'The Dog's B******s'

'The Dog's B******s' is a funny phrase. In colloquial English, it means something is fantastic, the best it could be, it's 'pukka' or 'kosher'. Its easy to see where the last two descriptive words came from, and how they relate easily to something that is excellent or as good as it could be, but how could something, that as humans we value so little, can be considered the same? According to the Urban Dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dog's%20Bollocks

It has the meaning of 'creme de la creme' (another adopted foreign phrase) because as dogs spend so long licking their testicles, they must be very tasty. Ummmmm. Well anyway, as you can tell from the picture above, my puppy no longer has that pleasure. They were removed yesterday at my command. This got me thinking about hypocracy. There I am, espousing sex being the most basic human instinct and we ignore it at our peril, but at the same time I am denying my dog his most basic instinct and urge because it doesn't suit my lifestyle. How can I justify my decision? Well, I turn to the expert in dogs, Caesar Milan, the 'dog whisperer' whose excellent book, "How to raise the Perfect Dog through puppyhood and beyond" (Hodder, 2010) gives some excellent context on this procedure. Where he grew up in Mexico, dogs were everywhere, and were 'at it' all the time, so there was a real problem with the numbers of stray dogs. However, when considering their behaviour, they were never agressive (on the whole) and were mostly laid back and lazy, when not 'on the job'. These dogs were fufulling their natural urges and were sated and happy. However, the results of their lifestyle choices were too many stray dogs, spread of canine disease and a public nuisence, in terms of excrement, scavaging and noise.

In Western culture, we don't encourage our dogs to procreate at random. In fact we actively stop any behaviours associated with it, 'humping' legs, tables, toys, you name it! According to Caesar, in sexually mature dogs, denying this natural urge through behavioural methods means that their natural urges are then redirected in other unwanted behaviours. In some dogs this can be pent up agression. In others, its running off. In others its plain hyper-activity. In his view, the earlier that you neuter a dog the better, as then they have less chance of developing these unwanted behaviours and the dog does not miss the hormonal rush that comes from sexual maturity. In fact, according to him, it is much crueller to keep a dog who is sexually mature but not allowed to procreate than it is to neuter him, so he doesn't know what he is missing. Caesar is all about training dogs by working with their natural instincts, and having read several books on the matter and regularly attending Kennel Club approved training, his advice and insights have been by far the most true.

So, considering my puppy is living in a human setting and is a domesticated animal, he will, in the end be a happy more contented animal living in a non-natural environment, than if I kept him 'intact' where his sexual urges completely dominate his every waking thought and behaviour. (According to Caesar, their urge to procreate takes over their urge to hunt once they reach sexual maturity, especially if they don't have to hunt for their food.)

So my mind is salved, my conscience is clear. Whether I will get over the guilt I feel about putting a cone on his head, I don't know but it is something that I will have to live with.

Just as an interesting criminlogical aside. There was in a the past, an experiment of castrating male violent prisoners, to remove their agressive tendencies and also to assist them (or more likely their gaolers) to cope with being cooped up. Unfortunately, forced human castration has far more reaching effects on the personality of males, and was ultimately considered an abbuse of human rights. Of course, in history, castrated males have held symbolic roles and positions. In the Chinese Han Dynasties, they were an essential part of court and would carry their testicles around with them, as a symbol of their position and purity. Castrato singers achieved their unique voices through being castrated before sexual maturity. The last castrato was Alessandro Moreschi born in 1858. There is a recording of his voice on You tube.

One thing, though which is a truth, male testicles are directly linked with their sexuality and their personality and although as women, sometimes we think we would all be better off if they were chopped off, would we really like the results? Once they are gone.. they can never be replaced!!

 

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