A distraught dog owner has explained why she took the heart breaking decision to have her dog put down. It was reported on a website that reunites missing dogs with their owners, a site that had reunited this particular dog with it’s owner in the past, that a seizure was scheduled for the dog and the owner took the pre-emptive decision to have the dog put down by their vet.

The story has caused outrage amongst dog owners, especially those using the site where the news was broken. It is understood that the owner of dog, which was called Cassie, had been advised that a seizure was scheduled to removed the dog and have it put down as part of the current dog amnesty which is happening in Merseyside.

Rather than have the dog removed, kennelled and then put down after a stressful ordeal, the owner of the dog opted to take the dog herself and have their vet perform the procedure.

The news has caused widespread concern for the safety of all dogs that could be interpreted as being of “pit bull type”. A dog that is of no direct relation to a Pit Bull Terrier could still be judged as being of “pit bull type”, as the method used to make the decision is purely subjective. There is no way to prove or disprove whether a dog is of “pit bull type”

The Liverpool ‘dangerous’ dogs amnesty and other similar schemes are a disgrace. An excuse to terminate the lives of dogs guilty of nothing more than looking a certain way in a horribly vulgar, misguided attempt to manipulate the appearance of being proactive on dangerous dogs.

K9 Magazine believes viable alternatives to this scheme have been offered and ignored and would therefore urge anyone considering handing their dog over to the authorities to seriously reconsider.

We urge owners who believe their dog’s physical characteristics to be similar to that of the Pit Bull Terrier to first ensure they understand and are fully compliant with the Dangerous Dogs Act (see link below) and secondly to focus on the key issue of whether they believe their dog is a genuine threat to people’s safety and if professional behavioural advice should be sought prior to a possible death sentence. We wish to be very clear, we urge no dog owner to participate in this ugly, politically motivated dangerous dogs amnesty.