As the co-founder of an animal rescue, I am disgusted by stories like this. You knew they were going to put her down and you surrendered her anyway. I can’t believe you had the nerve to write this story and actually publish it. “…because our six-month ordeal was finally over.” How selfish!
This poor pup. She ended up with the wrong people for her. It wasn’t her fault you weren’t the right family for her. Your article sounds like you’re trying to find some sort of justification for killing a dog and that you’re the victim here. You’re not. No matter how you slice it, you handed the leash over knowing what would happen. Period.
I am glad you have a perfect dog now, or he too would have been subject to being dragged to the euthansia room by a catch pole, absolutely terrified, and at the wrong end of the needle. You could have at least had the decency to take her to your vet so she could be surrounded by people she knew and trusted. She deserved to have had a more dignified death and not die alone.
One hour with a behaviorist was a very weak attempt to address some very deep seeded issues. Kona needed intense training that could take weeks or even months to address, not just an hour with someone who told you how to introduce her to people. smh.
And while this sounds more like a criticism, and it is, I am well aware that you were likely uneducated and uninformed with it comes to certain behavior issues and the type of training that is required. People think they can just call some nice little “behaviorist” and in an hour their dog will be “fixed”. I understand that ignorance. And sadly, many of these so-called behaviorists and trainers sell people that crap. If this behaviorist was worth a damn, she would have recognized the deeper level of training Kona needed and recommended a REAL trainer. Seems like you knew this too with “the many layers of Kona’s issues,” yet you didn’t do more about it.
If training wasn’t in your budget , then you shouldn’t have gotten a dog in the first place. What’s going to happen if (and likely when) your current dog has some sort of major medical issue that costs a fortune? Dogs aren’t cheap, especially when they get older. Are you going to cheap out and half ass it like you did when it came to Kona’s training, or take him to the shelter and have him euthanized too because you can’t afford the care, or it becomes an “ordeal”?
I am also ashamed of the rescues you contacted. I understand that they can’t always take a dog in. Personally for us, we are foster based, so unless we have a dedicated and capable foster available, we cannot take in an owner surrender when thousands are put to sleep in our shelters every day. We do however, work VERY closely with owners to help with retention, training, and provide financial assistance if we can. And, we have no qualms taking in and rehabilitating dogs with aggression and fear issues (we’ve rescued countless pit bulls from dog fighting as well as a number with major aggression and fear issues that far exceeded Kona’s). Animal rescues need to stand by their mission and not cherry pick. That’s not real rescue to me.
As terse as this note is, I also hope it serves as a lesson as to what happens when dogs are euthanized in our shelters; when it comes to rehabilitation, home integration, and knowing what it means to have the right dog for the the right family so the next person makes a different decision and takes more appropriate action — even if that action means walking away and not adopting the dog in the first place.
