How Not To Give Up A Dog

My dad sent me a post on Facebook today, it was somebody trying to find a home for a dog.  Dad sends me these whenever he finds them.  Not because he knows I'm looking for a dog, but because he knows I desperately want a dog but can't have one, and he likes to taunt me.

Anyway, this one stuck out at me.  The person who owned the dog, a sweet friendly black lab, was moving and couldn't take the dog with them, and according to the story in the post, they were gonna put the thing down because they didn't know what else to do with it until a friend was all "No, don't do that, I'll hang onto it for now and find a new owner."  The post has been taken down now, so I can't find a photo of the dog or give the exact details, but I think someone agreed to take the dog in or bring it to somebody they know looking for a dog.

The thing that struck me about the story was that the owner's first reaction was to have the dog put down.  Yeah yeah, the story went on about how sad they would be to do it because he was such a good dog blah blah blah, but still.  First reaction is kill the dog.  Not a shelter?  Really?  Because there's a bunch of shelters.  There's even a normal and a no-kill shelter in town, so seriously, there's absolutely no reason to go "I can't keep my dog?  Welp, better whip out the ol' shotgun!"  Old Yeller never had rabies, the family was just moving and didn't want to bother driving to a shelter.  Jeez people, when you get an animal you're making a commitment.  It's like getting married.  If your marriage is falling apart, you don't have your spouse put down, you get a divorce.  If you can't keep your dog, you don't have the dog put down, you find a new home for it.  Putting an animal down is a last-ditch option, not your first response to an inconvenient situation.  What is wrong with you.

I never read actually Old Yeller. I read Shiloh though, that one was really good.