Sudilar - Even though we are no kill, we are occasionally faced with the heart wrenching decision of quality of life for a dog. In extreme temperment cases or bad health, it is tearfully debated about the best thing for the dog. I hate euthanization but the people at the humane society do not take it lightly and I can respect them for their decisions because they are genuinely upset. We had Goldilocks for about 5-6 months back in the Pre-Adopt room. She never made it out to the adoption area because we were trying to adopt her out the back door to an incredibly experienced person. A rescue promised and promised they would take her but every time they had space open up, they would run to the kill shelter in town and fill up again. I think that's good of them but I wish they hadn't gotten our hopes up that Goldie would be getting out of that kennel finally.
The first of Goldie's temperment problems was SEVERE child agression. I saw one of her tests. She was on a leash, and a little girl came into the room and Goldie went absolutely insane. I have never seen anything like it. She was lunging, snarling, barking, and growling. She was one of the dogs I had been working closely with. When we were alone, she was such a wonderful dog. I trusted her so much, I'd always lay my head on her stomach when we got done playing. There was only so much time I could spend with her though, and it wasn't enough. She began showing signs of stress from being in the shelter for too long, pacing, spinning circles, lunging at the bars, the wall, at nothing even. She was just so frusterated and not happy. About a month and a half ago she was temperment tested with two experienced dog behaviorists two times. Each time she tried to bite one of them a few times. They decided she might be too much of a threat to people so they tried to get her into a drug dog program. She didn't have what they needed in a drug dog so she was rejected. It was then debated and since she was deteriorating so bad, they decided the most humane thing would be to put her to sleep.
I had such a special bond with the dog that it is so hard for me to accept. I've talked to several people at the shelter and they help me out a lot. Whatever Goldie's experiences in life before the shelter were make me so mad. Maybe it was no one's fault, but if it was I feel sick to my stomach. I guess I am looking for someone to blame because it was such a bad, hurtful situation.
I also just got news about Lassen, a dog we had for months. He was so wonderful and he finally got adopted. I didn't think they'd have any problems with him because we had him through extensive training and he knew sit, stay, come, roll over, shake, beg, etc. He was a great dog but I just got an email that he will be euthanized tomorrow because he bit their 2 yr old and 14 yr old twice. I am no tsure the details but this kills me too because we never had any bite problems from him before.. ever.
Sorry this is so long. Venting all this out helps me a little bit. I hope I didn't depress or upset anyone.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks