly if other animals or dogs are around. This includes peeing, defecating, and scratching the ground after they’ve used the bathroom. It can make them go to the bathroom around the yard and on objects more than they would otherwise.

Females may also pee more frequently, usually during their heat cycle, as a way to attract other males. Consequently, this can also cause unwanted visitors to show up at your house.

2. Wandering From Home

Dogs that are kept intact may escape and break loose or wander away from home. Male dogs may smell female dogs in heat nearby and go looking for them, while females may go looking for a mate, too.

Going far from home unsupervised leaves your pet at the risk of being hit by a car, attacked by other animals, getting lost, or getting taken to an animal shelter.

3. Aggression

Male dogs are more likely to be territorial about food or their yard toward both other dogs and humans if they’re kept intact, posing legitimate health concerns, and can display aggression when competing for a female. Female dogs can display aggression during their heat cycle, while pregnant, or if someone or something gets too close to her litter.

4. Mounting

Intact male dogs may display inappropriate mounting toward people, other animals, furniture, and pillows. It’s unwanted and can be a difficult behavior to stop without having them neutered.

5. Bleeding

If they’re intact, female dogs will experience a heat cycle roughly twice a year, for two weeks at a time. During this time, they may bleed, which can stain furniture, carpet, and clothing. There are diapers that you can buy, but most dogs will pull them off or tear them, rendering them useless.

These behaviors can be curbed or eliminated through the affordable spay and neuter services offered by Nutmeg Spay/Neuter Clinic in Stratford, CT. As a non-profit organization, we offer low-cost services to the community in an effort to lower populations and euthanasia cases in animal shelters, and we’ll provide pet vaccinations before the procedure if your pet hasn’t had them yet. To learn more about our pet vaccination and spay / neuter services for dogs, visit our website and call (203) 690-1550 to schedule an appointment.