Today My Dog was Put to Sleep.
My dog was a member of our family.
I am sad today because I did something that I have been putting off for a long time. I took my dog Mandy to be put down. She was 13 years old and has been a member of our family since she was 8 weeks old.
We got Mandy from a friend of a friend who’s son had bought her from a pet store (or that was the story). He was living with his mother in a condo that didn’t allow animals and so his mother made him give her away. So that’s how we got her. We had a dog named Gracie who had been hit by a car a couple months before and we had to put her down due to her injuries. So when we were offered another puppy how could I say no. After all she was a Jack Russell Terrier and she was so cute, my kids fell in love with her from the moment they saw her and so did I.
Over the years we had a lot of enjoyment having Mandy as a part of our family. But at some point she started to get aggressive with other animals and with little kids. We had to really watch her and make sure she didn’t get out of the house especially when my neighbors were walking their dog. If she got out she would go after the other dogs and it didn’t matter how big the other dog was even though Mandy never weighed more than 12 lbs. I just attributed the dog aggressive behavior to the fact that she was being protective of her family.
She also was very protective of my son William. It seemed that William was her person. If she was sitting on the couch with William and me or anyone else came up to the couch she would start growling at us. Or if she was sitting with me and someone else came up to us she would also growl at them. Again I just thought she was being protective.
One day I went into the kitchen and she started growling at me and she got really aggressive with me. It wasn’t for any reason except I told her to go lay down or something like that. She was so aggressive that I ran from the kitchen and locked her in there. I was afraid of her from that point on because I never knew when she was going to snap. I discussed her behavior with the vet and the vet said she was psychotic. I had to start putting a muzzel on her if I took her any where.
When my other son Allen and his wife moved in with us with their baby I was afraid to have Mandy but we all decided that we would make sure that when the baby was around we would put Mandy in the kitchen. My worst fear was that Mandy would attack the baby. Thank God that never happened.
We noticed lumps on her belly and found out she had cancer. The lumps kept getting bigger and so this is the reason we finally put her down. She was in pain and she had accidents at night. She would cry at night in her sleep. In the morning when I got up I would call her to let her out and she could hardly walk.
I was talking to the girl in the office and telling her about the behavior problems and the tumors and she asked me if she was bought at a pet store. She said that some pet stores get their puppies from puppy mills. That most puppy mill dogs are inbread for generations and that why they have the unpredictable behavior. I’m wondering if that was the reason for the behavior problems. Was she from a puppy mill and was she inbread. I don’t think I would ever get another dog if it came from a pet store.
I miss my Mandy. We called her Mandy pants…In spite of the agressive behavior we love her. She will forever be missed.
Deirdre Powell (Dee)
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