Emotional over dog getting put to sleep?

**Fannypack** · Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 840 Location: concentration camp

I'm really not a emotional person, I didn't shed a tear when my father passed I didn't tear up when my mom passed but now that my dog was put to sleep its making me real emotional and I really don't know why. Is anyone else like this? I just really don't know why something like this is making me like this
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**Gamer9254** · Joined: 09 Jul 2009 Posts: 613 Location: Milford, CT

I hope you're over the age of 35, or at an adoption home.

I'm emotional over everything. Like, everything. Everything. TV won't turn on correctly? Crying. More than 2 pages of homework? Crying. Crying? Crying.
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**DanSoup** · Joined: 22 Sep 2007 Posts: 857 Location: Sheffield, UK

I think it's because a pet is somehow "lower" than you in the care hierachy. Your parents and grand parents look after you, but with a pet you look after it. Your life is spent looking after it, so you feel a much stronger emotional attatchment to them than your parents. (This is all just opinion/theory). Perhaps also the fact that you agreed for your dog to be put down so you feel a certain amount of responsibility for it's death, even if it was the best thing for it.

Also, just the way different people react differently to loss, stress, etc. For example, I get emotionaly attatched to inanimate objects, I accidentaly smashed a bowl we have had for 10+ years. It wasn't a particularly pretty bowl, and I have no particular memories with it, but the thought that we had had it for such a long time and now it was gone I did feel a pang of sadness.

Mainly, different people will react to different thing at different times in different ways, only you can know why you've reacted in such a way and only you can know whether it's worth your time in trying to understand such a reaction, or whether you'd be better off dealing with the situation and moving on.

**stumper93** · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 1458 Location: Iowa

Yes you should be. To me, a pet, especially a dog, is such a comfortable animal. Sharing the bond between you and your pet is and should be a strong one.

It was either last year or the year before, I would take care of one of the teacher's pet during the summer and stuff. It was a little Cocker Spaniel. She was such a sweet dog but you could tell that she was getting tired. Well, this teacher had to go over to the vet and she knew she couldn't go alone so she asked me and my mom to go. I cried that day. The dog wasn't even mine. I only took care of it when they went away on vacation for if they were gone over the weekend.

So long story short, yes....even though it was a dog, it was a part of your family.
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**MetalheadNorm** · Joined: 21 May 2008 Posts: 1041 Location: Michigan

I went with my dad to put the dog I grew up with to sleep. I was ~10-12 at the time, and that shit tore me up so bad, you don't even know. Haven't cried since because nothing even came close to how sad that was. Dead uncle? I was at the funeral like 'meh'. GF of over a year dumped me once. I was like 'meh'. Yeah so putting a dog down is IMO the SECOND saddest experience a man can go through. The only thing worse would be if your son died before you... nothing breaks a man worse than that.
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**jamesw** · Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 1264 Location: Canada

It might be that your emotions from your parents death are coming back as you experience death once again. Often, people report that they feel a certain animal has taken on the role of their dead loved ones. Grieving is a very complex process, and it might not be simply the death of your dog that is making you so sad.
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**FreeXBird** · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 2485

DanSoup hit it spot on I think. The dog was innocent, inferior, and couldn't help dying. It also lived a very, very short time compared to a relative I'm guessing. With people, you can tell yourself they've lived a good life, and lived it to its fullest potential. With a dog, it seems like they just come and go in a matter of years.

**Fannypack** · Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 840 Location: concentration camp

**JimmyHero33** · Joined: 20 Jul 2008 Posts: 1635 Location: MY HOUSE OMG!! :)

u might just have had a very strong emotional bond with your dog and what was just said bye dan sounds fairly possibly true. I would be fairly down if my dog got put down they have been with me since i was 5... but i see dogts come and go all the time i work with grey hounds when they are not racing. and my boss sends some off to the vet i don't know how he can haha but he just says "it's just good buisness..." haha classic line but not funny in this case i think it's cruel and wrong to send dogs 2 die b4 they should
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**microgamer2vs2** · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:24 am Post subject:

One of the biggest things is our notion that they don't know better or that they have no control when it happens. Their fate is forcefully put in your hands (or someone else's hands), and whatever happens happens without the dog's consent. Dog's appear really innocent in situations like this, and someone else is forced to have the guilt.

Also, lack of real communication is a big thing too. This makes it so you can't tell if the dog really knows what's going on; whether it has accepted its fate, whether it has regrets and wants to play and live just like always no matter what. This along with the fact that you still feel a strong bond with your dog. The fact that owners can have such a bond, yet can never truly express it.

This might not be relevant to most of us here, but picture...

In the future, your daughter is unconscious on her death bed. You're sitting right next to the bed and you want to tell her you've loved her all this time, but the best you can do is hold her hand with the hope that your feelings will reach her somehow. She's right there with you; so close, yet there's a wall between you that denies everything you've ever felt for her. Her fate was already decided for her, and all that's left is for you to accept it and bear responsibility for that fate.

It's the same, just with a dog.

**BigFatBob** · Joined: 15 Feb 2008 Posts: 1389

Yeah, you shouldn't feel weird at all for getting emotional over your dog. My oldest dog will be turning 16 in May (had her since I was 4

) and I'm dreading the day that her health begins to fail for good, since it could be any day now. We had a scare recently when she got sick and wasn't able to walk for a few days. She would constantly try to get up, only to have her back legs give out, causing her to fall flat on the floor. I thought I was watching watching my dog slowly dying before my eyes, and it was heartbreaking. We were starting to call the vets to find out how much it was going to cost to euthanize her, and just the THOUGHT of it was...ugh.

**jesse0986** · Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:21 am Post subject:

I think the term that best summarizes the whole thing is "unconditional love." This is an emotion that very few people can offer us--perhaps only our parents or siblings. Even still, being receptive to such love is what makes it unique in the case of dogs. We know our parents love us unconditionally but because it's just so assumed and embedded, we either take it for granted or are just in general less receptive to it (mostly during our teenage years

). You don't tend to appreciate your parents' unconditional love until you're older and have your own family.

On the other hand, we are ALWAYS receptive to our dogs. There is practically nothing short of outright abuse that will make your dog stop loving you the way it does, and no matter how loaded your schedule is or how terrible your day has been, it will always want your attention, lick your hand, and jump in your lap. You will always find time to pet it or play with it or take it for a walk, not even out of obligation but because it brings such a sheer and pleasant joy to the both of you. It's comforting. You acknowledge the unconditional love to and from your dog damn near every opportunity you get, because there will be times when no human can help you. I don't know how it works, I'm no psychiatrist, but it's truly a unique bond. And of course, as others have already mentioned, dogs aren't aware of their mortality, which adds to an already extremely difficult burden if you experience that unconditional love like so many of us have.

There are only two things in life that will show a man what he's truly made of, and those two things are war and love. Trust us, crying over something like this does not make you less of a man, or make you weird, or anything like that. Contrarily, it shows that you are human, that you ARE capable of love and being loved, and that you ARE capable of emotion.

Good luck, dude.
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**MetalManiac3021** · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 352 Location: New Jersey

I know all too well what you're going through. About 9 years ago we had to put my first dog to sleep, my 13-year-old purebred German Shepherd that we got when I was around 2 years old. He was such a great dog, but usually tied up either inside or outside because my dad didn't want him messing up the house inside and we didn't have a fence to play with him outside. Now that I look back on things, it would've been much better for him to have a more active life, which have possibly prolonged his life and allowed him to maintain his health for a longer period of time than he did, but I can't say for sure because I'm not certain that would've helped in some way. When I found out my mom was taking him to be put to sleep, I was absolutely crushed, he meant so much to me and our family for all those years that I couldn't fathom him not being there every day when I got home from school. My mom made a short video of him right before he was put down, so I'll always know what he looks like at the end of his life in addition to all the pictures we took of him over the years. I haven't seen it in about 8 years, but I'm sure all the memories and emotions would immediately come back since I can now recall how great it was to have him for all those years.

I was very happy when my mom decided it was alright to get another dog from a shelter after about 7 years of not having one (Benny, the German Shepherd mix in my avatar). We got him in September of 2008 and he's been great from the first day, such an awesome dog to have around the house with such energy and enthusiasm. About 5 months later my brother and mom went to a shelter in another town to check out the dogs there, mainly the 8 Chocolate Labrador/Rottweiler puppies that a Rottweiler mix had. They looked really cute from the pictures I saw of them since I didn't go with them, but they were all gone the week after. So we decided to take their mom home with us, she's such a beautiful Rottweiler mix named Wendy and such a well-behaved dog, she's wonderful. So we now have 2 dogs and it's such an awesome feeling just to see them every day knowing how great it is just having them around to the house to spend time playing with them, walking them, and just spending time with them in general. I know I'll appreciate the moments spent with them more now that I'm older and more mature, something that didn't really happen with my first dog until a few years afterward.

In my experiences, a person's bond with their dog is something special, something that you can't replicate. They're such great animals to have around the house and it's amazing the kinship you create with them. You really treasure the time you spend with them until their gone (something I didn't fully comprehend until after he was gone since I was at such a young age when he passed.) I never want to experience what I did with my first dog, so both of them are free to wander the house inside and we're trying to get a fence for the backyard so we can play with them out there not having to worry about their safety. Best of luck in getting over this, it will be very difficult to say the least.
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**dragoninforcer** · Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Posts: 1457 Location: Long Island

Natural deaths shouldn't be as sad as Unnatural deaths.

my dog I had since i was born died 3 months ago, i was deeply crushed, but having it to be put to sleep, is kind of like killing your own dog (or it would just feel like it).

**13Kryss13** · Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Chicago

Thats sad. Im really not an emotional guy either but dogs are your bestfriend. So that is why