Dog put to sleep due to aggression- right or wrong?

[NotJustACigar]

I am Facebook friends with the rescuer who I got my dog from as a puppy. Everything kicked off yesterday in the comments section when the rescuer posted about how upset she was that a family who had adopted one of her dogs had the dog pts.

It transpired that the dog had bitten a 2 year old child in the face unprovoked (the child was carrying some sweets) and a couple of years later attacked the owner who was sleeping. Both had to be treated in hospital. It had also attacked other dogs.

I think the decision to pts was the right one on this occasion however everyone else in the comments is lashing out at the owners saying they had no right to do that, should have given the dog back to the rescuer, sought professional help, etc. Now the bit about professional help I can understand but surely if a dog has put two people in hospital then it is too risky to have that dog living amongst people? It could kill a child next time. Am I wrong because there are around 100 people on the thread lashing out at the owners and I'm the only person defending them. It worries me that so many people think its OK to keep a dog who has done this?

I totally agree with you. Absolutely. Maybe back away from the forum... For your own sanity.

I agree with you OP. That dog proved to be a dangerous dog. Returning it to the rescue would have made it worse, not better. And a rescue that believes the dog is not dangerous, would have passed it on to new owners with no idea of its history. And yes, it could kill a child.

Not an unreasonable decision at all, people are ridiculous.

I’m a huge dog lover, had them all my life - but people’s safety comes first, every time.

The owners would get nothing but sympathy from me. We had a very reactive collie that we put to sleep sadly. Hardest choice I've ever had to make. We just couldn't take the risk. I don't envy anyone facing that decision

I agree with you
I’ve learnt not to get into arguments on Facebook. Seriously there are so many stupid ignorant people on there and sensible people barely get a look in.

If a dog bites, it should be PTS. It’s not safe. There is no other sensible action.

100% agree OP, and I say that as a lifelong dog owner and lover.

I'm with you OP.

The dog could never safely be re-homed, so it will spend the rest of his life in a kennel, that’s cruel and inhumane. Far crueller than to slip into a sleep.

I'm 100% with you

I would want to know what kind of training , rehab they had tried with the dog after this 1st bite.
If they did little or nothing then it is possable with very good retraining that the dog would be ok.
If they had tried everything and it still bit for the 2nd time then it's better to pts .
A very hard decision to make and not one i would like to have to make but for every ones safety it's a must.

It's sad but given the issues it was entirely sensible to do and I wonder what planet people are on when they jump down on people like that.

Any dog with form and history of serious aggression is a concern but one that attacked a child and even its owner as they slept – that's not a dog that is likely to ever be safely or suitably re-homed. I wouldn't want to risk placing that dog anywhere personally and there's not a chance in hell I'd keep a dog living in kennels for the remainder of its life if it couldn't be rehomed. Just unfair and pitiful existence.

There are some dogs than can with enough time, patience and lot of care and safety precautions be helped to overcome their issues but one with this sort of track record I don't think you could have in any other environment apart from that one place and person and with restrictions and extra safety measures (no children or other pets for example)

Some people need to take a day off and get out from their own arse a few minutes.

If it were my dog after biting the 2year old child would have been pts then not left another couple of years to do it again.
If it weren’t my dog but it was my 2year old child it bit I think I could have destroyed it myself.

How do you know that the family is telling the truth? Why are you getting involved?

There is usually a clause in a rescue contract which dictates that any issues should be raised with the rescue and the dog is ultimately to be returned if the family is no longer wanting custody. It will then be assessed if allegations such as those you mention are raised.

Unfortunately people do lie about their reasons for euthanasia and the circumstances surrounding bites. If a dog attacked someone in their sleep, which is quite an uncharacteristic behaviour, as an owner I would be desperately searching for the causation. It sounds implausible but who knows. Maybe it happened just like that. Maybe it didn’t.

The dog is gone. The fight serves no purpose. A rescue should keep matters like this private and certainly some kind of militant Facebook response is inappropriate whatever the circumstances.

PTS immediately. I do not have the strength or energy to try and rehabilitate a reactive dog for which you don’t know the triggers.
It is sad, absolutely. But the triggers the poor dog must live with must be horrendous, not to mention the humans who end up being scarred for life physically and mentally.

The thing is, with rescue dogs you do usually sign a form saying that your first port of call if something major like that happens will be the rescue.

Technically the rescues are usually still the dogs owners - you can’t sell or give them away and you’re supposed to contact them before having a dog PTS. Most people don’t contact them because they’re having their dog PTS for purely medical reasons and no rescue would have an issue with that.

But, when it’s behavioural - I can understand why they’d be upset they weren’t involved in the decision. They may well have come to the same conclusion, but, without knowing the exact circumstances who knows.

I doubt anyone has the full information on this one

• not the owners who, it seems, have had the dog put down without seeking professional help and finding out if the cause was medical or behavioural in nature
• not the rescue, who have received scant and probably not entirely true information from the owners
• definitely not you who's hearing the info third hand

If anyone puts a dog down without input from a vet and behaviourist, I too would be very concerned.

Dog bites are hugely nuanced. On the face of it, a dog that bites a sleeping owner very concerning. However, we still don't know about the nuances - for instance, DDog once snapped at my feet in bed and I felt teeth, which woke me up with a start. No blood drawn etc etc. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I'd been dreaming and had just kicked him in the face while he was sleeping.... so his response was pretty measured really! If I wanted to I could spin it that the dog bit me while I was sleeping...

If this dog had been assessed by a vet for pain (a common cause of grumpiness) and underlying medical conditions (eg brain tumour - rare but it does happen) and then referred onto an APBC or CCAB qualified behaviourist who thought this dog needed to be put down - then I too am comfortable with the decision made. If, as it sounds like, the owners simply took the dog to the vet and asked for it to be put down, I wouldn't agree with the course of action taken.

Here in Ireland when a dog bites, the Gardaí are often involved ie when medical care is sought after a dog bite, and the Dog Warden and euthanasia can be ordered.

There is a case going on here where a child was killed by a dog that had a history such as this, . The owner is in jail as she knew it had bitten before.

It just is too risky. And the facilities and personnel for rehab etc do not exist or are not available widely.

NB maybe the pro-dog lobby in this should see the images of the bite - and also the teeth of the dog, as a dose of reality. The child I mention above lost his life in a similar situation and that potential was there in this case.

I agree.
It should never be rehomed, so PTS was the better option.

We had a rescue dog that turned out to be very agressive with other dogs and with people. It bit a friend of mine very badly in the face. It was an unprovoked attack. It also attacked any other dog in the vicinity. We had the dog put to sleep after the attack on my friend. I found out afterwards that the dog had been returned to the rescue 3 times previously because of agression. The rescue did not inform us of this.

I think it was kinder for the dog to be PTS instead of being returned.

Ha I wonder how many of the moaners would’ve been willing to take on that dog themselves?!

A good friend of mine ended up getting a dud dog from DogsTrust. They were experienced owners and he was a well trained dog but he would suddenly attack from nowhere. Bit hard enough to break and 8 yr olds arm (kid is also experienced with dogs and he did nothing wrong) and few days later bit her hand and she had to have reconstructive surgery.

Anyway, there was a proper procedure. The injuries were photographed and documented (can’t recall if by hospital or by rescue?) then DogsTrust took him back but from then on if someone wants him they are legally obliged to show them the injury photos first.

I find it heart breaking that a human being puts an aggressive dogs life before a fellow human being.
I know people who will not make friends because they do not rate people, would much rather spend time with a dog! Which is ok because let's face it, some dogs are more loyal than some humans, what they don't think about is that some humans, like myself, are more loyal than some dogs also.

It works both ways!

This is why the world is the way it is... people are afraid to be nice 😊

Being put to sleep is not the worst option for a dog

Languishing in kennels for the rest of his life is

I used to work at a rescue that had an extremely reactive dog. He resource guarded everything. He would stand in doorways and stop people from going through

He was rehomed and returned numerous times but one of the owners of the kennels refused to put him to sleep

In the end, the poor thing was confined to a pen with a kennel inside and that was it. We workers were told not to deal with him as the owner would.

Some dogs have mental issues that no amount of training can overcome.

Wasn't there a thread last year about a poster threatened with court for having her rescue ddog pts?
Our ddog had a suspected brain tumour and we had her pts... Hardest decision but she had attacked 2 of our ddogs and had a quite scarey stand off with me. No joke an 8 stone rotty 'smiling' at you...
Makes me glad I haven't got fb.