Per stats from Southern California counties, over 500 perfectly healthy young dogs were euthanized last week due to overcrowding at the shelters. The myths of “My dog needs to go through one heat,” “My children need to see puppies being born” or “I can always find good homes for the puppies” are just a ridiculous excuse when so many animals are being euthanized. Simple arithmetic illustrates how “just one litter” contributes to the mass killing: Two dogs breed. Six offspring are born. The six offspring reproduce within one year and are responsible for six offspring each. At the end of 10 years just one unaltered dog can be responsible for 4,372 births. What can YOU do to stop this suffering? Spay or neuter your pet. Spaying a female dog can lessen the chance of mammary tumors, or loss of bladder control, the mess of bleeding while in heat or being hit by a car during mating season when a dog will “break free” to find another dog to mate with. Neutering of your male dog will lessen the chance of prostrate cancer, and also being hit by a car. Males can actually smell a female in heat over a mile away and will dig out or jump over to get to the source of the smell. After they are neutered they are less apt to be in fights with other dogs and will not be markers when in your home. Rescues are asked time and time again to take dogs that have been brought to the ER with broken bones or severe cuts and bruises due to them being hit by a car and the owner not being able to afford the medical care needed. In most cases the dog is not altered. We, as the responsible humans, need to realize that this horrible cycle has to stop. Spay or neuter your pet. When you look at the classified ads in your local newspaper you will see ads for puppies. When you purchase one of these dogs you are only promoting more breeding of animals by people too greedy to have their pets altered. If you want a puppy, do your research — find a reputable breeder who gives you info on the breed. Most won’t ship dogs and will have a contract for altering and are available for questions down the line. Over 50 percent of the dogs in shelters are purebreds. When people are spending over $1,000 on a “designer” dog, which is basically what used to be called “mutts,” the so-called breeders just keep supplying. Sick puppies are brought across the border and people actually buy them out of trunks of cars. Instead of buying from these people, you should be alerting the County Animal Control about where they are. There are many low-cost spay and neuter options. Ask your local shelter, call a rescue to see if they have info, don’t use the excuse you can’t afford it. There are options. Your tax dollars are paying to house and then euthanize these animals created because of unaltered pets. Be a responsible owner and do the right thing. Spay or neuter your pet. Chihuahua Rescue of San Diego is a 501 3c non profit group, with under 10 unpaid volunteers. Over the last 10 years we have had an average of 90 rescue dogs placed into forever homes each year on a budget of less than $25,000. All dogs are altered, have shots, have microchipped and are kept in a cage-free home environment with our foster volunteers until placed. We get our dogs from owner turn-ins and shelter medical cases. For information call (858) 277-3557.