as the title above says – i had to take hero, my 8 year old mutt, to the vet today to have him put down.
this morning noah cried out in pain and pam and i went to find out what was up. we were told that hero had bitten noah. hero had jumped on the table and taken some of noah’s food (something hero never does – he will take food that has been left but never tries to take food from you). when noah reached for the food hero bite him, actually breaking the skin. i went to get hero and punish him by putting him in our bathroom by himself – dogs are pack animals and therefore hate solitary confinement. when i reached to get hero he bared his teeth, raised his hackles, and lunged for me. after lunging he growled at me and stayed like that for a second or two. up until the past year this would not have happened.
hero has been becoming more and more aggressive over the past year to two years. he has bitten me once and has bared his teeth at me or someone else a few times when he didn’t like something. this is just not normal for him. he has always been the sweetest dog. but over the past two years that sweetness has changed ever so slightly. our vet had even noticed this and mentioned that it may get worse as hero got older. our vet said that as shepherds reach the end of their lives (life expectancy is 10 to 11 years) shepherds get “grumpy” and it shows up in aggression. today that aggression showed up and i’m wasn’t sure that i could trust hero anymore.
i talked to our vet and he recommended putting hero down. i really didn’t want to but i’m not sure that i could live with myself if someone was hurt by hero. so i took him to the vet and said goodbye. i love that dog. he has been a very good dog albeit a dog that liked to run around the neighborhood. i’ve enjoyed most all of the time we have had with him. i just couldn’t chance someone getting hurt.
it’s basically been a lousy day.