Books
The Most Painful Choice: A Dog Owner’s Story of Behavioral Euthanasia recounts six years of my life during which my husband and I had a rescued German Shepherd Dog, Champ.
I love to do research and to learn. After Champ’s death, I searched for a book or in-depth resources on behavioral euthanasia and came up with just a few websites. I found numerous books and memoirs about the loss of a beloved pet, but those were due to illness or aging, not because the dog had unsolvable behavior and mental issues. Inspired by Toni Morrison’s quote “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it,” I decided to write our story for those who have also had to make the painful choice of behavioral euthanasia, as well as to inform and educate those in the dog world who have never heard of it. There are thousands of pet owners who have had to make this choice, yet there is little to no support for us, mostly due to lack of knowledge and understanding, but also due to the very real expectation of judgment.
As a science writer, I wanted to see what the scientific literature said about behavioral euthanasia. Not surprisingly, there was very little about it. However, I scoured the literature for research on dog behavior, including its origins, biological and genetic basis, and emotions in dogs to see if they have similar emotional systems as humans. I read hundreds of papers and journal articles and as many books about dog behavior as I could, all by the top researchers in the field of animal behavior and veterinary research over the past fifty years. In addition to the hard science, I also looked at the social aspects of pet behavior by exploring the effects on owners of these pets as well as grief after losing them.
