I've never heard of anyone doing a hysterectomy before; It was always just ovariectomy or ovariohysterectomy. From someone who is just learning of hysterectomy's being performed in animals, I believe that the controversy is based on the fact that we
know estrogen plays a role in many reproductive system cancers. That every heat cycle an animal goes through increases the chances of mammary, ovarian, and uterine cancers. The research into estrogen loss causing shortened life spans is still relatively new in respects to vet med (And appears to be mostly based on studies with Rottweilers).
IMO, without the science to back the benefits of leaving the ovaries, this will remain a topic of varied opinion. The
known benefits of removal outweigh the
possible benefits of not.
Heck, even when the research is sound and the theory proven, I bet there will still be controversy. Just as there is now between spay advocates and anti-spay crazies <-- another of my opinions
People cray cray, yo! (That last sentence is a result of my brain melting down from too much studying... I'm pretty sure that finals are causing me to lose intelligence rather than gain it)
BTW what breed of dog do you have? Perhaps it's a cat! Oh what a twist that would be!