16/09/2025
Behavioural euthanasia
This is something that I know is going to ruffle a few feathers and upset people but in the spirit of full transparency and hopefully some education, I am writing this post.
In the last 24 hours, I have had to make the difficult decision that euthanasia is the only ethical option for one of our dogs.
This dog is a beautiful, friendly, social, pedigree young girl, having not long turned 1 year old.
Her owners would have paid a fortune for her (a quick google search shows that their pups sell for between 4 and 5 thousand dollars). They would have thought that buying from a registered breeder would guarantee a healthy dog with a good temperament but sadly, that was not the case.
We were asked to take this dog on, knowing that she had “nipped” their 9 year old child twice in the last few months. We asked all the right questions and were told that the child’s skin had not been broken in either incident, both of which appeared to be caused by resource guarding.
We believed, with the information her family provided, that this was a dog we could help. We were happy to employ a dog trainer to help set her up for success and we were thrilled when a qualified trainer offered to take this dog into her home for a week and evaluate her.
She was picked up from us yesterday morning and transported to the trainer. Both the transporter and the trainer had nothing but high praises for the dog over the next few hours. She was just as described. Happy, social, friendly and loving. We were all so hopeful.
Last night, I received some disturbing messages from the trainer. Apparently, people had contacted her (not sure why they didn’t contact us directly but that would have been appreciated). There was so much more to this surrender than we were aware of. This dog was not the first in her litter to have aggression issues. All but one other pup from her litter had been euthanised for severe, unpredictable aggression. That changed everything.
I’m not talking about dogs who were dominant due to lack of training. I’m not talking about resource guarding. I am talking about dangerous, genetic reactivity that appears out of nowhere.
I received one graphic video of one of the siblings, totally unprovoked, attacking her owner. It is clear, this is not normal dog behaviour.
The trainer wanted to give our girl the benefit of the doubt, and, in her words, she was “really hoping that Dixie would be the shining star.” She asked to keep her for a few more days but I was hesitant. I have a legal and ethical obligation to keep humans and other pets safe and, in my understanding, with the new information provided, this dog was no longer a dog who would ever be a “safe” dog. Unfortunately, even with the best training, it was not a matter of IF the next incident would take place, but WHEN.
Despite asking to keep Dixie for a bit longer, this morning, just after 5:30am, the trainer contacted me to say that Dixie had attacked her dog and needed to go. Fortunately, her dog was not badly injured but it was just another sign that rehoming Dixie, even with the best strategies in place, was never going to be a safe or responsible option. Unfortunately, we have also now found out that Dixie’s owner “forgot” that she HAD actually broken the skin when biting her child. Not something most of us would “forget” but it certainly would have been a consideration when we agreed to take Dixie on.
This morning, the trainer took Dixie to the beach and then took her to the vet as we requested.
Dixie was gently and humanely euthanised.
Part of being an ethical rescue is keeping the community safe. I am sure that there are going to be people abusing us for euthanising a “healthy” dog but although there was nothing wrong with this dog physically, her brain was damaged. It is all well and good to sit on your soapbox and shout that I made the wrong decision but if we had turned a blind eye to this serious genetic fault and rehomed this dog, it would be too late once something happened. We have all seen on the news the children who have been bitten on the face or even killed, the elderly people walking their little dog and it has been attacked and killed on its leash, the people who think that it is only big ferocious dogs who are capable of inflicting serious injury or death. At almost 25kg, this dog could easily have caused some serious damage.
I am angry tonight. I am angry at a registered breeder who knew this was going on and turned away. I am angry at people who knew about this dog’s history and failed to contact our rescue so that we could be well informed. I am angry at the owner who “forgot” the seriousness of the bite this dog inflicted on her child, despite being specifically asked about it and I am angry that I have been forced to make this decision when it should never have been mine to make.
Tonight, I feel like a failure. I feel heartbroken and devastated. I created KPR to save lives and knowing that I could not save Dixie is breaking me apart.
However, I stand by my decision. It was the right decision to make. It was the only decision I could make and although extremely difficult, I made the choice to euthanise this dog because I could not ethically pass her on to anybody else. She was not safe.
Regardless of breed, a dangerous dog is a dangerous dog and although Dixie looked like the sort of dog every family aspires to have, she was probably even more dangerous because there was no real cause to her aggression. It could happen in an instant, even under the trained eye of an expert.
If this dog had been another breed (insert Staffy, Bull arab, GSD etc) and acted this way, there would be calls for the dog to be killed. There are dogs who are perceived, judged by their breed to be vicious and dangerous but the reality is that even the cutest, most expensive, pure breed dogs are potential risks. My job, as a responsible rescuer is to keep everyone safe.
Fly free over the Rainbow Bridge Dixie. I'm so sorry we couldn't save you.
Sam 💔
