In Memory of Jerry
August 18

On August 18, Jerry was euthanized following a week during he struggled
unsuccessfully to come to terms with his new life, and during which his new family struggled equally unsuccessfully to come to terms with a very frightened, very aggressive, deaf, half blind dog. It was a week of enormous upset and pain to both sides.

FBRN had no choice but to end Jerry's life. Given the violence of his interactions with his adoptive family, we would never be entirely confident that he could live safely in an adoptive home, and we were entirely unwilling to put a another family so seriously at risk.

This is not a decision we made lightly. Jerry is the first dog in over 140 dogs that have passed through our custody in the past three years that we have euthanized because of issues of temperament. As the person who was ultimately responsible for authorizing that euthanasia, I can only say that Jerry is only the fourth dog in over 20 years of rescue that
I have either personally put down or authorized to be put down. Killing a young dog that had his whole life ahead of him is a tremendously hard choice to make.

Unfortunately, Jerry had too many strikes against him. He was seriously dog aggressive, so he could never be placed in a family with other dogs. He was deaf and partially blind and was far more susceptible than most dogs to being startled and caught off guard. He was, unfortunately, in the end, also human aggressive.

I hope that our supporters and friends will know that we made the best possible choice that we could for Jerry. I only wish that we could have spared both him and the loving family that took him in that last, terrible week...

None of this was Jerry's fault, but he paid the price for it. We have none of us felt good about that. Hug your own dogs a little tighter in Jerry's memory.

Charlotte Creeley
FBRN Founder