Cerberus was euthanized today.
For those of you who dont know, we have been having some serious behavior issues with Cer. Soon after we got him, he snapped at Tom after he tried to put him in his crate to feed him. Since then, he was put on strict NILIF, but his behaviour continued to worsen. He became food aggressive and on several occasions, threatened us with a growl or showed us his teeth when he didnt want to do what we wanted him to. On one occasion, he was getting into the garbage (his head is level with it) and Tom told him to 'go lay down'. He didnt listen and tried to get into the garbage again. Tom grabbed his collar to move him to another room and Cerberus growled and snapped at him.
About a month ago, Tom put Cer in his crate with his dinner. A few minutes later, he went to the crate to say goodnight to him, and Cer hit the crate door lunging and growling. Tom attempted to take him out of the crate so that he could get his food away from him and Cer bit his hand pretty bad. He missed two days of work because of it. It has been over a month and his hand still isnt 100% back to normal. This coincided with the death of Tom's grandfather, so even though we knew what we had to do, we put it off.
Last week, Tom was in the kitchen cooking and Maggie and Cerberus were bothering him. I called Maggie on the couch, and I told Cer to lay down next to me. He went into a down, and then immediately stood up because he wanted to be in the kitchen. I put him into a down. He got up. I went to put him into another down and he grabbed my wrist. His canines hit the soft part of my wrist between the bones, so it didnt break the skin, but it was extremely sore afterwards. I was very very lucky that the bite wasnt harder, because I could feel his canines yanking the tendons in my wrist.
If he was a smaller dog, this wouldnt be as much of a problem. Cerberus is over 100 pounds. He could do some serious damage. Both Tom and I are VERY lucky that he let go and didnt inflict more damage on either of us.
Tom has young children and we have company over very often. We couldnt take the risk of him biting someone else.
On top of that, he was getting old, and his hips were getting weak.
Today, we brought him to a state park near us and took him on a hike. He had a wonderful time and we let him have all of the sliced turkey he wanted.
After the park, we brought him to the shelter and I held him while he took his last breath.
This was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. There is nothing like seeing your dog, your best friend, lying limp on a cold table with his face soaked in your tears.
We have only had him for about 4 months, but him and I had an incredible bond. He was such a wonderful dog and I will miss him so much.
Rest in peace Fat Boy. I'm so sorry. Even though I know I did the right thing, I am going to regret this for the rest of my life.