How do they determine if a dog should be put down?

[zeos3]

We had three dogs. We got the first two four years ago or so. We wanted to adopt one but I saw how they played together (they were three months old) and I couldn't separate the sisters. After a couple of years, my girlfriend was looking on an adoption website and we found another adorable dog. We went to the foster home and adopted Molly right away.

Molly was a 10 month old pug/whippet mix, she was found as a stray before going to the foster home. She had some fear issues when we brought her to our house but took lots of time to let her get used to us. We'd leave out teeshirts near her so she could get used to our scent and let her approach us for the first few weeks so she would feel comfortable and know we weren't going to hurt her. She seemed to be adjusting well and the other two dogs got along with her.

She did still have some fear issues. She was good with women but was afraid of men. If a man came to the house, she would constantly bark at them and run away. It took her a while to stop barking at me when my girlfriend was asleep and I'd come into the room. She would hide under the bed at that point. When I'd go to the house to feed them, she would hide under the kitchen table if I didn't block the bedroom with the gate.

My girlfriend and I broke up a year and a half later. She kept all the dogs at her house. I moved in with my family and couldn't take them. Soon after they dogs started fighting. I wasn't around for the fights so I don't know who instigated. Molly played with one of the "sister" dogs but kind of kept her distance from the other. I think the other dog would initiate the fight and Molly had to defend herself. This other dog was "my" dog when the girlfriend and I were together. During the third fight, my girlfriend was bitten in the hand by Molly while trying to break them up. My ex-girlfriend said she had called around to various shelters and they said they would have to put Molly down. At this point, I went over to the house and took Molly. We didn't want to separate the sisters. Everything calmed down at the house.

I couldn't keep her but I wanted to find a home for her. She spent three months with me as I tried to find her a home. She got along well with my sister's pug and she was warming up to her new surroundings. She had learned to trust me since I kept her in my room and she couldn't run away from me. My room was her safe spot in the house. Whenever I'd bring her in from a walk, she would run right upstairs and wait for me to bring her food and water. She eventually started sleeping on the bed with me but she'd jump down as soon as I'd wake up. After a couple of months, she no longer ran up to her safe spot. She wanted to stay downstairs and hang out with the pug and th rest of the family. I literally had to pick he up to bring her upstairs for bedtime. I felt comfortable in knowing that she could adjust to new surroundings given some time.

I couldn't keep her any longer. I tried to find her a home but there were no takers. I decided to bring her to the Anti-Cruelty Society in the city. I figured more people would see her there and she would be adopted much faster. I called to check on her a week later and she was still there. The vet hadn't examined her yet. I called the next week again and was told she was put down. She was put down 3 days after my first call. The lady said Molly was very fearful of the vet and they had a hard time controlling her. She said the had a behavioral specialist see her and they decided to put her down.

I can't get over the guilt now. I feel like I condemned her to death. I feel like she learned to trust me and that I betrayed her trust. I didn't want Molly to be afraid anymore and I didn't want her to be put down but in the end, I led her to that fate. The day I took her in, I woke up in bed and she didn't jump off, instead, she stretched out and leaned over to lick my face. I feel horrible just thinking about it. I wish I had thought of coming here for advice first. I wish I never turned her in.

[murielm99]

1. I am so sorry.

You did what you thought was best for her. You did not make the decision to put her down. Someone else did that. You were trying to find her a home. You were being responsible.

[zeos3]

3. Thank you.

I've been trying to figure out if there was any more I could have done ever since I found out Molly's fate.

[jtuck004]

2. zeos3, it wasn't you.

You did everything you could. Like as not the shelter you took her to gets a lot of animals, and no one has (or will take the time) to manage her behavior. So when she (most likely, I think), got scared and tried to bite, the "behaviorist" classified her as unadoptable.

There are other ways to handle the whole problem of pet overpopulation, but shelters are often entrenched in the way they have done things for decades. They see it first from a liability standpoint (what if she bites someone and they are responsible) and also from a behavioral point of view, in that it can take months to years to change such behavior, and sometimes you can never be completely relaxed. And while it is possible that someone who could deal with all this might come along, it is quite rare, and they still have to worry about whether that person might let her loose where she bites someone.

I know this because I still have Lacey, one of a group of fosters from about 2003. She was sick for so long that she could never be socialized outside the house. She is older an calmer these days, but I still have to muzzle her at the vet and use a muzzle harness (and watch her and everyone else like a hawk) when she is out in pubic. It's a heck of a liability, it has cost us in more than a few areas. Not everyone can change their life to deal with something like this.

So let me say it again. It wasn't you. If it would do any good the blame would lie at the feet of the people who allowed her parents to breed, who didn't take care of her. It sounds like you gave her as good a life as she could have for the time she was able, but there are things about life that sometimes keep us from protecting everyone we want to protect. That is the terrible tragedy and consequence of having 4-6 million unwanted pets killed in this country every year because we don't manage the situation. And that's not your fault.

Thank you for doing what you could for her.

[zeos3]

4. Thank you.

[Warpy]

5. Since you absolutely couldn't keep her where you are, you had no choice

Face it, while she might have gotten used to you temporarily, she had some deep seated problems and would very likely have been a behavior problem for you down the line even if you could have kept her, biting a guest to the home, a repairman, a meter reader, or any other male she didn't know.

You did what you could in this one, showing her that not all people were going to be mean to her. She just wasn't able to put it together that only one person was ever mean and the rest of us were likely to be OK.

Just hope her next dog life is better.

[murielm99]

6. I went to the vet's office today to get some special food

for my special cat. She is on a renal failure diet. She has gained weight and is healthy and frisky, especially for a fourteen-year-old cat!

The vet's office takes care of about six cats that they hope someone will adopt. Today, the vet and all of her staff were upset. This morning, they found a momma cat with five kittens, in a box inside the door. And some lady dropped in later. She was driving down the highway and saw someone dump a kitten along the side of the road. She tried, but could not get a license number. Of course, they took all six cats. They are not even supposed to be doing this. But how can they turn them away?

We do have barn cats, and one inside cat and dog. But we get our animals spayed and neutered. People have dumped animals on us, too. I am sure it will happen again. With so much unemployment, more people are unable to care for their pets right now. Many animals will be put down who could have been saved.