When a Pet Is Loved but Not Safe: Understanding Behavioral Euthanasia

EPISODE TITLE
When a Pet Is Loved but Not Safe: Understanding Behavioral Euthanasia

TRANSCRIPT
Amy Castro, Host (00:00)
What if your pet is loved, but life with that pet is no longer safe, humane, or sustainable? Most people think euthanasia is only for pets who are old, sick, or dying, but behavior can also become a welfare issue. And behavioral euthanasia is not just about aggression. It can involve severe anxiety, compulsive behaviors, or a pet who can't safely function in the world. In this episode, board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Lore Haug helps us understand what behavioral euthanasia really means, why it might need to be part of a conversation, what should be explored first, and why families facing this decision need our support, not judgment. Today we're talking about one of the hardest subjects in pet parenting, behavioral euthanasia. This is not an episode about telling everyone what decision to make. It's not a checklist, and it's not a substitute for working directly with your veterinarian, a veterinary behaviorist, or another qualified professional. But it is a conversation we need to be willing to have, because sometimes a pet might be deeply loved, but the situation has become unsafe, unmanageable, or unfair to the pet, the family, or both. And as you'll hear in this conversation, behavioral euthanasia is not always about aggression. It may involve severe separation distress, storm phobias, panic disorders, self-injury, inappropriate elimination, or other behavioral issues that affect quality of life for everyone. My guest today is Dr. Lore Haug, board-certified veterinary behaviorist through the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. She's had an avid interest in behavior and psychology since she started training dogs at 12 years old. She currently has a behavioral referral practice in Sugar Land, Texas, and continues to actively train dogs, chickens, horses, and other species on a regular basis. So, Lore, welcome to the show. Thank you.

Dr. Lore Haug (02:16)
And thank you very much for having me because this is, as you mentioned, a difficult topic.

Amy Castro, Host (02:23)
Yes. Yeah, it's definitely a difficult topic, and many people don't really know what behavioral euthanasia is. So could you just kind of explain what that means to get started?

Dr. Lore Haug (02:35)
Sure. Euthanasia basically means humane death. And so when we say behavioral euthanasia, we're just referring to a euthanasia that is being done for entirely or primarily behavioral reasons.

Amy Castro, Host (02:51)
Okay. And so I think for a lot of people who maybe are at least remotely familiar with it, and I know I even mentioned this in our phone conversation that we had before this conversation now, is that I had never really thought beyond aggression. Like I always thought behavioral euthanasia is used in situations where you've got an aggressive animal who's biting people or attacking people or whatever the case may be. But you explained that it's much broader than that. Can you share a little bit more about that?

Dr. Lore Haug (03:20)
Sure. You're right. We think a lot about aggression, and maybe for some people, euthanizing for aggression is quote, easier than some of the other problems. but animals, dogs, for example, that have extremely severe intractable separation distress, noise phobia, compulsive disorders are three of the other categories that we see where I have had clients or know people that have chosen a euthanasia route because some of the dogs say, take, for example, a dog with a compulsive disorder, maybe it's a spinning bull terrier, for example. They can be quite difficult to treat at times. And when the dog is spending 80% of its life, basically whenever it's awake, spinning, and it's affecting the dog's physical health because it affects their biomechanics of their body. I mean, you can imagine if you walked lopsided in a circle all day, every day, how that might mess up your back and your joints, and then the dogs are distressed and they're panting and they're salivating and they won't eat. That's not a way for a pet to live, and nor is it healthy for the owners to see their pet going through that. So we've absolutely seen people have to take that route. And then, as I said, some of our panic disorder type problems like noise phobia or separation distress, where the dog's so upset that they're eating through drywall, they're clawing through the front door, jumping through second story windows and cutting themselves up because they're in such a panic. If you can't get a handle on that, sometimes behavioral euthanasia is the most humane thing to do for everyone involved.

Amy Castro, Host (05:12)
Yeah, and I think there's a lot of people that would listen to those examples and say, well, how could you possibly consider euthanizing a completely healthy animal just because they're spinning in circles or just because they have separation anxiety? I'm sure you've heard that too.

Dr. Lore Haug (05:29)
Yeah, and I think this ties back into the historical, this is changing now, but the historical perspective of separating behavior signs and concerns from physical ones. You know, in our veterinary profession for decades, it was like, is it medical or behavioral? Well, we don't have that distinction anymore because we know it's inaccurate. Like it's never just behavioral or just physical ever. Because your brain controls your body, and then your brain also controls your behavior. You can't separate them. So there's a reason in humans and even in animals, we use the term mental illness because sometimes the behavior is annoying, normal, but annoying like dogs chasing squirrels, maybe they're even killing the squirrels. That's not an illness, it's a normal behavior. We don't like it necessarily. Some people might anyway. But when the dog is behaving in a manner that is dangerous to itself, that is not an evolutionary advantage for you to do something that might actually kill yourself. Like you can't pass your genes off if you're dead. So if the animal is lacerating itself in such a panic, like I said, that it's going through a window, that animal is not healthy. I don't care what it looks like physically to the outside eye, that animal's brain is not healthy. There are obviously, you know, variations. You can have mild mental illness and you can have severe mental illness. and we know that in people and we know it in animals too.

Amy Castro, Host (07:19)
Yeah, that's so true. And I think separation anxiety is such an interesting example, too, because we even did an episode like, is it separation anxiety or is your dog just bored? You know, there's a huge difference between the dog that is barking when you walk out the door for 30 minutes and the one that is leaping through the second story window. I mean, it's such an extreme. And I think that kind of ties into the idea that, you know, I don't know, I feel like when we're responsible for our pets and when we take pets into our homes and into our lives, it's very much a balancing act. So yes, we have a responsibility to the pet's physical welfare, but you know, now you're adding, and I think it's so important for people to think about their mental welfare. But the other piece of it is what about our welfare? Because I think people could hear what you've said so far and be like, okay, I think I could be on board with euthanizing a dog that's throwing itself out a window and needing to go to the ER getting stitched up every other week. You know, maybe it's better off. But there's also an area in there where the behavior is also impacting the human. And sometimes that's the tipping point for people. And I'm sure you see people that come in and they're guilty because it's like it's, you know, it's not that I couldn't manage it, but do I want to live like that? Right.

Dr. Lore Haug (08:42)
And it it's an important point because this is a pet family, meaning it's not just about the people, and it's not just about the pet. And it seems on the surface, you know, if you haven't lived with a dog or a cat or whatever that has a certain problem, it's very easy to pass judgment, of course, and think like, oh, your dog has separation distress, you do some treatment or you get some medication for it, what's the big deal? But the toll, and this is where learning comes in in conditioning, and it's something that we can't control, for example. So, what we call Pavlovian conditioning, where your brain and body ties things together, it's conditioning of emotions in part, okay? So when say you have a dog that has very bad storm phobia, um, you love your dog a lot, and every time you see the dog having a panic attack, and you can't do anything about it, you can't give that animal comfort, so it starts to condition the people to have anxiety and maybe even panic. And sometimes that actually directly transfers to whatever stimulus set the dog off. For example, and I can say this from personal experience, I've owned a dog that had bad noise phobia. I managed it and I treated it, but for years, so I got it well under control. So the first time it it happened, sh she went through it twice, but the first time I successfully treated her noise phobia, her thunder, into where she was no longer nervous. It was extremely difficult, it was very time consuming. but I was successful. But for months, maybe almost a year after that, if we had a storm in the middle of the night, I would jerk awake and and be like, Oh God, what's gonna happen? What's she gonna do? She's over there like you know, sacked out, but I'm having an anxiety attack because now I'm basically a little noise phobic or anxiety about thunder because of my dog. The dog's fixed now. So it's an extreme emotional toll on people to have to live with that day after day and not be able to get a break. I liken it to people that have chronic pain, and chronic pain's hard, it's more manageable if it comes and goes. But when you get in a phase where you're in pain constantly all day, and there's nothing you can do to make it go away, it is physically, truly, physically, like it exhausts your stress response system. So there is a physical toll, but there's a mental, emotional toll also where you're like, I can't get away from this. And this is how we get in animal behavior, and people learned helplessness. It's the recipe for depression, really, when you don't have control over what happens to you. The people become like that, like they're physically and physiologically and emotionally drained, and now we're creating disease in the human because we know from decades of research that kind of chronic stress is horrible for all your organ systems, especially your cardiovascular system and your risk of stroke and stuff. So it's not a simple, hey, my dog has a little annoying behavior problem and you should just treat it or give it to a home that can, because people don't know what it's like until they're subjected to that stress. and it's yeah, it's like watching your kid, you know, have something horrible happen to it and not be able to do anything, you know.

Amy Castro, Host (12:47)
Yeah.

Dr. Lore Haug (12:48)
Yeah.

Amy Castro, Host (12:49)
I think it's such a complicated issue, too, because there's so many pieces in there to unpack. I'm not about not making sacrifices for your pets. I think you do what you can. However, when you've crossed that line to either giving yourself PTSD because of it or rearranging your life to the point, and I've seen this with people, they have kids and then they've got an aggressive dog. So the dog's already bitten the kids once or twice. Now the kids are terrified of their own pet, they're scared in their own home. The dog's got to be kept here. We got to constantly be on guard. Who's done this? Don't let the door get open. Don't bring anybody over. God forbid, oh, quick, grab the dog before, you know. It's like, is that a way to live for anybody involved? At what point do you say, you know, enough?

Dr. Lore Haug (13:34)
Yeah, you're you're completely right. And everybody's breaking point is different, but everybody's resource allocation. You know, they talk about people saying, Oh, my spoons are full, like your, you know, your financial bucket or spoon and your emotional bucket and your time. Everyone has a limit to their resources, and you can't ignore that. You know, like sometimes people have great intentions, like, I want to treat this. I really would love to make this work. So their emotional bucket is very full, but then maybe their financial bucket's empty and their time bucket is low. Sometimes it's not about what we can treat, but should we, and can we in the environment where the problem is happening? So those are factors that weigh into people's decisions about their pet's outcome.

Amy Castro, Host (14:29)
Yeah. And I think when you take on the responsibility for a pet, it's very easy for people, especially with social media, to judge it when you're not in the shoes of the person who's living the situation. And it's actually one of the things that's that's driving me out of rescue is everybody wants to jump and scream, somebody should do something, but nobody wants to be the one to help. They just want to be the ones to criticize. And and I think not everybody, but it's it's frustrating because most of the times when you're jumping on that person online for why don't you just find it a new home? That's a that's a a classic one. then you take it. You take the dog that's bitten three little kids and take that into your home with your grandchildren.

Dr. Lore Haug (15:13)
Right. Or take that dog that's chewing up your drywall, breaking your plumbing and flooding your house, or going out that window every time dark clouds come and it even looks like it's gonna storm. It's easy, like you said, a past judgment, but let's let's find solutions, not problems.

Amy Castro, Host (15:35)
Yeah. Yeah. And I've seen this with people who who find animals almost like a savior complex where they're very proud of the fact that I'm bending over backwards in all these ways to keep this pet and keep it alive. But it's like, is that really the best thing? I mean, I guess you have to judge that for yourself, but I think in in those instances, sometimes really looking at the impact on the animal, you may have figured out a way to manage it, but if your dog's in a crate all day, when your kids are out, it's like, is that a life for your dog to be in the crate or locked in the bedroom or whatever it might be?

Dr. Lore Haug (16:10)
You're right, because I remember years ago, you know, some of these we'll call them feral dogs, they basically have been born out as strays, and then somebody say traps the dog and puts it in rescue or in a foster home. And maybe it even gets adopted. And so here you have a dog that maybe it's two years old, it spent its entire life loose controlling its own life. You know, I eat when I eat, I get to go where I want to go. You're like, maybe things aren't perfect, but the dog has agency over its own life, and then we take the dog and we put it in an urban house confined, and the dog's completely dysfunctional, terrified, terrified of people, terrified of appliances, terrified of being inside, get it out in the backyard, can't get it back in the house. Like the dog is miserable, terrified every day, all day. Okay, this is a real case. Like and I remember one a year ago, one of my colleagues about a very case like this, she said that dog would be far better off and happier if you turned it back loose. But people, as you said, be like, Oh, I saved this dog, this dog's life is now better because it isn't on the street, except it's not. The dog's life is now way, way worse than it was before if you really look at it objectively, because now the dog's miserable and the dog's potentially hurting itself because it doesn't eat right, it'll only eat when nobody's in the house. You know, we have to sometimes sit back and say, let's take our own emotions out of this picture for a second and look at this from the dog's perspective and say, if you could ask this dog, what would you want right now? Would the dog go, I want you to open up that door so I can go back where I was? Or maybe the dogs are like, please find some way to end my suffering because I'm in terror every day, all day, living in the Gulf area with my storm and firework phobia. I don't know, but we don't have that option. But you know, unfortunately, we I guess do have to play God sometimes and say, I'm gonna make this decision for you, but we need to do it with objective information to some degree and also empathy from the pet owner's perspective and from the pet's perspective. Yeah.

Amy Castro, Host (18:57)
Well, and that that brings us to a good point to to kind of talk about how you get from point A to point B, because when I first used to volunteer at a shelter, pretty much any cat that hissed, you know, I I just got caught in a trap, I got thrown in a cage at animal control, and I'm hissing at the people who are trying to put hands in there to pull my litter box out. It's feral, it's wild, let's wait the three days, euthanize. whereas many of those cats, my own cat, if you did that to her, you know, who is totally not feral, would absolutely be hissing at you and hiding in a corner. And so, you know, there's that window where it's like the first identification of the behavior, and then the opposite end of the spectrum where we make the decision to euthanize, even with that feral dog being brought into the home, it's like, what is the process of determining that this isn't fixable? And so, you know, when you like obviously this is what you do. You work with people specifically who are having these behavioral issues. because I don't want anyone to walk away from this conversation to think that we think, okay, you got a problem with your pet, euthanize it. That's what we're saying. That's not the message. That's not the message, people. But yeah, what how what's the progression look like from identification to saying we've tried everything, it doesn't work?

Dr. Lore Haug (20:18)
Yeah. I think the first thing is there is a lot of misconception or just lack of knowledge about what we can fix, and I should say improve, because some things you don't quote, fix. It's not like a cancer or a lump where you're gonna, I'm gonna go cut that out, and now it's just gone forever. Like behavior doesn't work that way. But what can we address adequately and what problems can't we? You know, there's a lot of issues with aggression, for example, especially around kids. let's say kids in the home, like we have fantastic success treating cases where there's a dog in the home acting aggressive to a young child. Like we have great success with that. But a lot of people are like, oh, once your dog, you know, acts aggressive to a kid or tastes blood or whatever, you know, he's done. but on the flip side, and we get into some of these anxiety things that we were talking about, people are like, oh, your dog's just got storm phobia, like what's the big deal, you know. So first I think people need to understand that that there are a lot of things that can be improved, particularly related to aggression, that people may think are not. And then there are some things that are harder. But this gets to your point is like, how do we figure that out? Some of those things are tied in in part to the animal's individual temperament. They are prone to anxiety disorders. That's part of their inherent physiology, just like a person. But the other issue is that a lot of these behavior problems, especially aggression, are context specific, meaning it's very related to the environment, and if you change the environment, the problem might a go away or be a lot less. So when we make the decision about euthanasia, one of the things is we need an assessment of the individual animal, their physiology, and their behavior and their temperament. Because again, remember that their behavior and their physical status are tied. Like you can't separate that, you know. So when we're looking at diagnosing the problem and also evaluating for treatment, those have an impact. If I have a dog, let's say that part of its problem is related to profound lack of, I don't know, aerobic exercise, and the dog has three legs, hip dysplasia, and a blown cruciate on one of the legs. Now I'm like, ooh, how do I do aerobic exercise on a crippled dog? You know? Yeah. Or I I can't teach a dog that has hip dysplasia or blown cruciates to sit 50 times a day. Like I can't do that. That would be terrible. So what are the limitations there? What can we change in the environment? What's already been done? What's left to be done? you made the comment about people saying, Oh, we tried everything. Well, you know, sometimes, and this sounds kind of like, you know, hubris, but we see people saying called and go, Oh, I've done everything. I've tried everything to fix my pet's problem. And I'm like, Well, you haven't come see us yet. You know, you haven't done everything. But maybe that's not an option. Okay. Yeah. and that's understandable, you know. So at the least, if someone is considering euthanasia, or whether the dog or cat or whatever might be a candidate for rehoming. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they are. Yeah, sometimes they are. That's a good point. You know, they need to seek qualified professional assistance. So it might start with their vet. I love my profession, don't get me wrong, and this isn't an individual practitioner's problem, but unfortunately, the veterinary schools don't do a great job educating veterinarians about behavior. So, so sometimes, you know, you start with your vet, but sometimes you need more than that because they may not have the knowledge to make that assessment accurately. there are certainly very good behavior consultants and qualified trainers out there, but there's also a lot of behavior experts and trainers that are horrible and are not educated because it's not just about experience. You can have a lot of experience and then have done something incorrectly, you know, the two. You have a lot of bad experience. Right, right. So we do have certain organizations. obviously, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist is an excellent option because there are national and international standards for what we need to know, and we have liability issues, meaning we have standards of care, and there are repercussions for individuals that don't meet those or do things that are counter to a standard of care. That is not the case with trainers, because anybody can call themselves a trainer or behavior expert, and then they might go do something horrible to your dog, make the dog worse, injure the dog, kill it in the process of training it, and there may not be any repercussion for you there emotionally or financially because there's no regulatory body, you know? Right. So, yes, there's a there's a sparsity to relatively of veterinary behaviorists out there, but the thing is that almost all of us can do vet-to-vet consults. So if an owner goes to their vet and says, I'm having this problem, I can't go to a vet behaviorist, or there isn't one locally, then their veterinarian has the option to set up a call with one of us and at least talk through the basics of the case and get feedback about what steps they might need to go or what additional information that veterinarian and owner may need to know to help make that decision about whether they pursue treatment or not. So Karen Pryor Academy, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, um, Pet Professional Guild, they all have a certain, again, there it's there's no national regulatory body, but there are certain organizations that have certification processes that require a certain level of rigor, of knowledge and hands-on experience, at least, to you know, try to weed the wheat from the chaff to some degree.

Amy Castro, Host (27:29)
Yeah. We actually did a whole episode about the whole training industry because it is unregulated and anybody can call themselves a trainer. And to your point about have you tried everything, is that people think they've tried everything until you start listing out things to say, well, have you tried this? Oh, I haven't tried that. and so I think for a pet parent that is brought to the to the point of making that decision, because I know guilt before, guilt during, and a lifetime of guilt sometimes afterwards can be what your fate is going to be if you make that decision. the ability to say that I did try everything was that was within my power, because not everybody has $10,000 to spend on a problem, you know, but I did everything within my power that was available to me at the time that I could make happen before I made this decision, um, you know, just to be able to kind of live with yourself afterwards.

Dr. Lore Haug (28:27)
Yeah, absolutely. And so kind of to back up to your original question, if somebody's considering this and I'm thinking about your dog that you mentioned, the dog's six to eight years old, and it's an escalating problem, you know, the first thing they need to do is they need to make sure the dog's had a really, really good wellness exam. Because if the problem's new or escalating, a middle-aged dog, don't know what kind of dog it is, but maybe it's getting worse because the dog's starting to feel the effects of developing osteoarthritis, so arthritis or hip dysplasia or whatever. And maybe putting the dog on pain meds would take the dog at least back to where it was before, you know? Maybe the dog's got an endocrine disorder now, like it's thyroids off, or it has Cushing's disease or Addison's disease, or maybe it was started on a new medication, like Apoquel, for allergies, but maybe the Apoquel is making the dog more agitated and anxious and therefore exacerbating the behavior problem. So the first thing we do is look at the dog's environment, their nutrition, and their health status. Then we look at little management things we can change. Like if your dog's trying to eat everybody on walks, sometimes you look at people and say, you know what? It's okay to just not walk your dog or not walk it there, or not walk it as often and give it enrichment in some other way. It's okay to do that. You know, I have a client right now, and she's like, she has a ton of anxiety herself. Her dogs get in fights at certain times. One of them dogs gets aroused because it sees deer outside, then it jacks the other dog up, and then they get in a fight. And I I've repeatedly, even just past weekend, I looked at her and I said, It is perfectly fine for you to never let these dogs out in the backyard together. They are totally happy. They don't need to be in the backyard together, you know? But she's guilted about that. I said, Zero guilt, zero, zero, zero guilt. It's okay, you know? So going through some of these and saying, It's okay to lock your dog in the bedroom every time a visitor comes over, if that keeps people safe and it puts your anxiety down, you know, it's okay to do that. so going through those steps and looking at their concerns and their resources, it's okay that you're not Bill Gates and you can't afford a ten thousand dollar hip surgery, or maybe you can't afford five or six thousand dollars worth of behavior therapy for your dog because that's what it's gonna take to address this dog's problem. It's okay. So I think having those conversations again with a qualified person, but the other thing is there are veterinary social workers out there, and part of their job is to help people navigate these situations and work through the guilt and recognize what they may be able to do or not be able to do. so you know, sometimes our job is not only to address the animal's mental wellness, but to also remind owners that they need to seek mental health care to keep themselves healthy through a process. I mean, I don't do that part, but it's okay to remind them, hey, maybe you should, you know, get some counseling or at least talk to somebody to help with that. And the nice thing about the veterinary social workers is that they understand the bonds. Because, you know, I said sometimes people are like, Oh, why are you so upset because you know you euthanized your dog that bit your child, you know, like I'd have just killed him right away. Well, I always tell people in my conference seminars, I was like, never underestimate the depth of an owner's emotional attachment to an animal, even if the animal is attacking them. Because people love their pets, and it's a horrible, gut-wrenching decision to have to make, and our job is to support them through it if and when they get to that decision.

Amy Castro, Host (32:58)
Yeah. I was just thinking back to we had a dog named Clyde who was always a little growling around people. We kind of kept him away from people. It was easy enough to put him in the bedroom when people came over, but it came to a point one time where we had gotten a new puppy, and I speculate that he was probably laying down sleeping, thought it was the puppy jumping on him, and my daughter was about three at the time, just nipped her in the face, but it was enough that she needed stitches. I mean, it wasn't a I mean he could have done a lot of damage, a lot more damage than he did. But so then therein lies the dilemma. Like I knew the behavior issue was already there. Now I have evidence, you know, and this is way back in the day. There weren't really, I don't know that there even were veterinary behaviorist, or not to the extent that there are now, but you know, trying to make that decision about what to do to do with him. Do I keep him and risk it? Do I euthanize him? And I was even thinking about like maybe I could find a garage where he could live. And, you know, I eventually made the decision to to euthanize him, but yeah, it's amazing the the judgment that you faced after that. Not only you're dealing with your own guilt, but you know, it it would have been, I hate to say nice to have somebody say, Oh, I would have done that too. But it was more like, I can't believe you euthanized your own dog. Like it it only bit her once. It's like she needed a plastic surgeon to stitch her face back up again. I mean, it wasn't, you know.

Dr. Lore Haug (34:24)
Sometimes people get the opposite and they're like, maybe the dog nip truly nipped a kid in the face, and maybe there's just a little mark there, you know. Yeah. And then they decide that they're gonna work with the dog and get help. And then, you know, they get vilified for keeping the dog in the home, you know, even though I'm looking at them going, no, there's no way I'd euthanize this dog. Like this is an awesomely workable situation. I wouldn't even consider it if it was my dog. So again, a lot of it goes back to looking at the resources in the environment. What do we have to our avail that we can use to try to address this problem to help people know what decision to make, and then surround yourself with the right support people.

Amy Castro, Host (35:12)
Exactly. And the right support people are not putting it out on a Facebook page. Find trusted sources, you know, if it's the veterinary behaviorist, your vet, or maybe if you want to talk to one friend who actually knows something about animals, but don't put it out on social media because you're gonna get all the answers you don't want to hear, and you're gonna end up being, like you said, vilified and or more confused than when you started. Exactly.

Dr. Lore Haug (35:35)
And there'll be a lot of irrational suggestions. Like I read some of these that come across our feeds when you know somebody's got a problem. It might even be a medical issue, but sometimes it's behavioral, and somebody will make some suggestion, and I'm sitting back there going, like, that is the most idiotic thing that I have heard all week, and is not gonna help anyone, you know.

Amy Castro, Host (35:57)
And so social media is not the place. You mentioned the rehoming issue because I know that's kind of the comment that gets made is just find it another home. And you made the point that yes, in some instances that might be appropriate and that might be the resolution, but it's not the magic cure all.

Dr. Lore Haug (36:13)
Right. And and one of the things when we talk about this with owners is we look at again how much the environment is influencing the problem. So, for example, because everybody talks about aggression, I'll start with a phobic dog to begin with. Of course, bad separation distress. And people are like, Well, I might just have to find him a new home. And I'm like, Well, it doesn't matter what home he goes into, if somebody's gonna leave the dog alone, this problem's gonna show up there. So it's not helping the dog to rehome it unless they find some retired person that's like, you know, or a recluse that's never gonna leave the house ever. Right. And maybe there is a person like that, you know, and great. Yes.

Amy Castro, Host (36:59)
Yeah.

Dr. Lore Haug (36:59)
But otherwise, if it looks like it's a significant problem that is basically gonna follow the dog to a new home and the problem's bad enough, like aggression, you know, everybody wants to find the proverbial ranch where the dog can run around. And I'm like, you do realize that ranches have people on them, and if your dog is extremely aggressive to people, this problem's still gonna exist. If the dog is partly punchy with people because you got a border collie or a Belgian malinois or something that is absolutely massively stir crazy from lack of enrichment, well, that farm might actually fix the problem if you can find the farm.

Amy Castro, Host (37:49)
Yeah, that's the huge dilemma for us in rescue. I get the calls from people who want me to take this dog, and one person had been trying to find someplace for her dog for like six months, and it's like, if you've had no luck, I'm not gonna necessarily have any more luck. And then what do I do with it in the interim? Like, I don't have foster homes that don't have human beings in them. Yeah, or other dogs, or yeah, we've been talking about dogs a lot, but you know, another scenario that I would guess comes up is cats and litter box issues. I mean, cats obviously could be aggressive too, but I get a lot of people calling about cats with litter box issues. And it's exactly what you said. You know, sometimes it's the environment, sometimes it's their husbandry practices. But in other instances, if I've had a conversation and the person has basically done everything right and the cat still goes up and pees on their bed, what are the odds I'm gonna find a person that's gonna want a cat that pees on people's beds? Yeah.

Dr. Lore Haug (38:47)
And then again, you have to look at the risk level. And sometimes, let's say maybe an environmental change in theory would help one of the problems it has, because maybe the dog has multiple problems. Let's say the dog's aggressive to other dogs, but the dog's also what we call a global fear dog, meaning it's terrified of people and new environments and it won't go outside, too scared to go outside. Like they can't get it out the front door, and it doesn't bond well with people. So we're going, okay, putting it at home without dogs will fix that problem. But moving the dog to a new environment that it has to adapt to when it lacks ability to adapt is actually going to make the dog worse. Like the dog's gonna feel worse because the dog's whole life's gonna be up-ended and it's gonna be surrounded by new and scary things, and then you don't know how the new owners are potentially gonna deal with the issue. You know, like what if you put it in a new home and then the owner's struggling with the same behavior, and then they end up taking the dog to one of these inexperienced or you know, poorly knowledgeable trainers that then does something horrible to the dog, and basically, like, how is that good for the dog? Like, that would break my heart to think that the dog is gonna go through that because somebody thought rehoming was the better option. And nobody, nobody, nobody wants to make the decision to euthanize an animal.

Amy Castro, Host (40:18)
Yeah.

Dr. Lore Haug (40:19)
Especially like nobody wants to make that. Yeah. But sometimes the best and most loving thing that you can do for the pet is to make that decision and then be there for them so that the person that they have the best bond with is with them at their last moments instead of dumping them in a shelter or rehoming them to somebody that may do something even worse to them. Yeah.

Amy Castro, Host (40:48)
Yeah. I mean, there definitely are fates worse than death, I think. And especially for an animal. I mean, that we've done a lot of episodes on just general euthanasia, but people attach so much human emotion to death and the thought of what I would be thinking and feeling if I knew I was gonna die. Your animal is thinking and feeling none of that. They are here and then they are not here, and it's not the same thing. So I think that people need to remember that sometimes there are worse things than not being here for an animal.

Dr. Lore Haug (41:20)
Right. I mean, we we assume that, and you know, I don't know. I mean, some of these dogs, like I I this keeps me up at night sometimes, and I look and go, you know, people are like, hey, I think I'm just gonna, you know, maybe it's not an aggression issue, and they're like, I'm gonna put it in the shelter, or I'm gonna find a sanctuary. That's usually what it is. Like maybe it is an aggression issue. I'm gonna find a sanctuary where the dog can live the rest of its life. And then in my head, I'm like, sanctuaries and shelter environments are extremely stressful for animals. That's why there's a whole board certification for shelter work and welfare and stuff is because it's a huge issue keeping these animals mentally healthy and physically healthy in a shelter. And maybe if I could ask the dog and say, Would you rather be miserable in a shelter or dead, the dog would tell me miserable in a shelter. I don't know. And if that ever comes about where we have that capability, I I will feel like I I probably won't recover from that, um, knowing I made that choice for dogs or you know, helped or or discussed it with people. But for now, we just have to work with what we know and do it with compassion and think about the repercussions mentally and physically about making choices for them, because unfortunately that is our job. It's like our kids. We have to make choices for our kids, even though the kids may not like those choices, um, but we do it hopefully with their best interest in mind, and also the best interest when we're talking about pets of the family. So this whole topic is difficult and there's no perfect answer. we just do the best we can, but we need to do it with compassion and we need to do it with knowledge, not myths and misconceptions.

Amy Castro, Host (43:14)
Yes, definitely. I do want to ask you any final thought or takeaway that you want people to remember.

Dr. Lore Haug (43:21)
I think people should just know that given the appropriate evaluation, it's okay and sometimes the right choice to make this decision. but they should surround themselves with people that are supportive and with the right professionals to help them make the decision with the least guilt possible so people can hopefully deal better with their grief.

Amy Castro, Host (43:44)
Yeah. Yeah, I think it makes a huge difference when you feel like you've exhausted some options there. And we'll definitely put links in our show notes to the resources that you mentioned. But if people want to reach out to you either themselves or, like you mentioned, have their veterinarian reach out to your practice specifically, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

Dr. Lore Haug (44:05)
They can go through our website, and of course, we have our contact information there. So it's Texasvetbehavior.com, and they can submit an email through there or call our office.

Amy Castro, Host (44:17)
Okay. All right. So we'll make sure we put that up there as well. So, Lore, thank you so much for being here and talking about what I think is such an important subject, and I've put it off so long talking about it because I was afraid people don't want to hear it, but I've gotten to the point in life that I think people need to hear it whether they want to hear it or not. So I'm putting it out there. But I appreciate you bringing your expert viewpoint and experiences to the conversation.

Dr. Lore Haug (44:43)
You're most welcome. Like I said, it is a difficult topic, but one we need to talk about.

Amy Castro, Host (44:49)
Absolutely, absolutely. This wasn't an easy conversation, but I think it's an important one. Behavioral euthanasia is not about giving people permission to give up. It's about giving people permission to have an honest conversation when safety, suffering, and quality of life are on the line. If you're living with a pet whose behavior has become frightening, overwhelming, unsafe, or unmanageable, please don't try to make that decision alone. Start with your veterinarian. Ask about medical causes or pain, medications, and behavior support. And when possible, work with a veterinary behaviorist or other qualified professional. But also hear this. If behavioral euthanasia has become part of the conversation, that doesn't make you cruel. It doesn't mean you don't love your pet, and it doesn't mean you failed. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is look honestly at the pet's suffering, the family's safety, and what can realistically be managed. And if this episode helped you understand the issue differently, please share it with someone who loves animals but may not understand why a family would ever have to face this decision.