We put Utah down today. He would have been eight this winter. I posted about him in this
thread back in 2010. He had some sort of anxiety issue that would manifest itself as a split second of kill mode with devastating results. He broke that chihuahuas jaw which required costly veterinary treatment. He attacked him a time after that which fortunately caused no permanent damage. The jaw would break again under somewhat suspicious circumstances and we put Pepe to sleep a couple years ago.
During this previous behaviour, there were always some sort of extenuating circumstances. Something that was wrong or different and there was also the fact that Pepe was an aggressive chihuahua. There were no extenuating circumstances two weeks ago.
Utah attacked Mr. Fox E. (so named because everyone assumes Foxy is a girl name) with such power and force that one eye was desocketed and the optic nerve severed. A midnight trip to an emergency veterinary clinic and more than $2000 and the little guy is doing quite well. Mr. Fox E. adored Utah and was completely submissive when he sensed Utah's alter ego. We could not take this chance again.
Utah was also being treated for heartworm disease which was the primary reason I made no attempt to find him a new home. What a tough sell, "hey, here's a dog that you can't trust and will need several more treatments to not die from heartworms." We aren't really the sort to give away animals anyway. We dragged our pets all over the place, regardless where the military sent us.
Utah was a great dog for our boy. Steven could rough play with Utah and he could take it all. Utah never gave us cause for concern with our son. He also was a natural at catching whatever you threw and bringing it back to you. I always enjoyed playing with him in the backyard. I've been quite lazy lately but for a time we were enjoying long walks at night together. I took him on a short distance but slow walk last night. I took a seat at the local grade school and let him off the leash to run around. Years ago if he got out of the yard he was gone. In recent years, though, he became so good at staying close and returning when called.
Even though this is hard it does come with a sense of relief. Having to be vigilant the past couple weeks has been somewhat stressful and neighbor kids were understandably nervous around him. His issue seemed to be getting worse most likely fueled by the extra nervousness he sensed and the self fulfilling prophecy that he wound himself in. Despite this I did let the little guy spend some time with him yesterday.
https://goo.gl/photos/Av4rKN4xDQq3XCGr6
"I would rather claim to be an uneducated man than be mal-educated and claim to be otherwise." - Wookie 03:16