I truly believe that for most people it's best to have the pets spayed or neutered at an appropriate age. When I spoke to my vet about this we discussed the pros and cons of spaying Ella at 6mo. Doc told me that the majority of people that don't schedule a s/n when their pup receives their last puppy shots don't come back in.....until the dog is pregnant. Of course there are responsible owners, many of them are obviously on this forum. I think that most people should be encouraged to s/n, but that if the breeder (in the case of a contract) or vet understands that the person they are dealing with is a responsible owner then exceptions can and should be made.
I also think that there is more to responsible ownership than just making sure your dog doesn't sire a litter or get pregnant. This won't apply to most people here, but - I adopted my Leo with advanced testicular cancer. At some point in his life someone had spent big money on him. He was a flashy fawn boxer, show quality with a show crop. He'd had training. His owner wasn't unknown as he was a very striking dog that had been seen around town and done a bit of showing, but it appears that when he was diagnosed they just took his collar off and let him go rather than treating. Animal control picked him up and the owners never came to get him. He stayed at AC, had a long line of would-be adopters that all backed out. Lucky me, he became my boyfriend for a year and nine months. He had to wear a diaper for the entire time because we couldn't clear up a lingering infection that caused him to drip pus. So there's another example of irresponsible ownership.
Lastly, animal rescues aren't perfect. I think that they can be awfully narrow minded about adopting to responsible owners with unaltered pets. I do, however, understand why they so strongly advocate spaying and neutering. I did rescue work for many years. Unless you've done it, please don't judge them too harshly. It's tiring, often sickening, and almost always depressing to have to keep cleaning up the messes that irresponsible owners make. If you think that most rescues are rolling in the dough, then I don't know what rescue you are looking at. I footed the bill as a foster parent for every special needs dog that came in. The adoption fee for those dogs that don't need much, or any, vetting only makes up for those dogs that do need more care. Most of what comes in, at least for the boxer breed, are poorly bred dogs whose parents should have been spayed or neutered. Not dogs that will better the breed. *Editing to add that I use "you" as a general term, not directed at any one person.*
