Pet Patients A tragic twist to a sweet story of one dog lost and found…and lost again

This client had been calling me monthly for the last three or four months, trying desperately to place the Soft-Coated Wheaton he’d saved from the side of the road in suburban Miami just last year.

When they found him he was about a year old, skinny, matted and unneutered. No microchip. No tag. Newspaper announcements and fliers went unanswered or unnoticed.

Then the kids fell in love with him. It was a great story of compassion and falling in love I’m lucky to see repeated over and over again by my warm-hearted clients.

“Lucky” (what else?) was sweet as pie. We neutered him back then. He was a delight in the household, trained and even-keeled. Then one day a few months back he snapped—literally—at a ten year-old friend of one of the kids.

A trainer was hired. And Lucky seemed to be doing great—until another kid almost got his hand bitten off. Lawyers were discussed in the wake of the event.

The parents were worried. They were scared that no matter how hard they tried to confine him or keep him away from children, Lucky might one day seriously hurt another child. They needed to place him.

I suggested PetFinder. No takers—just creepy emails according to his owners. We tried Wheaton rescues and several no-kill shelters. None would take him when the owners responsibly announced Lucky’s problem to each potential agency. No child-biters allowed. And I can understand that.

Then last week Lucky had another close call. An almost-too-late intervention kept the wandering child from harm after Lucky got out of his “safe place” amid the holiday confusion.

The time had come to make a decision and it wasn’t an easy one. We euthanized him, rubbing his belly as we did so (his favorite thing). After crying a bucket of tears, we bagged him and put him in the freezer we reserve for cremation pickups.

Next up: a litter of healthy mutts found by the roadside in the rural Miami environs. As the world turns...

January 6th, 2008

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Sniff.

Dubin January 6th, 2008 02:07:00 PM

Heartbreaking best describes the inevitable euthanasia of a canine "biter" that is physically well and young.A sad task that every rescue group and humane society has to face and carry out.
Lucky's "adoptive" family did what they could for him: provided a good home, compassion, and surrounded him at a merciful end. It is my belief that no dog purposely wants to bite and some element of suffering causes it to do so.

Barbara A. Albright January 6th, 2008 02:42:00 PM

:-(

Larry January 6th, 2008 02:42:00 PM

This is the saddest thing. I used to place "biters" with adults only after having them assessed. Then one day of the "adults" called to say their grandchildren were coming for the holidays (You have grandchildren!) as would I take him. argg Then I started to worry about all the dogs I placed that had a potential bite. Would they one day hurt a child? How could I live with myself if that happened?
When someone calls our rescue with a biter- i send them back to their veterinarian for a medical assessment. Is there a thyroid issue? a seizure issue? a pain issue? and if they can afford it a behavioral assessment -if not i try to find one of my friends out there that I can beg.
After all that if we all agree this dog may hurt someone badly down the road we will agree to euthanize. It a terrible horrible hard decision I think for pet owners, veterinarians and rescue alike.

cyndi January 6th, 2008 03:00:00 PM

Pretty much the same thing happened to us last summer. We rescued a stray and had her for several years.She was very sweet with us, her human family, but disliked everyone else. Nola weighed about 50 pounds; our other two dogs were twice her size. She would snap for no reason that I could fathom. She injured my Doberman and my weimeraner several times, and also bit two, (almost three), visitors to my house.Thankfully, the wounds were not bad.My other dogs were terrified of her. I took her for training and thought she was better. Then one evening in August, she grabbed the weim by the face and wouldn't let go. My husband kept popping her in the head to try to get her to let loose. I grabbed her and pried her mouth off my other dog. The attacked dog lost a big hunk of her face and had to have stitches and her tear duct worked on; you could see the bone. Three days later, we had Nola euthanized. Still broke my heart.

Donna January 6th, 2008 06:33:00 PM

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