The worst has happened.

OP I am so sorry to hear about the dog. It's a really tough situation to be in and I am sure your parents did the best they could.

For what it's worth Dizzy once got through a gap in the fence and was found chasing sheep next door with one dead sheep in the field. Luckily the farmer was very understanding, we were very apologetic, paid for the sheep and he came over to meet Dizzy and agreed that he did not seem like an aggressive dog. Before the incident he could be walked loose in a field of sheep without batting an eye-lid, he had sheep in the fields all around our garden and never looked at them, etc...after the incident he was completely the same, totally disinterested in sheep. I have no idea what happened that day, of course we were extremely apologetic to the farmer and keen to pay whatever compensation he required, but I do not think the dog needed to be put to sleep because of it.
 
I think it's a shame the dog wasn't given a chance, sounds like your parents had made their decision already and anything you tried to do wouldn't have changed that. Very sad.
 
suzysparkle said:
So, have you read the post about dogs in free ads ending up as bait dogs for fights then? What has happened here has happened and giving the OP a hard time about it is totally wrong. The dog has not suffered in any way other than previously before she came to their family.
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Yes I have and I don't think I gave the OP a hard time, she even said she agreed with me. I have just sent her a message to apologise though, especially as after what she's been through I shouldn't have said what I did.
 
Condolences to you and your parents but I think they made 100% the right decision. Whether or not she would have done it again came out of the equation once they had decided that they would have to rehome her and given that she had a very unsettled life until she came to them then that could have been the undoing of her completely. Much better a week too soon than a day too late...I believe this applies to a dog's mental wellbeing more than anything.
 
So sorry that it ended like this, but it was a very brave and responsible thing for your parents to do.
its all too easy to give a dog away to someone else when it has issues, its much harder to do what they did.

hope you are okay. x
 
So Sorry it ended like that. It was not your dog or your choice to make so dont beat yourself up about it. In the circumstances it sounds like it was the best thing for the dog. At least she had a cople of years of a nice home. Shes out of all her problems now.
 
I won't say I agree with the decision that was made here and I think I would have had to have fought harder BUT I can totally understand why they decided to have her PTS and I really feel for them as I could not do it myself and was inconsolable when our dog had to be PTS after being horrifically injured when she was hit by a car. She was an escapee too (although never to our knowledge attacked sheep/livestock) but sadly because of her nature that is how her life ended. It pains me to think of how she suffered although at least was pain free at the end.

At least in this case the dog was saved from being shot/wounded or hit by a car as a result of her nature of escaping.

A friend of mine had her two dogs (retriever and a terrier) PTS several years ago as they killed and ate some of the farmer's sheep. Was a real shock as they'd never done it before and had bene round sheep and other animals for years. Just goes to show even the most well trained and sheep-socialised dogs can be unpredictable.
 
Sorry it didn't end up the way you had hoped and actually full marks for your parents taking responsibility. As for the rights and wrongs/could she have been rehomed.. as Cayla said earlier, rescues are heaving with dogs and dogs that are "older", or have some "history" are near impossible to rehome. Could she have been retrained? possibly. Could she have found another home, not that likely.

I see a lot of posts on FB pleading for young dogs to get out of of pounds who are on their last alloted day (only 7 days in a pound). Nothing wrong with these dogs. People get steamed up about trying to save them... and then you see the rescues later asking people to please rehome dogs that ARE in rescue and not just offer a (human) knee jerk reaction to the ones immediately at risk.

Mine stay on leads near sheep regardless. We did try "sheep testing" with the older bitch by introducing her to a very OTT Ram, that seemed to work but when I took her next to a field with sheep (not pregant I add), she was way too interested so thats as far as that experiement went.
 
equestrianabbie said:
As I said to the OP, I didn't expect it to come across as horrible as it did and I felt terrible once it was pointed out to me. The least I could do was apologise.
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And it was a really nice apology which I was touched by. She didn't have to apologise, if you post your controversial decisions on an open forum you have to expect that not everyone will agree with you! I think it's time to move on.

Thank you all for the support and the lovely messages. I have shown them to mum and dad (although not the bit about them being old) and they too are touched and reassured that they have not done such a terrible thing.

I have just taken my mother-in-law's dizzy flatcoats out for a run. Maddy would normally have been there too and she was missed.
Please all give your dogs an extra bit of affection tonight, in Maddy's memory.
 
I wasn't going to type this, but I will now - the dog I was talking about earlier, who was shot?
He didn't kill her, he didn't have the decency to finish her off.
She made her way home. Her owner found her on the doorstep, still alive.
THAT is appalling and a fate Maddy will never know, thank God.
 
Oh good grief CC, that's made me cry like an idiot. How could someone do such a thing. What a complete and utter b@£*&*d.

Don't get me wrong, as a livestock owner I support the law that allows farmers to put an end to an out of control dog, but I do think they need to actually be worrying/attacking the livestock, not just walking through the field. However, if you decide to go down this route then at least do the job properly, otherwise it's just barbaric.
 
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