Had to put the dog down - sad....

[Northie]

Today we made the sad decision to put down one of our dogs, the youngest one. We had been havng trouble with him being aggressive towards other animals and last night he snapped. He and another dog were barking at something outside the fence and he turned on the other dog. He grabbed her by the throat and wouldn't let go. When my husband tried to intervine he turned on him. Hubby is ok, he was wearing a thick winter jacket and heavy work gloves so he only recieved some bruises.
We have no idea what kind of dog he was because he was rescued from a garbage as a young puppy. The dog he attacked was his best friend, they were inseparable, they ate together they slept together, everything.... The decision to put him down may seem like a knee jerk reaction to some, there are plenty of trainers who will work with aggressive dogs but we have small kids.... Couldn't live with myself if something happened to them.... Still, I feel like I failed this dog and it hurts a lot.

 

[sourland]

I feel that you gave this dog a chance that he would not have had without you. What if it had been one of your children rather than your husband who tried to intervene? With children involved, you made the only decision that you could. It's a tough decision, but I think that you made the proper call.

 

[dawg53]

Today we made the sad decision to put down one of our dogs, the youngest one. We had been havng trouble with him being aggressive towards other animals and last night he snapped. He and another dog were barking at something outside the fence and he turned on the other dog. He grabbed her by the throat and wouldn't let go. When my husband tried to intervine he turned on him. Hubby is ok, he was wearing a thick winter jacket and heavy work gloves so he only recieved some bruises.
We have no idea what kind of dog he was because he was rescued from a garbage as a young puppy. The dog he attacked was his best friend, they were inseparable, they ate together they slept together, everything.... The decision to put him down may seem like a knee jerk reaction to some, there are plenty of trainers who will work with aggressive dogs but we have small kids.... Couldn't live with myself if something happened to them.... Still, I feel like I failed this dog and it hurts a lot.

I wouldve done the same thing.

 

[Mahlzeit]

It is always a very hard decision. I had a similar situation only the dog would turn on me. I adopted him as an adult and had him about 6 months. He was a beautiful blue nose pit about 3 or 4 years old. He was a great dog in every way until I moved in with my now fiance and her daughter. He started to become very protective of her daughter and would start coming after me growling, snarling, almost foaming at the mouth. It would take me 20 minutes to get in my own house sometimes if they were inside. The weirdest part was even while he was doing that I would tell him to sit and he would or I'd tell him to lay down and her would but still be growling at me. Once I could get him outside he would snap out of it and be fine but I really lost all trust in him and the fact that we had a 4 year old in the house if he ever turned on her or accidentally went after her I wouldn't be able to live with myself. We looked for 2 months for an adult couple for him but couldn't find people who didn't give us a bad vibe about why they wanted him. We brought him to a shelter and asked if one of their behaviorists would bring him home to evaluate him. He ended up getting put down about a month later. It was a very very tough decision and we were all very very sad but we still have the great memories and photographs of him with us. Family is the most important thing it should always come first.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I forgot to mention in my last post that we tried to work through this for a year before we decided we needed to find him a new home or put him down. With a trainer and all. The trainer told us they believe the dog had some sort of chemical imbalance.

 

[gander007]

You put in more then enough with him it is just some dog's are not all
there just as humans and there is time's a person needs to do the
right thing before some child gets hurt .......

gander007

 

[Mahlzeit]

Thanks gander! It's always nice to be reassured. I just wish you could grab them stare them in the eyes and say listen cut this out and you will live a great happy life until you grow old and pass on your own.

 

[gander007]

Yes it would be great to be able to do this but the great inventor decided otherwise
so we have to work with what we have and maybe it is the way the cosmos just
test us to see what we are really made of but who knows but yes you made the
correct decision in the long run as now you will never know what problems you
have saved your self ......... Here I will give you a bad decision a person made
near me that I observed ,,,Person one got a pit bull dog that the owner was putting
down for about the reason you spoke of and person 2 lived next the person 1 and
person 2 told person 1 to get rid of the dog as they had live stock and did not
care for the dog well to make a log story short the dog wound up chasing person
2's young child who was a special needs case and a couple days later person 2
wile driving a F250 and person 1 driving a Chevy Bronco some how happened
to make contact with each others bumpers needless to say the Ford backed up
and drove away and the Chevy needed a tow I saw it all the Deputy's said SO
WHAT it sounds like a civil matter so person 1 moved and three days later the
dog attacked a elderly family member were they went till new housing could be
obtained DOG WAS FINALLY PUT DOWN.......... See only good happens when
you use your head and do not feel bad ever about this a cancer is cancer !!!!!!!!!

gander007

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I am sorry that you had to make such a difficult decision. I wish there were more people in the world like you. You gave the dog a good life, it sounds. I definitely agree that it is better to put the anima down than take chances with children or to pass the problem on to someone else.

 

[Northie]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, it helps.