I live in Bellevue but often take our dog to Jasper’s Dog Park [in Kirkland] before making the weekly Costco run. As the owner of a healthy, obedient, licensed and inoculated pooch, I like to think of myself as a responsible dog owner. However, my sanctimonious bubble was burst on our last trip to Jasper’s when someone pointed at my dog’s genitals and snarled, “He can’t stay. It’s the rule.” Embarrassed with my unwitting infraction, I complied immediately, apologized and exited the park with my dog and his prodigious testicles.

I get it, without human intervention, domestic animals reproduce ad infinitum, but that does not mean dogs who remain in their natural state should be viewed as pariahs. As spaying/neutering in the US reaches near universal compliance, the unneutered have become targets for exclusion and discrimination by those who irrationally perceive the intact dog as an anathema. Animal health issues aside, there is actually no credible evidence that castrating dogs actually makes them more docile or obedient, even the ASPCA says, “…studies have found no significant relationship between aggression and neutering.” With nearly 90 percent of dogs in America neutered, are we to assume that the majority of dog fights at the park are among the unneutered? Conversely, in Norway it is illegal to de-sex a dog, are we to assume that they are overrun by hormonal Cujos?

Castigating the uncastrated is not a sensible method of ensuring dog harmony, neutering does not ensure an obedient or gentle dog, but socialization with other dogs does. I encourage Jasper’s Dog Park to take a more inclusive stance and reconsider an irrational “rule” that does nothing to improve the dog park experience, it only serves to placate those who humanize dogs and propagate castration myths.

North K. Compton, Bellevue