09/12/2017
On Friday we put our Ziggy Piggy to sleep, please SHARE this so his death means something.
For the past 2 years he made such an impact on our lives; crazy, chaotic, love, but now he is gone and he has taken a part of my heart with him and I am trying to comfort myself with the thought that he is not scared anymore. I know everyone gets sad when they lose their family pet and I don’t want this to be just another sad story about me missing my baby, but I want to use his death to highlight psychological problems in dogs.
I am no stranger to euthanasia’s as part of my daily involvement at the animal shelter but it doesn’t make it any easier. My daughter is a vet and sadly death is a part of her daily work life too which we chat about all the time. We have lost too many of our pets all at a young age through things such as snakes bites, cancer and sadly aggression, it’s so hard to lose them when you haven’t finished loving them. I don’t get why so many are blessed that they get to see their dogs get through to old age and we don’t. My teenage son (bless him) told me, and I quote, “maybe God gives you all the dogs that aren’t meant to have a long life, so you can show them the best time of their lives before they leave” As beautiful a sentiment as that is it doesn’t make the tears any less and the pain go away any quicker each time they leave.
So, I dedicate this post to my little Ziggy Piggy (aka naughty Kevin), so that other dog owners can identify with his story and help their fur babies if they need it. Apparently one in 5 dogs suffer from anxiety, some to lesser degrees than Ziggy and there are ways to help them if you are aware of it.
Ziggy not only had resource aggression, but he suffered badly with fear aggression, a condition I have been told he was born with. I mistakenly thought that he was just being protective of me and growled and snapped when our other dog Bowie came near me. The wonderful Behaviourist at the Lost dog’s home informed me that he was mostly likely living in a constant state of fear and I was his ‘safe place’ and when that was threatened he had to defend it the only way he knew how and that was with aggression. Unfortunately, Ziggy was a Jack Russell X and our other dog Bowie is a very strong jawed Staffy, so no prizes for guessing who came off second best. Bowie isn’t an aggressive dog at all but was constantly having to defend himself and to anyone who has ever seen a dog fight they are extremely frightening. So, 5 vet separate stitch ups for Ziggy and 2 hospital visits for me (the rule book about breaking up dog fights goes out the window when you are faced with one) it was time to seek professional help.
After hours of consultation with the behaviourist specialist, we started to understand what was happening with Ziggy and reasons why he was behaving the way he was, we had exhausted all options in dealing with his problems, you name it we had done it! It is ironic that the hardest decision we had to make is the one that is the most kind.
It was time to let him go.
So please be aware of the signs of anxiety and speak to your vet or a dog trainer if you think your dog has an issue. Don’t just dismiss bad behaviour and reprimand, maybe there is more to it. Please share this story so we can reach as many dog owners as possible.
Good bye little Ziggy Piggy, if my love alone could have been enough to have kept you here you would have lived for ever little buddy. I would like to say rest peacefully, but if you knew Ziggy Piggy you would know that would never happen.
