little_joe
SILVER Star
This past Saturday, I had to put down a physically healthy, awesome little dog - our Rudy.
Rudy was found running down a country road 7 years ago this month. He was likely a year old at the time, so mostly full grown - yet he weighed only 18 lbs. He also had scars and health issues; health issues likely due to neglect/malnourishment.
The fellow who found him happened to be a breeder (of another breed), and he got him checked out, updated on everything, and on a good diet. Rudy then went to a foster home.
When I met him June 2009, Rudy was up to 33 lbs, full of life and incredibly energetic and active - just an awesome little dude. We introduced him to our other rescue at a neutral site, things went well, so we adopted him.
The past 6 years 8 months, we loved this little lunkhead every day. He got plenty of attention, slept on our bed with us, was in excellent health and ultimately filled out to 44 lbs, he was just an awesome little companion. He was my shadow: when I was home, he was always at my side.
However, it appears that first year of life wired him differently. He was on guard 24x7 (literally), had terrible dog aggression, went nuts at motorcycles and bicyclists, severe separation anxiety, terrified of loud sounds (thunder and fireworks). Taking him anywhere was unbelievably difficult.
Over the years, we tried training, in home and at neutral sites - we were asked to leave one class, and the in-home trainer gave up. We took him to a behaviorist at the NC State Vet School, and her conclusion was tolerate it or put him down. Medication didn't help: in fact, one vivid memory I have is giving him a triple dose of a sedative prior to a road trip, and having gotten turned around due to terrible storms, I stopped at a buddy's house and Rudy tried to kill all 3 of my friend's pits (55, 65, and 80 lb dogs).
He attacked our other dog, Jacob, a few times over the years - seemingly at random. In addition, if we ever met an unleashed dog while out for a walk, invariably that dog would approach and Rudy would tear into him.
Things got to the point we really couldn't take him hardly anywhere. His domain was limited to our home and fenced yard. Thankfully he was awesome with people, never an issue.
Regardless, we kept trying with him: continued with training and practicing at home; being extraordinarily careful when taking him out usually to locations where we'd likely not run into people or dogs; whatever we could do to accomodate him. We also sought out refuges and reputable rescues/programs, but every place turned us down.
I suffered physical injuries due to his behavior and strength just trying to walk him. And I'm not really little.
Last Friday, both of our dogs got out of the yard. 5 children were nearby playing with their young dog, and Rudy made a bee-line toward them and attacked their dog. Obviously this induced hysteria among the children, and it took some effort to separate the dogs. Rudy had a few cuts, but the other dog was worse off: aside from superficial wounds, one of her front legs was torn up pretty good. Again, though, he did not touch a human/child. (Our other dog, Jacob, followed him and was licking the kids.)
It was at that point I made the decision to put him down. This was the hardest thing I've had to do with a dog: he was healthy, loving, playful, but not right. For many, this is probably passe or overly dramatic, but we are truly "dog people" and think of them as our children (since we never had kids) so doing this was absolutely awful.
If you read this far, I apologize for the length of this.
Rudy, we love you, we miss you, we tried. I truly am sorry we did not succeed. In these years, we sought help, tried everything we could and what was recommended to us; we took care of you every single day, we never went to sleep angry at you but rather called for you to come to bed with us, and spoiled you. You were loved, you are missed.
Rest easy, please, little buddy. We'll be together again.
Rudy was found running down a country road 7 years ago this month. He was likely a year old at the time, so mostly full grown - yet he weighed only 18 lbs. He also had scars and health issues; health issues likely due to neglect/malnourishment.
The fellow who found him happened to be a breeder (of another breed), and he got him checked out, updated on everything, and on a good diet. Rudy then went to a foster home.
When I met him June 2009, Rudy was up to 33 lbs, full of life and incredibly energetic and active - just an awesome little dude. We introduced him to our other rescue at a neutral site, things went well, so we adopted him.
The past 6 years 8 months, we loved this little lunkhead every day. He got plenty of attention, slept on our bed with us, was in excellent health and ultimately filled out to 44 lbs, he was just an awesome little companion. He was my shadow: when I was home, he was always at my side.
However, it appears that first year of life wired him differently. He was on guard 24x7 (literally), had terrible dog aggression, went nuts at motorcycles and bicyclists, severe separation anxiety, terrified of loud sounds (thunder and fireworks). Taking him anywhere was unbelievably difficult.
Over the years, we tried training, in home and at neutral sites - we were asked to leave one class, and the in-home trainer gave up. We took him to a behaviorist at the NC State Vet School, and her conclusion was tolerate it or put him down. Medication didn't help: in fact, one vivid memory I have is giving him a triple dose of a sedative prior to a road trip, and having gotten turned around due to terrible storms, I stopped at a buddy's house and Rudy tried to kill all 3 of my friend's pits (55, 65, and 80 lb dogs).
He attacked our other dog, Jacob, a few times over the years - seemingly at random. In addition, if we ever met an unleashed dog while out for a walk, invariably that dog would approach and Rudy would tear into him.
Things got to the point we really couldn't take him hardly anywhere. His domain was limited to our home and fenced yard. Thankfully he was awesome with people, never an issue.
Regardless, we kept trying with him: continued with training and practicing at home; being extraordinarily careful when taking him out usually to locations where we'd likely not run into people or dogs; whatever we could do to accomodate him. We also sought out refuges and reputable rescues/programs, but every place turned us down.
I suffered physical injuries due to his behavior and strength just trying to walk him. And I'm not really little.
Last Friday, both of our dogs got out of the yard. 5 children were nearby playing with their young dog, and Rudy made a bee-line toward them and attacked their dog. Obviously this induced hysteria among the children, and it took some effort to separate the dogs. Rudy had a few cuts, but the other dog was worse off: aside from superficial wounds, one of her front legs was torn up pretty good. Again, though, he did not touch a human/child. (Our other dog, Jacob, followed him and was licking the kids.)
It was at that point I made the decision to put him down. This was the hardest thing I've had to do with a dog: he was healthy, loving, playful, but not right. For many, this is probably passe or overly dramatic, but we are truly "dog people" and think of them as our children (since we never had kids) so doing this was absolutely awful.
If you read this far, I apologize for the length of this.
Rudy, we love you, we miss you, we tried. I truly am sorry we did not succeed. In these years, we sought help, tried everything we could and what was recommended to us; we took care of you every single day, we never went to sleep angry at you but rather called for you to come to bed with us, and spoiled you. You were loved, you are missed.
Rest easy, please, little buddy. We'll be together again.
