Should I feel bad?

01:00 AM

Okay this is not a Lost topic but, I realy need to vent. As some of you may know I am a K-9 trainer, I go to the person's house and deal with them one on one.
My last client called me as a last ditch effort to save her dog from being put down. I knew it was a long shot going in but, after several weeks of working with him it was clear he was dangerous and was not geting better. He bit several people and was put down this week.
Not only do I feel bad that I couldn't help this dog, I feel bad that I still got paid. I love my job. I know this is a part of it, but it still SUCKS!

You did your job. And a very respectable occupation it is. We cannot save them all, whether they are a human or dog. You tried and that is more than commendable.

Over this weekend I met a dog who was abused by it's former owners, the family that I met than saved him (the dog) from a shelter, Koia (the name of the dog) now meets atleast a 100 new people each week. The family owns a comercial cave tour and lodge company. Seeing the dog you would not think that he had such a tragic past.

The only relevance this story has is, there are many lives who are saved by good people who care. From what I heard you say, you care.

Good for you!

Thanks for the kind words. I try. I know I'm not the only one out there doing as much as we can to help. Your story made me smile

See. I have saved almost 75 animals in my life and have met some wonderful people. That includes you. I geuss I just need to remember I can't save them all.

We had a chow that had to be put down. His name was snookums, and it bit anyone it came into contact with besides the 4 of us in the direct family. (Me, my brother, my sister, and my mother) It was abused by everyone of my mom's alcoholic boyfriends and by neighborhood kids, there was nothing I could do to stop it, if I told them to leave our dog alone, i'd get hit (by the boyfriends, or the neighborhood kids) After biting one of our nice neighbors, we were told to put him down or else. So, we had to have him executed. I have all kinds of sad pet stories, haha.... Actually, just about every pet we've owned except one has either died or come close. It's really sad this dog had to be put down, but if he was that bad of an endangerment, then I think there wasn't much you could do, because like a lot of humans, dogs have problems with trust issues, sometimes it's hard to get through to them. I mean, it's not like with a human where you can just have it lay on a couch and it can talk about it's rough past and you can find a happy middleground. I'm sure you tried, like you said, but I wouldn't let this one dog get you down, there's a whole world of dogs out there that need help, and i'm sure 75 will turn into a much larger number by the time you are done.

Kyle

I feel like I have freinds on this site. I wasn't sure if I should post something like this but, now I'm glad I did. I'm sorry to hear about your dog but, bravo for standing up to them. That is not an easy thing to do. Sadly that is one thing I see to often. I have told so many people If you beat your dog don't be shocked when he bites.

I"m glad there are people like you out there..Do remember,dogs are like humans,in that some are insane..there is nothing you can do for them.You did your very best,but you cannot save them all,dog or human. I had a geneneticly shy Pyrenese mix..did everything I could,but if she saw another human,her jaw would lock,she'd freez in place and just drool and shake..I'd make her go thro the few commands she had (sit,heel,down)and as she had room in her mind for only one thing at a time,it seemed to help..also keeping her behind the house,behind some bushes so she could hide.After 14 years of work,she could eat in frount of me,as long as I didn't move..Her half brother was normal..sweet dog

I know what that is like. We had a yorkie who thought the world was out to get him. I worked with him for what felt like forever making small progress each week. He never compleatly recovered but that is the problem with fearful dogs. It's the hardest thing to treat and most experts will tell you the dog my never truly be okay. Dodger (the yorkie) lived to be 19. He slowly lost his sight and hearing before we had to put him down. In the end he was a fairly happy old man, still dealing with his issues. It makes me feel worlds better knowing that there are so many good people out there who care.

Dont feel bad. It was not your fault. You did your job and you deserved to get paid no matter what happened really. You spent your time there, so it's your money.

Plus if the dog was really dangerous, it's better this way. I dont like hearing about animals killing people on the news anymore. It happens ALL the time in the DC area where I live and it's quite sad.

Also i'd like to add.. you can only blame the people that made this dog so agressive.. i remember some dog expert saying that dogs are not naturally agressive but are made agressive by the owners.. therefore the owners should always deal with the consiquence.

I dont know about this perticular case.. but anyhow.. dont feel bad.

Thank you all! I love hearing back from you. I am soooooo glad I found this forum. BIG HUG!