Healthy Guide dog being put to sleep so it can be buried with it's owner?

[Sparklingbrook]

Here AIBU to feel really strange about this?

[poppypebble]

Totally wrong. :(

[LadyVoldemort]

Wow.
Yanbu!

[Sparklingbrook]

I can see it from all angles I think. But can't understand why the owner wouldn't have wanted her dog to have a long and happy life. Oh I don't know.

[Pudgy2011]

It's fucking dispicable.

[Sparklingbrook]

This is one of those AIBU when I hope someone does come along and convince me with reasons it may be ok IYKWIM.

[poppypebble]

I don't think you can sacrifice another living being so that your dead body won't be alone. Would the son have had himself killed if she had wanted him to keep her company?

[Sparklingbrook]

I love Sparkling Cat but if I were to pass before her I wouldn't want her to be put to sleep and be buried with me.

[KurriKurri]

Awful and selfish. Why would anyone want to kill a perfectly healthy dog?

Maybe someone can tell me (apologies for my ignorance) is it possible for a trained guide dog to work with a different person if e.g. the original owner dies? if so that makes the whole thing even more pointless

[MissyMooandherBeaverofSteel]

Thats awful, the bit about it being legal because the dog was his property shocked me.

[Softlysoftly]

Sorry are we living in ancient egypt??? Wtf it was 5!

If I get put down due to signs of mourning then perhaps the son should be euthanized too.

And I'm not even hugely sentimental about animals.

[Sparklingbrook]

My DH asked the very same question Kurri. I have no idea. Training a Guide Dog takes lots of £££££s and time. That I do know.

[BigGiantCowWithAKnockKnockTail]

Fucking disgrace

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think the person technically owned the guide dog, so was it really her position to make that call?

[catsmother]

If the dog had died first would she have been willingly put down so she could be buried with it ? I think not!

I actually think it was an incredibly selfish and pointless thing to arrange. She was dead, what difference would it have made to her if the dog remained alive and rehomed with another visually impaired person so that they could benefit in the same way she had all those years and allow the dog to live out a happy life naturally.

This woman was described as a Christian - errr no, a very selfish individual.

[Maggie111]

I almost understand it. Almost. A guide dog and it's owner have an incredible bond, at some point it would be distressing to think you're leaving the dog bereaved. (And yes, I do think dogs would feel bereavement and a sense of loss that you cannot explain to them.)

The thought of being buried without my husband is also very sad... But yes, I'd be happy to wait a few years to be rested together.

And then, the thought of that dog dying, for no reason, is incredibly sad. He's given up a great deal in his life, it's an awful end

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

That is inexcusable.

I am very very sorry for the family that the woman died, of course I am. But that animal deserved to live. There is no reason on earth why that dog needed to die. Snuff out his life just to have his body put into a hole in the ground with the body of the person who he used to guide?

It's wicked.

I'm afraid I can't see her side at all. And I can't see theirs. Even if they said to her during her life that they would do that - there was no reason for them to actually kill a five year old, totally healthy dog, just so they could put it into a hole with her.

She would have been comforted in life with the lie and the dog would have lived.

Although I find it odd that you can love and animal so much and find it comforting that it will be needlessly killed so that it can go into a coffin with you.

[Softlysoftly]

Good point did they pay for its training? If not the charity should be suing!

[Sparklingbrook]

I know Softly 5 years old. All dogs would mourn their owners passing but surely recover over time? or don't they? i don't know.

[Floralnomad]

Perhaps the guide dog system works differently in the USA , its absolutely disgusting anyway and very selfish of the owner as well as her son.

[thebody]

Think its horrible

[SneakyNinja]

Pure selfish ignorance.

[Sparklingbrook]

I think the dog could have been allowed to live and buried with her when his time came?

[ChasingDogs]

Hm, I can see some sense in wanting an elderly, unhealthy or "problem" dog PTS after ones death. I think it would be worse to know that, in the event nobody would want/could take them, that they'd be passed around, abandoned, or neglected.

But this was done out of pure selfishness. I can see no way to excuse killing a healthy guide dog like this. Very sad.

[PacificDogwood]

Oh FFS - unbefuckinglievable!
Is the son topping himself too to join his mother??

Didn't think so...

[chickensaladagain]

you can't generally put a working dog with a new person

this case was in america where the dogs are privately owned so the dog was her property

no reason why he couldn't have been rehomed as a pet though

[propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS]

How vile. I don't even like dogs but that is an awful thing to do to an animal that lived its life with the sole purpose of helping you.