...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??

Do your animals LIKE the vet? I'd put it more as "A stressful vet visit, or Walkies with a sudden surprise?"

How could he shoot a dog and not blow it's head off/decimate it's body?

Well, what if he did? The dog's just as dead, possibly more quickly. Are you just upset because it isn't "tidy"?

Different guns for different jobs. Not all shot guns have the same power.

What you need to take down a wild pig is different to what is required for putting a small animal down.

But yes there is mess, it is pretty horrible.

I'd prefer my DH to despatch my dogs. They would know "something's up" with a visit to the vet

So would I, if we had dogs, and he would do it. Even my mum's cats hate the vets.

What do people think farmers do? And vets use guns to put horses down as already mentioned.

I think many people are divorced from the reality of human/animal interaction.

Sometimes hard choices have to be made and death cannot always be tidy.

OP's neighbour sounds like a tosser, mostly due to his attitude rather than his actions IMO.

Wombat, I gave an example earlier where a dog survived being shot in the head and lived on in agony for a further period after being dumped on a rubbish heap and left for dead. Many people have also said that vets will gladly come and do home visits for PTS. In no way is this an acceptable way for a dog to be killed in the UK, by someone who has access to a vet.

This article gives a good scholarly overview of the issues involved in shooting an animal on welfare grounds in genuine circumstances where access to a vet is difficult (written by a Canadian group of academics). One of the issues to consider is also the danger to any people around, since it is quite likely that a bullet could pass through the animal. It's also important the shot is angled correctly to ensure that the brain is obliterated instantly - nothing the OP has said indicates her neighbour would do this.

Yabu. More peaceful and humane for the dog to go on a nice outing with his owner, than being worried at the vets.

I would call this an act of love for the animal, and not cruel. Takes guts to do that.

My dad is a vet (my brother & dh are too - bit of a family business!) and when he started out, some 35 years ago, was asked by a farmer he'd been visiting if he'd mind putting on old working collie to sleep while he was there.

The farmer explained that he usually just took them out onto the hill and shot them, but that the last one he had done had jerked at the last second and hadn't been killed instantly - and he'd had had to shoot it a second time. Understandably, he was somewhat put off doing it again.

My dad is a very no-nonsense, practical, sensible guy - certainly not uncaring, but doesn't show emotions easily but he was haunted by that story. He has never charged farmers or crofters for euthanising old working dogs as a result.

If it can go so wrong for a farmer who had done it many times before, it could happen to anybody. Those who think having their dh dispatch of their pets is kinder than taking it to the vet really need to think again.

I'm actually a bit upset at the idea that we vets are so terrifying to pets that blowing them away with a shotgun would be less stressful

A visit to the vets is NOT necessarily stressful (or shouldn't be)! I have some patients that pull their owners in the door when they are going past, just to see us and get a treat. Most vets have a real affection and love for animals, and the idea that they all find us so abhorrent is quite sadI spend a lot of time building good relationships with my patients. I love the fact that most of my post-op patients come racing back in 2 days later, tails wagging. It really really doesn't have to be that going to the vets= horrible and distressing

'Well, what if he did? The dog's just as dead, possibly more quickly. Are you just upset because it isn't "tidy"?'

No, it's not about the death of an animal being 'tidy' it's about it being put to sleep (or killed) in a humane way.

and it doesn't take guts.It takes a twat with a gun who thinks he knows best and also doesn't want to spend money on his beloved animal in it's last stage of life.

Well said Jooly! I'm pretty that at our practice we have far more bounding in than backing out the door.

*pretty sure

My cat doesn't mind the vets, she fucking hates the carrier though.

I think the time is fast approaching where she will need to be put down (she is 14 now and had a dreadful start which is catching up with her now), here in the suburbs of course I will take her to the vets (or have them come to me), but if I was at 'home', this would necessitate a more than 700km round trip for someone, which just wouldn't be an option I am afraid.

The fact remains he is not licences to shoot his dog, the issuing force would probably have a very different view than many of you.

He sounds like a total tosser, but if he does it properly and with minimum fuss then it would be no worse than taking it to a vet - which most dogs hate. He may have just been making a silly off the cuff comment - we often joke about taking Grandma into the field and shooting her when she gets too lame (horsey family).

My mother had a Jack Russell before I came along that took great offence to a child taking all the attention - when I was about 3 it tried to rip my throat out. My uncle (a farmer and professional marksman) was staying at the time and he took the dog home to his farm in Scotland. He took it for a walk on the hill and shot it whilst it was looking for rabbits. The dog was totally unaware of it's fate and incredibly happy right up till the last moment - which is far kinder than being given a lethal injection by a vet.

Jooly the vets is not normally stressful! :) The dog in question hated the vet's because he used to live at a shelter/vet's office and was previously abused. He had a lot of issues, poor guy. :(

Other dogs that I had at my parents' were put down at the vet's office. One vet came and did it in the back of my mom's van so that she didn't have to get out...the dog couldn't walk by then. The vet was unbelievably kind and gentle and I love him to this day. :)

LoveBeingAFirework- exactly. For a reason.

Whatever the ins and outs, he is not licensed to possess ketamine either!

Can't believe some of the reactions on here.Nothing wrong with it at all.The dog won't know anything about it.It's very hard to go wrong with point blank to the head.

Jooly

I have an abiding memory from the age of about 10, taking our border collie to the vet with my father to be put to sleep. At the point we arrived she stood very shakily in the reception and pissed on the floor, not having done it in that way before - and I have always been convinced she knew what was going on. I would spare my animals that if I had a better way.

YANBU

made me very sad reading about it. poor dog

My god, some of these stories have really upset me (am notoriously sentimental with animals).

OP, you are def not BU and well done for kicking him out!

I just have a real problem with such a violent end for a trusting pet when it is completely unnecessary. I know if I was given the choice of dying by being put to sleep by someone who knew what they were doing or being shot by an imbecile, what I would choose.

Grrrr. That man is a giant penis.

I think the point is that he wasn't planning to shoot his dog because he thought it was the kindest end, he was doing it to avoid vet bills. I'm sure it would be the kindest way for a dog to go (one of my dogs is absolutely petrified of the vet; the other loves him) - IF it could be guaranteed to go according to plan. But clearly, unlike an injection, it can't and there's a risk of the dog being in excruciating agony with no medical aid nearby.

I'm wonder, if he's trying to avoid vet bills, if he's sure the dog's incontinence is down to old age and not, for example, a urinary infection.

Ketamine is a horse tranquilliser not a drug to put dogs to sleep. Poor thing I would be horrified too. What a bastard