A woman has revealed that she put her boyfriend’s dog down without him knowing, then got kicked out of the house after he found out.
Sharing her experience on Reddit, the anonymous woman came at the whole thing from a humane side, saying that she absolutely loved the dog but that it was suffering too badly and had no quality of life.
It’s a sad fact of life that humans often outlive their beloved pets, but there does come a point in many special human/animal relationships where a tough decision has to be made.
On this occasion, the woman had noticed that the dog was suffering and decided to take the executive decision to put it down, but didn’t go as far as to tell her significant other.
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The 16-year-old dog had been through enough and – according to her – her boyfriend was ‘ignoring’ the problem.
She explained: "I loved this dog beyond words, let me make that absolutely clear.
"He was an absolute gift to the world and I loved him unconditionally.
"The dog was aged 16 and had countless medical problems – rotated front legs which prevented him from getting up, jumping up, being moved, just completely unable to walk, among other things.
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"This dog was in constant agony. Every time the dog tried to get up he would be screaming in pain. There's nothing the vets can do."
It sounds heartbreaking, and the vets told them that the best course of action would be to put the dog down.
So, she gathered the family – with one exception – so that they could say goodbye.
She continued: "I thought about it for a week and decided that I had to.
"This dog was suffering so much. The quality of life just wasn't there."
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"My boyfriend went out on Friday with some of his mates and I called him to let him know I was putting his dog down.
"I had his dog put down at home with his family.
"I was sick of watching my boyfriend dismiss the pain this dog was obviously in.
"He ignored vets telling him to get this dog put down because it was borderline abuse keeping him alive."
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After she told her boyfriend that the vets were coming around, he rushed back to the house but arrived tragically too late.
His girlfriend said: “I wish my boyfriend was there to say goodbye to his best friend, but he wouldn't have let me go through with it.
"He rushed home, saw his dead dog and packed up all my stuff.
“I've been living with my Dad for the last few days."
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So, she asked Reddit whether she’d done the right thing or not, and – unsurprisingly – the reaction was mixed.
One said: "He should have done something but you can't really just put down other people's pets when they go out for the night."
Another commented: "For the dog, I agree with your choice. I understand what it’s like to see an animal suffer, and making the choice to end that suffering is difficult and agonising, and takes a lot of love and compassion.
"However, you also robbed your boyfriend of any opportunity to make peace, get closure, or say goodbye."
That being said, one person supported her decision, writing: "You believed the dog was in unbearable suffering and you did the humane thing.
"That doesn't mean that your relationship will ever recover from this. I imagine you already knew that this decision was going to jeopardise your relationship with your boyfriend?"
It’s a toughie, that’s for sure.
Tom Wood