01/03/2024
CW: Behavioral Euthanasia (BE)
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I said goodbye to a long term client dog on New Years Eve 12/31/23, I would have been present for this if my presence wouldn’t have resulted in more stress for him, even if a comfort to his person. This was the right decision, despite our best efforts his behavior had escalated to a dangerous and untenable point, he is loved, and this was an act of love.
Behavioral euthanasia is not new to me and it is never a decision that is taken lightly, is never easy, and often it is accompanied by self-doubt. My first experience with BE was when I was no older than 8 or 9 years old, we’d gotten an adorable black lab puppy named Zazu from the same litter as my uncle’s puppy Bobo. Zazu had bit my brother and I on more than one occasion, she would clear our 4 foot fence to charge people and dogs, we got a 6 foot fence, we went to training where they taught us, even as children, to leash correct with a prong collar and to roll and pin her even though we barely outweighed her. Her behavior escalated, and she was now more determined to charge passersby, clearing the 6ft privacy fence to do it. My mother took her to be euthanized while we were at school, it was devastating. Would Zazu have had a better chance with more humane training methods that were hard to come by then?Would she have benefited from pharmaceutical intervention? Would she have done better in a different home without children or so many neighbors? The answer is maybe or maybe NOT. Her brother lived until at least 12yo and was the sweetest most biddable typical lab his whole life. This decision was about safety and welfare of us and of Zazu.
I spent many years working in shelters and with marginal dogs; owned, surrendered, transported, strays, and of unknown origins. I have lived with and loved 3 marginal dogs as an adult. Boris bit a child during a particularly low time in my life where I was living in my parent’s basement and I was not home, it was a perfect storm; stressed and trigger stacked, small child running around upstairs, management failed (a gate was not secured). He had very few teeth, so the damage was not bad, but he charged with intent, I thought that was the end. Luckily it was just a wake up call and he was never again put into a situation where he felt the need to bite, he didn’t have to be near children. Sugar was shutdown when I first adopted her and as she settled in her behavior became, what I perceived as, aggressive; hackled up, growling, barking at every person dog, and sound. I was destroyed, heartbroken, and certain that if I returned her, and I was honest about her behavior she would be euthanized, so despite the tears and anxiety we worked through. I found an R+ trainer and I began to see true behavior change, Sugar is the reason I do what I do today. Through her 13+ years with me she was a “fighter not a biter” and though she’d power through meds and avoided certain handling, she never bit. Gilda, who is still with us, bit my neighbor, the fault was his, but it nearly broke me I didn’t want another biter, though I knew she was capable and she had gone after and injured Sugar and attacked other dogs previously. Our neighbor acknowledged his fault and it wasn’t an end of the world scenario or the end of life, but I acknowledge that in another situation and another home it wouldn’t likely be just one bite and our careful cultivation of her life has kept her from BE. Each of these dogs in a different household may have been euthanized, and those making those decisions wouldn’t have been wrong.
There is not a needle in a haystack home for every dog. Training works, management works, meds work, love helps, but management fails and not all problems are fixable, no matter the efforts made. I hold place for all those dogs who found comfort in me, those dogs I couldn’t “save” or take home…Sushi, Onyx, Gronk, FruitLoop, Elvira, Pinkie, and the list goes on. Decisions to behaviorally euthanize are made for safety, welfare, mental health, and necessity.
If you are wrestling or coping with your dog’s behavior and decisions on behavioral euthanasia contact myself, your trusted behavioral professional, or Losing Lulu.
Photo ID: red headed boy holding onto a large black and tan German shepherd who is nose to nose with a black lab puppy held by a young dark haired girl on a fold out couch.
