To Kill or not to Kill?

I am very passionate about people who put their dogs down, so i'm just wondering about your opinions about this issue.

A Friend of mine put down their family pet when there child hit him on his sore back and he turned and nipped (he just happened to bite the child softly but enough to make him scream)

I am discusted that she put the dog down without considering giving it away to another family who may adore it.

So i'm interested in your opinions on what is an acceptable or not acceptable situation to put your family pet down.

Jo

 

My parents had our family GSD euthanized after he bit me when I went near his food dish while he was eating. I was only 4yrs old but I remember how upset I was when my father left with him....they did'nt tell me they had him euthanized that day until I was alot older but I thought he was rehomed and I felt like it was my fault. I still feel badly about it to this day. Apparently, the dog was very aggressive with strangers so my parents were unable to rehome him.
I don't have children so I can't say for sure what I would do because my veiws might be different if I did have children and it was my child that was bit. I think that if it was just a nip I don't think I would rehome or euthanize the dog...I would just pay closer attention to how my child was behaving around the dog.

 

reply:to kill or not to kill

I had to put my dog euthanized yestorday, because he was suffering from two kinds of parasitic diseases; canine erhlichia, and canine leishmaniosis. I still feel so uncertain whether I made the right decision. I keep reminding myself that the dog was sick; he was anemic, all his lymha nodes were swollen, he was exhausted, allthought every now and then I could see the sparkle of life in his eyes.He had these bleeding ulcers which he was biting on his hindlegs, and the area around his eyes and nose was totally hairlessa and even swollen. His kindneyrates were increased. he was constantly biting or scratching himself.We had the diagnosis on Monday, and I had to make the desiosion of putting him down quite soon, so the dog needn`t to suffer any more. It was the hardest decision ever, allthought there was really no other option. I can`t understand people who are ready to put a dog down for any little reason.

 

A dog I had about 10 years ago 'attacked' my daughter, he didnt break the skin but she was covered in bruises down her arm and hand, it was a completely unprovoked attack and it happened right in front of me, the vet suspected a possible brain tumour, I put him to sleep. (We'd had him, with no problems in the family for about 3 years although he couldnt be trusted with anyone outside the family).
I think that no child should be left unsupervised with any dog, not even a teacup poodle, you dont always know if the child has done something to cause the dog to bite. I think that the decision to euthanize should be based on the situation, if the child hurt the dog and the dog snapped in response to the pain then no, there are plenty of people that dont have young kids around where there would be no problems. One of my dogs right now, she's not the friendliest dog around, I have some friends that have young kids and when they come over the dog is either crated or put into another room inaccessible to the child.
As far as pets that have terminal illnesses or in a lot of cases need surgery to stop pain and suffering but the money is not available then I think the only kind thing to do is to put them to sleep, Ive been working in animal hospitals for a long time, there have been too many cases where myself, other techs, the vets have tried to talk people into putting their pets to sleep because we've seen the suffering that they go through, I have every respect for people who put their own feelings to one side and do what is right for their pet, Ive had to do it myself with a few pets and I know how hard it is, more so with a pet with a terminal illness because they seem to have a good days as well as bad days so it makes you question your decision over and over. It took about 4 attempts to actually put my Rott to sleep, she had bone cancer and went downhill fast, weight loss, muscle atrophy, I talked to the vet about surgery to amputate her leg but the outlook is not good, I already knew that, and the fact that she'd been diagnosed with diabetes 2 years earlier....it would have been a tough fight for her and for what, to buy her maybe a few more months, it wouldnt have fair to her.

 

I'll try to keep this short.....
we have a beautiful mal/shepherd mix named Daisy. Large strong dog - she went everywhere with us...this dog was a born athlete. She went snowshoeing with us, hiked with us, was my DH's jogging buddy.
My son, at the time, was 4 years old and everytime he'd open the door to go outside Daisy would knock him over and run for hours. She once brought me home a freshly-killed groundhog. Dropped it at my feet - she was so excited to share her kill with her family.
Daisy would sit/stay if we opened the door from inside - but if she found an opportunity to get out and run she took it. When I was 8 months pregnant w/my son Daisy, on a leash, nearly dragged me off our deck - in self defense I had to let go of her leash. She was gone for 2 hours at night dragging a leash around. In spite of her physically-oriented life she wanted more.
In her wanderings she killed 2 dogs...we put her down. She was 5 years old and it broke our hearts to do it.
I couldn't 100% guarantee that she wouldn't get out again. We couldn't fence our entire yard in and I couldn't chance her getting outside like that and going after someone's kid instead of a neighborhood dog.
She was always very people friendly but what if someone hit her if she attacked their dog?
I couldn't chance it. I was devastated and it took me months to stop crying.
But I always felt I did the right thing...I couldn't spend the rest of Daisy's life wondering what became of her. I know...she was cremated and is now bured with my bridge kitty that I had for years and was Daisy's friend.
Sometimes it can be for the best...unless it's done for selfish purposes.

 

Thats the problem I had with Charlie, the dog that attacked my daughter, like I said the vet suspected a brain tumour but we didnt do a necropsy so didnt know for sure, I had taken the dog in a few years earlier and he was hard work, he was more of a fear biter, he hadnt bitten anyone before but only becuase the people he went for moved quick enough, never once even curled his lip at my daughter though and they played together every day, rolling around the floor and all that. I thought really hard about finding him another home, I even went so far as to ask the vet about having all his teeth removed...sad huh!
I couldnt take the risk that next time it might be a smaller kid, he wasnt a big dog, probably about 35-40# and my daughter was 11, but what if he scarred a baby for life up or worse. That was just over 10 years ago and I still sometimes sit and wonder if there was something else I couldve done rather than put him to sleep...

 

I think that if the animals life is no longer worth it, or if they are just plain dangerous they should be put down. We had to put our cat down about a year ago and his quality of life was gone and it just wasn't fair to him to have to keep living because he wasn't dying on his own. I also took care of an old horse and he would be near death all winter and i would bring him back every spring and the same thing happened. I suggested that he be put down before the next winter hit, that way he wouldn't be forced to go through another one. Fortunatly he died on his own in a pasture with all his buddies on a warm summer morning. I'm so glad i didn't have to be the one to put him down.