Dog owners consider euthanasia due to behavioral issues
10 posts across 4 communities in the last 30 days; 70% from r/reactivedogs.
“Hi! I am in Houston Texas and trying to find a place to put down my aggressive reactive dog. It has just become to much and have had both of our trainers suggest this. I even had a family member pull me aside and suggest this because of the mental toll it’s had on me. I have…”
“Hello, our dog is a male pitbull/boxer mix who is a year and a half old. We’ve had him about a year now and we got him from our local shelter at around 7 months old. At first he didn’t show any signs of any behavior issues but within the first few days of having him he started…”
“If you are having to consider the impossible decision if BE, or have in the past, I highly recommend watching this video. It is like he is in my house, listening to the conversations my husband and I have had for years. This isn't my video, it's from a vet behaviorist in my area…”
Several dog owners are exploring the difficult option of behavioral euthanasia for their dogs. They've consulted with trainers and behaviorists, but feel overwhelmed by the severity of the problem and lack a clear path forward.
SOURCES (19)
“Hello all, hope everyone is doing well. I have a four year old border collie named Fen. He has been with me since 8 weeks old. He had always been an anxious dog, very cautious around strangers, and terrified in new environments. I socialized him…”
“I have 3 highly sensitive kids (9M, 6F, 5F). I rescued a puppy off the highway a little over a year ago, who turned out to be mostly pitbull (and fear-reactive). This dog was immediately very beloved by my entire family - amazing with the kids, very bonded with my other dog, and a great dog overall, except for the stranger reactivity. I spent thousands training her, and she was doing very well until last month, when a culmination of unfortunate circumstances occurred, and she badly bit a neighbo”
“I’m writing this through tears and running on pure exhaustion. On Friday, our 4 year rescue, Kane, had a severe, sudden aggression trigger that resulted in him attacking our rescue dog Bella, leaving her severely injured with stiches, and my wife getting badly hurt while trying to protect her. Because of the severity of the attack and the immediate safety risk to my family and our other dogs, we have had to make the agonizing decision to proceed with behavioral euthanasia on Monday. I am carryin”
“Hi! I am in Houston Texas and trying to find a place to put down my aggressive reactive dog. It has just become to much and have had both of our trainers suggest this. I even had a family member pull me aside and suggest this because of the mental toll it’s had on me. I have emailed numerous places and have either been told they cannot with a behavioral dog or not responded. So if anyone can suggest some in Houston or I’ll even drive to Austin. My dog is aggressive to men so finding women has al”
“sooo I have a question that's probably above your pay grade. trigger warning : discussion of behavioral euthanasia I have an 11yo cocker Artie whom we rescued in 2017 and who's been with us through thick and thin. he's been alive for my kid's whole life. they're not SUPER close, but they're "buddies". my kid is an only child so he kinda sees him as a sibling of sorts. Artie is reactive. over the course of his life he's bitten multiple people, never seriously”
“I don't really know what I'm looking for here other than maybe someone seeing something I'm not, or hearing from people who have been in a similar situation. We have a dog, Kona, who is almost 5. I love the absolute crap out of this dog, which is probably what makes this so hard. She came to us from Texas when she was around 18 months old. As far as we were told, she had been raised by a family from puppyhood, went to kids' softball games, was around people, etc. Her owner was se”
“I’ve had my dog Delilah since she was 6-8 months old, I got her from an animal shelter in Jacksonville FL back in 2016, she’s going on 11 years old now. Over the years she has had multiple attacks on other dogs and cats, she has attacked three dogs and killed my wife’s dog years ago when we first started dating despite slowly letting them get to know each other etc. She killed a stray cat that got into our backyard last year and a few days ago got through the fence and attacked one of our cats s”
“Hello, our dog is a male pitbull/boxer mix who is a year and a half old. We’ve had him about a year now and we got him from our local shelter at around 7 months old. At first he didn’t show any signs of any behavior issues but within the first few days of having him he started to show his true personality, food aggression, resource guarding, etc. (which can be decently managed) but he developed a habit of lashing out at random and with almost no warning which is the big problem. At the moment he”
“If you are having to consider the impossible decision if BE, or have in the past, I highly recommend watching this video. It is like he is in my house, listening to the conversations my husband and I have had for years. This isn't my video, it's from a vet behaviorist in my area who I have worked with on my difficult dog. Not promoting anything/anyone, I just think it's a really insightful, compassionate professional opinion. To anyone who relates, I am so sorry that we share this re”
“Some backstory - I’m fostering this pup who was found in near-fatal condition back in July. He’s still recovering and all signs are pointing to a wonderful medical recovery for him. He’s getting lots of love and attention to get him ready for adoption (I may just adopt myself as I’m head over heels for him, just waiting to see how he interacts with my other shepherd as he continues to show more personality through his recovery). Anyways, he had to be living on the streets for a while. He came in”
“I know it’s time but I hate feeling like I’m robbing him of weeks/months of additional life. What do you think? This is what I notice behaviorally out of my dog: Frequent accidents, sleeps most of the day, he gets lost in the house, hearing is bad, gets stuck when laying down and can’t get up without assistance, and has lost weight/muscle. This is what is medically confirmed: Heart murmur, glaucoma, and weight loss. So what “good” is happening? He loves to eat, barks at squirrels, runs around th”
“A long post so buckle in, I’m struggling as I write this but tonight my husband and I had another attack from our 4 year old, 30 pound corgi. I’ll explain in further detail the specifics of this evening but I want to first give context to everything we have tried and been through with her She never had behavioral issues until she was about 1.5 - 2 years old. We noticed it after she had gotten sick with kennel cough after attending a new doggie day care. One evening she lunged at my husband and w”
“I feel like my husband and I have been circling the drain on behavioral euthanasia for a few years now and our boy is only turning 5 this week. He showed resource guarding as a puppy on his first birthday when we gave him a puppy cake. I stupidly tried to train him a few months later by taking and giving some bread and got my first bite. We had a few more issues after that, mostly me not understanding his body language and my husband got bit pulling him off my arm. We worked with a behaviorist t”
“My dog is 8.5 years old and has been amazing/loving pet for us for the past 5 years. She was a rescue with an unknown history. She has always been reactive outside of the home with other animals and some people and we have been able to manage that. But lately, specifically this past year, she has now lashed out at our other dog multiple times, the latest time being yesterday when I came home and found puncture wounds in his lip and her tooth had been broken off. She's never shown any aggress”
“I have an 8 year old Australian shepherd. I also have 2 other dogs that she’s lived with basically her entire life. Up until about 10 months ago, she was the best dog. She was so sweet, got along well with other animals, never showed any aggression. Around December of last year, she snapped at my other dog, a golden retriever, and they got into it pretty bad. It was over food bc my golden tried to eat out of her bowl. Prior to this, they never had issues. They were always fed at the same time to”
“I will try to keep it short but...it is going to be a long read, sorry. I really need some new creative ideas. First let me say I have trained and worked with animals including dogs, my entire 75 years of live. I am not a professional trainer but I know what I am doing. I have spoken with local trainers and behaviorists and just get affirmation that I am doing everything they would be doing in this situation. Just before Christmas 2025 I had a female foster dog staying with me, She had not yet b”
“Considering behavioral euthanasia. This is something I never wanted to even consider or write. But I have now been told by multiple people we should consider behavioral euthanasia. We rescued our boy when he was 10 weeks old. Originally we were just fostering him, but easy enough we fell in love with the chunky little sweet baby he was. We already had 2 other pitties at the time but my husband really loved him. When we got him, we had also rescued 2 kitten from the same shelter at the same time.”
“This is something I never wanted to even consider or write. But I have now been told by multiple people we should consider behavioral euthanasia. We rescued our boy when he was 10 weeks old. Originally we were just fostering him, but easy enough we fell in love with the chunky little sweet baby he was. We already had 2 other pitties at the time but my husband really loved him. When we got him, we had also rescued 2 kitten from the same shelter at the same time. So they all were raised together.”