Anyone who has ever used treats or praise to train a canine companion knows that dogs respond to incentives. I’m sure you’re aware from your own experience that humans do, too.

Michelson Prize and Grants program spurs research into nonsurgical spay/neuter.

Let’s say there was a way for you to spay your cat without subjecting her to surgery. Would you do it? Would you neuter your dog via pill or injection?

John Herr spends every day thinking about and working toward finding a non-surgical method to sterilize dogs and cats. He has good reason to — there’s a $25 million prize at stake.

The search for a nonsurgical sterilant for dogs and cats has been fueled by more than $6 million in research grants since 2008 when a $25 million prize was offered to the first person to successfully develop a method of chemically castrating pets.

On the surface, ovarian cancer drug developer Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and the Found Animals Foundation seem to have little in common.

More than a dozen institutions are currently researching the development of a non-surgical sterilant for companion animals in effort to curb pet overpopulation.

It took years of campaigning to change thinking about sterilizing pets, but it has paid off. This year fewer than 4 million unwanted dogs and cats will be euthanized, down from as many as 20 million before 1970.

Each year, rabies kills more than 55,000 people worldwide. In 99% of fatal cases, humans contracted the disease through exposure to rabid dogs.