I was just surfing through the news when I came across this item. It seems that there is a growing market for prosthetic testicles in pets, although they are not yet available for human use.
Now, I can understand this for people, but for dogs (or other animals)? Is there any dog lover out there who believes that their dog will actually be a happier pooch with an implant? Methinks this is just another way to part pet owners from their cash…
There may be a variety of reasons for their use, but one I’ve heard (from a breeder) is that dogs must be shown “entire”. Some rather unscrupulous dog show people will take a neutered male and have implants done so they can be shown.
How does the judge know? Every male dog’s testicles are examined manually by the judge. Believe it or not.
It’s what put my dog out of dog shows. I couldn’t get him to stop sitting down abruptly while simultaneously whipping his head around to stare accusingly at the judge when being examined in this manner. They are supposed to stand statue-still during this phase of the competition but frankly, I didn’t blame the dog, so we just stopped going to shows.
geeesh, Uppity.
This is another reason I think dog shows are just nuts. I don’t get it. I grew up around dogs; my Dad is a veterinarian; I still don’t get dog shows. All the posing. So damn unnatural. A golden retriever chewing up pine cones and tennis balls - that’s natural. Feeling up your pooch - uh uhh.
I am large,
I contradict myself,
I contain multitudes.
~Walt Whitman
It’s not so much a case of neutered dogs being shown (they aren’t, to speak of). Monorchids are dogs (if you’re not familiar with the dog showing world you may not realize the “dog” means male) who have only one testicle descend. The falsies are used to allow them to compete. Along with wigs, hair dye,…I remember a person having a Chow to show whose tongue was discolored (they have black tongues, and his was developing a white middle) - he got a handful of Grape Kool-Aid mix right before entering the ring.
Ish. I’m sure I’m missing whole bunches of stuff–complexities and high finance–but this strikes me as the JonBenet Ramsey syndrome of the animal world.
Of course I’ve never gut-comprehended the whole beauty and/or pedigree stuff anyway, even in humans. IMO, we’re all basically equal in terms of descent; it’s just a question of footnoting and brouhaha.
Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack here, but this is surreal. I’m not quibbling the fact of “tool packing” for show animals (codpieces for critters!); the central reasoning is what croggles my mind. In the central leap of logic/faith, I splat into the chasm more like Wile E. Coyote than Indiana Jones.
Sorry. 'Scuse me while I go ponder the Hapsburgs, poodles and the SPCA.
Veb
You’re right TV, this is surreal. I mean really. They’re making testicle implants so a guy can handle this dogs nads in a show. Step aside for a moment. Is this culture? Is this civilized?
I know I should drop this, but it just seems so unbelievable what we’ve come to.
I am large,
I contradict myself,
I contain multitudes.
~Walt Whitman
I may be wrong about this, but I don’t think you are allowed to cosmetically alter an animal for showing. The reason you show a dog is because it is supposed to be gentetically perfect, and the reason these animals are not allowed to be spayed or neutered is because the whole purpose of having these perfect dogs is to breed them.
If a dog is monorchid, or cryptorchid, it needs to be neutered for serious health reasons.
I personally have never seen these stupid neuticles, and no one I work with has either. No doctor I know would use them.
I’m not a big fan of dog or cat shows, myself. Maybe it is the nature of my business, but all the breeders and showers I have come across are a bunch of idiots. Not too long ago we had a guy bring in his prize German Shepherd. It had a high fever and pneumonia, and needed to be on IV fluids. You don’t even want to know how long we had to argue with this man to get him to allow us to shave the dog’s leg for an IV. Shaving it would ruin it for showing until the fur grew back. Listen, jerk, you want a healthy dog with a bald spot on its leg, or a beautiful DEAD dog???
Michelle, you are absolutely correct; what I was referring to was the fact that the world of dog shows (of which I am not part, the friend mentioned above was my SO for manny years and I got to see a lot) is characterized by rampant cheating.
Being in the dog circut… I can pitch in.
One of the reasons people get a testicle implanted in a pooch (preferably male :D) is because they have an undescended testicle (basically one of 'em just never came down… and can’t be found). In showdogs, a missing testicle is a no-no, so some cheating bastards <g> have a testicle implanted.
Oh the surprise on a Golden Retriever breeder/handler last year at a show when the judge found THREE testicles (one was an implant, but the undescended one made… err… its journey down) on her dog… :eek:
The world is full of weird people, I guess…
Elenfair
“Semper Ubi Sub Ubi.” =-)
Wow, people doing this for dog shows - incredible. And here I thought (naively, I guess) that this was just some sort of New Age-y type of gimmick for boosting the dog’s psyche.
I’m open to correction from MajorMD or another of the SD docs, but there are testicular prostheses for human men and have been for quite a while. I’ve even played with one (outside the guy, thank you very much).
They’re used if some poor guy has to lose a testicle due to cancer, injury, or (I suspect) in the case of an undescended testicle that had to be removed.
But otherwise, yeah, dog shows are weird.