The Benny Chronicles
Benny’s Been Fixed
Neutering was necessary for Benny, but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about it
Benny’s veterinarian said that he’d have to turn ten months or start peeing with his leg up for it to be time for neutering. I shamefully longed for the day to come, thinking it would calm him down a bit. His barking and demands for endless attention were growing intense; he could no longer hang out at a bar as I worked and would shout at the bed at night for nearly ten minutes despite long walks, sufficient food and water, and play. Even though my mother reminded me that for our family dog, Quinn, neutering didn’t change any rambunctious behavior, still I hoped that Benny might be different.
Then the day came that he lifted his leg on his morning walk, and I was overcome with guilt: How could I change his body? Make him undergo surgery? But at the same time, he was a stray dog found on the street in Puerto Rico, where there is an abundance of stray dogs. It needed to be done.
In true Benny fashion, he quickly turned to escape, reaching his front paws onto either side of the door as a human would if being forced into a cage against their will. When an…
