Dear Dog Lady,
Because of my beach neighbor and his dog, Cassius, I am eager to close up our summer place and move back to our regular home. Cassius is a Portuguese water dog and unfixed. My neighbor keeps the dog expertly groomed and shaved. I once asked about the grooming, and he explained the breed has a modified poodle cut. The backside is bald and so are the back legs, and nearly the whole tail. I don’t understand it because this dog is a pet. Having to look at Cassius and his shaved testicles is not pretty. I feel the neighbor parades his dog to show off the manhood. I wonder if this is why he has not gotten his dog neutered. I talked with my wife about this and she suggested I write you. What do you think?
Real men fix their dogs. They do this because the neutering procedure makes sense for a dog’s health and well-being in our overpopulated world. The whole scrotal thing is not particularly pleasant for men to ponder, but they must if they want to be responsible caretakers. Your neighbor sounds as if he has some issues of his own to work through.
A neutered dog is a calmer dog because the stew of hormones is tamed. A castrato is less likely to respond to the call of the wild – and impregnate a neighbor cur in heat, which could produce unwanted puppies to fill up the straining animal shelters. You can politely suggest to your neighbor that he fix Cassius (how you start this conversation is beyond Dog Lady’s powers of social intercourse). Otherwise, smile and move on with the hope that someone in a position of authority (an animal control officer, Cassius’ veterinarian) speaks up.
Dear Dog Lady,
I read your response about leaving a dog in the house while showing it to prospective buyers. We have a cat, and neither the listing agent nor the stager told us to remove it when showing our house. Of course, the litter box is in the corner of the basement and doesn’t smell due to an electronic air cleaner, but we do try to take the cat out of the house if we possibly can. Any comments on leaving the cat in the house during a showing?
When a house is for sale and strangers tramp through, it’s really a risky idea to leave an animal on premises – dog, cat, bird, iguana. If neither your real estate agent nor stager has said anything to you about the cat and the cat box, they are obviously not concerned it will harm the sale – or they don’t smell it. But it would it would be wise to try to keep the cat out of harm’s way.
Dear Dog Lady,
I enjoy your insightful column very much. I have a big problem. My
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