...to be fucking Horrified that my neighbour Killed His Dog??

[ahhyesiseeyouvepooedonyourfoot]

Was chatting to our next door neighbour who is ok (I thought), in his late 40's with a lovely family and his own consultancy business. He mentioned that his dog was incontinent and probably dying and how sad his daughters were about it, all innocently I said 'Ahh thats sad when will you be taking him to vets' he said 'I'm not paying any bluddy vets I'll take him out and shoot him' (he does have guns for hunting)...cue stuttering WTFS??? from me..

He was quite indignant and said 'With our last dog me and a friend took him to a forest and injected him with ketamine, he went straight to sleep its EXACTLY what the vet would do'
I said I'm pretty sure it WASN'T exactly what the vets did and bluffed a bit about knowing they used a cocktail of drugs for different things - which in fact don't know - can any vets confirm for me?

Anyway I asked him to leave my house, I wasnt being all 'PC gorn mad' was I??

You seem ok about him shooting grouse. What difference is it to you if he shoots a dog or a bird? You also seem ok if it is a working/gun dog as opposed to a pet? The dog values his life just the same, whether he is a working dog or a pet.
I bet the vast majority of you on here think nothing of eating meat, yet you're all up in arms when a dog gets killed. Bizarre.

No problem, LyingWitch! As I say, I recently put my own dog to sleep and had him cremated, and I had no fears of this kind whatsoever. Glad to be able to put your mind at rest

I wish you were our vet, Joolyjoolyjoo. :)

As a kid my friend's dad put a plank on a rabbit's head and stamped on it :-( It was suffering after a stroke and couldn't move as half its body was useless, but still, I will never forget that sound and why in hell's name he did it in front of the kids I'll never understand. Ketamine injection or a bullet in the brain sounds preferable. And death by Vet isn't instant - it took my pet rabbit ten minutes to die, convulsing in my arms.

Aw shucks, now you've made me !

NoHun- my point about it being a gun dog was that the dog wouldn't think anything was up of it went for a walk with it's owner and a gun. Mind you, not sure a dog has any concept of the difference between a gun or anything else so maybe it makes no difference at all. And this isn't the thread for a shooting debate but would happily enter into one somewhere else!

Oh a gun dog knows what a gun means. But to a gun dog, a gun is a good thing. It means fun - in a dog's world.

Pheasants/pigeons etc, obviously have a very different view of guns.

I think that's what I meant Sarah, but its too late for me to articulate correctly!

Jooly- so the sedation before being PTS isn't a standard thing to do? I always thought it was.

winny- it's not usually necessary, and just makes it a longer process for the client and the animal, BUT if an animal is in any way upset/ stressed I would do it. To me, it's not standard. Other vets might do different? I didn't sedate my dog- he went very peacefully. But the whole idea is that it must be a peaceful experience for the owner and animal, so if that requires sedation it's not a problem (for the animal, btw! Although I'm sure a good few owners would have welcomed a sedative...)

I have had to shoot dogs (and horses and sheep and pigs). I wouldn't do it for preference for the family pet, but that is because I am selfish and it is a pretty grim job.

Personally, I don't think it makes any difference to the animal. Dead is dead, as long as it is as quick and as painless as possible, sometimes it is the only solace you can offer.

My family's station is in the far outback though, where medical help for animals just isn't going to arrive in any sort of time. You do what you have to do.

hester and FFSEnid, Imo it's cruel because it's not necessary. The owner has a choice whether to take his pet to the vets and let the dog have a quick and painless death. What if he mis-fires the gun or doesn't aim correctly?

If it was ok to shoot your pets at the end of their lives, wouldn't vets do it for you? Or it wouldn't be illegal at least?

The RSPCA wouldn't be able to do much as the owner hasn't actually done anything wrong yet. But they would probably check up on the owner then follow up on it and ensur ehe took the dog to the vets.

Shooting your dog is, as far as I'm aware, illegal.

If nothing else, he should take his pet to the vets for the sake of his daughters, as they are obviously upset by it.

I had my BIL shoot ours.

Our lab was terrified of the vet but loved the woods, and BIL is a complete arse but a very, very good shot.

So it was an easy decision for me.

Sounds like some sort of macho ego trippy thing for this man to try to show you what a heartless skinflint he is. He is wrong to do this to the family pet and wrong to do this to his DDs, who will end up scared, and alienated from him. Indifference to the possibility that an animal might suffer or a tendency to put other concerns ahead of concern for the animal's pain, is a sign of a person who is also capable of cruelty to people, someone who is controlling and inclined to abuse. On top of all that, he has broadcast his intentions and that is the part of it that bothers me wrt his personality -- he wants others to know this about him, and I think the only reason is to intimidate, to play the role of rough and ready, insensitive and oblivious, impervious to claims of affection, his way or the highway, bully.

My parents both lived on farms and yes, animals were put down, but humanely and by people experienced and able, and the vet was often called too; this man lives presumably in suburbia and there is absolutely no need for him to contemplate what he intends to do to the dog apart from ego reasons of his own.

Well done for telling him off.

I think it's awful.

I have never been shot, but I would imagine that a bullet to the brain is a moment of total agony. That's assuming it does kill. I have heard of people having half their faces blasted off and surviving.

I don't think even a split second of agony is acceptable when the alternative is an injection and painlessly drifting off to sleep.

FIL is a slaughterman, and a very good one. Farmers far and wide ask for him by name and it's not unusual for him to travel 200 miles for a job. I would trust him to shoot MuttDog if it ever came to it.

Good friend is a huntsman, again very good at it, adores his hunting dogs and treats them like his kids. He wouldn't do it to his own, but I think I would trust him if it came to it (actually prob not, because he adores my Mutt too)

other than that, no, I wouldn't want to take Mutty to the vets, but I know her vet would come to the house if I needed her to. Good vets are worth their weight in gold.

I thought under the shotgun and firearms certificates they allow you to dispose of dogs only if a threat?

Whats the difference between this and a farmer going and shooting say his own venison stock? Just sayin......

I had to kill a small animal recently.
The cats had a rat on the lawn and were making a right lash up of getting on and killing it - horribly maimed - so I picked it up into a carrier bag and then well away from any eyes swung it very hard against a wall. Looked in the bag and it was most definitely dead, quickly and with no more pain.

Any decent vet will do a home visit for a pet.
I had to take old cat in to be put to sleep as the vet was operating on an RTA that morning but they let me take his body back home for burial.
His sister had died "naturally" in the garden. Horribly slow.

sounds more humane then what I found out this morning.
Someone who lives near me keeps afew dogs and had broken one of the dogs legs, because it kept yelping in pain in the night he broke its neck and stuffed it in a bin bag

Perhaps we just have a lovely vet, but when our old black lab was incontinent and then couldn't stand, and was clearly dying, he visited us at home so as not to distress her and she was put to sleep in our kitchen. It was a very nice way for her to go, as she was in considerable distress, the only problem was that she was incredibly heavy and the poor vet had to try and carry her out afterwards.

So not all ends involve a traumatic visit to the vets (which I agree would be incredibly stressful).

Yep knew it checked with dh his licence would not permit it

I have to say that if he is going to shoot his dog with a clean single shot ,then i wouldnt be too upset . But what happens if it moves and it takes more than one shot ? thinks back to hideous mixxy rabbit and shovel incident (shudder). If i were you i would grass him up to his wife and children [evil emocion]

missymoo where does your neighbour live ? perhaps we could dress him up as an elderly black lab and swap him for OP's neighbours dog

Not too hot on guns (only know a little)

How could he shoot a dog and not blow it's head off/decimate it's body? I presume he would be using a shotgun at close range.

We aren't talking horses and a trained vet with a license here.

A gamekeeper will kill a deer with a scope from a long and 'safe and clean' distance,I cannot see joe bloggs doing that to a elderly dog in his back garden.

He's a fucking twat who is too tight and twisted to give a animal a peaceful end to it's life.

I'd report the cunt to rspca/police.