putting a dog down
Scooter,
Never an easy answer to this. My brother in-law had to put down a mastive(sic). A once big ol' friendly pup. He got mean, too big to handle. He bit his boy, similar situation. His kids were real young then too.
When I was a kid, my Dad was always shooting strays. He loved dogs but said he had no use for strays, couldn't trust them. He once had to put down one of our pets. He had been shot by someone else, Dad wouldn't let him suffer anymore.
I'll fess up, I've taken out a couple myself. I think the worst one, we had a pack running thru this neck of the woods. I'm not scared of alot of things but a pack of dogs, can be a problem. Anyway to make a long story short, I rounded the pack with my hand gun, took what I thought was a solid shot at the leader , he moved, took out a big golden retriever that was a neighborhood dog. I still feel bad about it to this day. That dog was nothing but a big goofy, friendly dog, he just got in with the wrong company.
Don't mull over it too hard. Things happen for a reason. We recently rescued a border collie mix that came to my wifes work. Give your kids a chance to grieve a little and then take them shopping for a new pet. Kids can recover, most of us did! Sometimes animals are just bad, like people. Ask me about horses sometime. I've got a horror story or two to tell!
Robert Swartz