helpistruth
New member
We are putting our beloved Sprocker Spaniel, Otis down tomorrow. I wanted (needed) to share the reasons why here to make sure we weren't doing something that we'll regret forever.
Background info
We're first time owners and chose a breed that could handle long hikes. We bought from a reputable breeder at 8 weeks old during lockdown (he's now nearly 3). He was always different versus the rest of the litter from the videos the breeder sent, e.g., he'd be running around with crazy energy when the others were cuddling - perhaps this should've been a yellow flag but we were enamoured by him.
In our 3 years, there were usually two sides to him; (i) when we were at home as a family and he was (relatively) calm and just wanted to be cuddled and loved, and (ii) when we'd be outdoors or have someone round and he'd be super on edge and unpredictable. He'd be a joy (albeit hardwork) 95% of the time, but the 5% of reactivity and ultimately aggressive tendancies, is why we've made the tough decision for BE.
Behavioural issues
Social issues started fairly early on - he went through a short phase of hiding in the house, before eventually opening himself to us. Otis never really relaxes. Even at home he seldom goes and sleeps or just lies down - he's always pacing around, following you as if he's going to miss out on something. We find this cute but in reality he wasn't getting as much rest / sleep as he needed, so we'd need to do occasional forced naps otherwise he'd get grouchy.
Whenever we went on walks, we had to be so careful with him being close to other dogs or people; he would often lunge at them, sometimes biting them. We attributed this to a lack of socialisation during the lockdowns and we worked on this with trainers.
He developed a real resource guarding issue; we have no idea where this came from, but he would growl and lunge if you dared to take the item off of him, sometimes ending in biting. We eventually improved this but it would be a real effort to tempt him with other prized treats.
Physical issues
As Otis went through his 'teen' years and grew, we noticed he developed advanced 'Queen Anne' legs in his front two legs (hopefully this translates outside the UK). His left one especially was over 90 degrees from where it should be. He seldom exhibited pain to us, but he would occasionally cockle over / miss a step on that front-left paw, and sometimes he'd be seen limping on it.
We took him to a specialist vet and then multiple surgeons who confirmed that he's suffering from intense arthiritis because of this condition. There's an operation available but it's not guaranteed to solve the issue, and would be a very serious op which hasn't been done on front legs in the UK before so there was a risk it goes wrong. They recommended strong painkillers instead for now, until the pain becomes much more obvious and surgery is 100% required.
Biting
I'd estimate that he's bitten (i) my family over 10 times (to varying degrees, but definitely a lot have punctured skin), (ii) strangers ~5 times, and (iii) other dogs ~5 times. I think with these numbers alone, a lot of owners would have put him down, but we always rationalised it because there seemed to be a reason for his biting. For example, somebody trying to grab a sock or ball out his mouth when he's resource guarding - he'd growl first to warn you, and then bite if you continued. Or perhaps another dog getting right in his face when he was anxious.
That said, his last few bites have become a lot more unpredictable, with no obvious reason why he's doing it. We've speculated on why this is, e.g., maybe his legs are really hurting him now. But at the end of the day, even we as owners who care for him greatly sometimes feel unsafe around him because of the unpredictable nature. The thing which breaks our heart, is that even if he bites you, within seconds he looks sorry for doing it and just wants to cuddle you.
His latest biting episode was this weekend whilst he was staying with a family friend who's trained in Spaniels. Our dog bit her husband and she (again) said it was completely unpredictable and for no real reason. She's been training dogs for 25 years and said she couldn't take him back due to the risk of him biting other clients' dogs - this is the 3rd dog daycare to turn him away for biting. She knew all of this going into it and adjusted her training / care accordingly to minimise his risk with other dogs. She recommended going to the vet again to assess our options.
The vet advised that he thinks it's time for BE given all of the data I've shared here. The fact he's become unpredictable (despite being such a good boy 95% of the time) means he's a huge accident waiting to happen - there's no way he could be rehomed because of this.
We've invested so much time, emotion, and money on helping him with trainers and behaviourists, vets, surgeons, and even a nutritionist - whilst small improvements were made, he still has this edge to him making him unpredictable. I think deep down we know this is the right thing, and we hope we're putting him out of pain (as well as looking out for the general public), but we can't stop thinking did we do something wrong?
I'm sorry for the essay, but I needed to get my thoughts out somewhere.
Tomorrow will be a day we never forget as a family; but we will also make sure to remember all of the joyous memories he gave us too. Otis
Background info
We're first time owners and chose a breed that could handle long hikes. We bought from a reputable breeder at 8 weeks old during lockdown (he's now nearly 3). He was always different versus the rest of the litter from the videos the breeder sent, e.g., he'd be running around with crazy energy when the others were cuddling - perhaps this should've been a yellow flag but we were enamoured by him.
In our 3 years, there were usually two sides to him; (i) when we were at home as a family and he was (relatively) calm and just wanted to be cuddled and loved, and (ii) when we'd be outdoors or have someone round and he'd be super on edge and unpredictable. He'd be a joy (albeit hardwork) 95% of the time, but the 5% of reactivity and ultimately aggressive tendancies, is why we've made the tough decision for BE.
Behavioural issues
Social issues started fairly early on - he went through a short phase of hiding in the house, before eventually opening himself to us. Otis never really relaxes. Even at home he seldom goes and sleeps or just lies down - he's always pacing around, following you as if he's going to miss out on something. We find this cute but in reality he wasn't getting as much rest / sleep as he needed, so we'd need to do occasional forced naps otherwise he'd get grouchy.
Whenever we went on walks, we had to be so careful with him being close to other dogs or people; he would often lunge at them, sometimes biting them. We attributed this to a lack of socialisation during the lockdowns and we worked on this with trainers.
He developed a real resource guarding issue; we have no idea where this came from, but he would growl and lunge if you dared to take the item off of him, sometimes ending in biting. We eventually improved this but it would be a real effort to tempt him with other prized treats.
Physical issues
As Otis went through his 'teen' years and grew, we noticed he developed advanced 'Queen Anne' legs in his front two legs (hopefully this translates outside the UK). His left one especially was over 90 degrees from where it should be. He seldom exhibited pain to us, but he would occasionally cockle over / miss a step on that front-left paw, and sometimes he'd be seen limping on it.
We took him to a specialist vet and then multiple surgeons who confirmed that he's suffering from intense arthiritis because of this condition. There's an operation available but it's not guaranteed to solve the issue, and would be a very serious op which hasn't been done on front legs in the UK before so there was a risk it goes wrong. They recommended strong painkillers instead for now, until the pain becomes much more obvious and surgery is 100% required.
Biting
I'd estimate that he's bitten (i) my family over 10 times (to varying degrees, but definitely a lot have punctured skin), (ii) strangers ~5 times, and (iii) other dogs ~5 times. I think with these numbers alone, a lot of owners would have put him down, but we always rationalised it because there seemed to be a reason for his biting. For example, somebody trying to grab a sock or ball out his mouth when he's resource guarding - he'd growl first to warn you, and then bite if you continued. Or perhaps another dog getting right in his face when he was anxious.
That said, his last few bites have become a lot more unpredictable, with no obvious reason why he's doing it. We've speculated on why this is, e.g., maybe his legs are really hurting him now. But at the end of the day, even we as owners who care for him greatly sometimes feel unsafe around him because of the unpredictable nature. The thing which breaks our heart, is that even if he bites you, within seconds he looks sorry for doing it and just wants to cuddle you.
His latest biting episode was this weekend whilst he was staying with a family friend who's trained in Spaniels. Our dog bit her husband and she (again) said it was completely unpredictable and for no real reason. She's been training dogs for 25 years and said she couldn't take him back due to the risk of him biting other clients' dogs - this is the 3rd dog daycare to turn him away for biting. She knew all of this going into it and adjusted her training / care accordingly to minimise his risk with other dogs. She recommended going to the vet again to assess our options.
The vet advised that he thinks it's time for BE given all of the data I've shared here. The fact he's become unpredictable (despite being such a good boy 95% of the time) means he's a huge accident waiting to happen - there's no way he could be rehomed because of this.
We've invested so much time, emotion, and money on helping him with trainers and behaviourists, vets, surgeons, and even a nutritionist - whilst small improvements were made, he still has this edge to him making him unpredictable. I think deep down we know this is the right thing, and we hope we're putting him out of pain (as well as looking out for the general public), but we can't stop thinking did we do something wrong?
I'm sorry for the essay, but I needed to get my thoughts out somewhere.
Tomorrow will be a day we never forget as a family; but we will also make sure to remember all of the joyous memories he gave us too. Otis
We did it today and it went as all as something like this can do. Hope Friday is similar for you.