Are you kiddin me?

[Miss Z]

so did I read this right? he shot her?

what's the big deal?

Honestly if he gave her a kill shot she woudln't have suffered at all. I don't understand the outrage.

now obviously I don't know the whole story with how or why this dog was suffering but if my dog was in severe pain I wouldn't subject them to the drive to the vets... I would shoot them and put them out of their misery right then and there. It wouldn't be easy for me but I don't think it's fair to make the dog suffer on the drive to the vets.

Honestly, When Teddy passed away... I wish that I hadn't made him endure that car ride and die on the way. I don't even know if he could feel the pain but I just know he wasn't really in there. His eyes were a blank stare but he was breathing. he was unresponsive and could not or would not even open his mouth to stop himself from biting his lip. if I had known then what I know now I would have shot him and put an end to his misery immediately.

How does he know she didn't suffer? Well if he knew how to use a gun and shot her in the right place you can pretty much see that death is instant. If you don't think he can be sure she didn't suffer from a kill shot how can you be sure that your pets don't suffer from the drugs injected to put them to sleep?

this may make me a "monster" but I just don't see the big deal. Like I said if she was in serious discomfort I think that forcing her to endure a bumpy car ride to the vet is more cruel.

don't get me wrong... I am not at all advocating shooting a healthy animal just to get rid of them but in cases of REAL discomfort I just don't see the problem. is it the gun that bothers you?

I am also not saying that it would not be difficult for me to shoot one of my animals. It would be very hard but it would also be very hard for me to make them endure the car ride to the vet to be put down.

I agree with you in a way. Shooting, when done correctly, can be humane. Old and sick horses are, more often than not, shot instead of put to sleep. Deer fatally wounded in car accidents are often shot to prevent them struggling off somewhere remote and dying in agony. Why, because this is a dog, is it different?

When I did my work experience at a veterinary practice, one of the vets there got her gun license. Before then, I'd never really thought I might have to shoot things when I become a vet, and for a while I was a bit uncomfortable with it. Once it was explained more to me about how to use the gun properly, I now know I would have no more of a problem shooting a dying animal than putting it to sleep.

On the other hand, I can see why the dogster page is a cause for concern. We'll never know whether the dog actually was suffering and had a poor quality of life or whether the owner just decided the dog wasn't worth keeping anymore because it was older and slower. We'll never know if the dog was shot in a humane manner. It's very sad, yes, but either way, we can't do much about it now.

RIP pup.