10/28/2026
I’ve struggled to find the right words, but I don’t have them. I don’t think I ever will so here it goes.
Because I also cannot rest my conscience not being transparent and just moving on quietly like it didn’t happen.
With a incredibly heavy and mixed feelings heart, Rain was behaviorally euthanized on Monday.
Joy’s Promise? Heather? BEd a dog? I know. I didn’t know that I’d ever actually see the day either. I’ve never had to BE a dog. Probably a miracle frankly with the type of dogs we have consistently taken in since starting this rescue, but still. It’s hard to swallow that it actually happened.
It’s hard to come to terms with being in a place where I felt no amount of efforts or time would produce a safe and humane alternative.
Rain full-bite bit me Sunday, unprovoked, without warning, the puppies no where in sight/smell/earshot during nor for 30-45 mins beforehand, and her perfectly fine and calm.
All I was doing was slowly pulling back a blanket in the corner of the box. I was intentionally squatted down on the side of the box with my back to her (like I had done plenty of times before) to not make her feel cornered and like her exit was blocked. Rain was laying in an opposite corner (~4ish feet) and came from there biting my wrist in the corner it was in.
No warning, no growl, no grumble, no whine, no moving around avoiding, no shaking, nada. She went from the typical calm submissive lying down to boom lunge bite.
She hit an ulnar never and a tendon. Of the teeth landed, one deep punctured inside of wrist. Urgent care ordered x-rays, 4 meds, and bandaged.
I had my hands in the box daily from the start (with or without puppies present), without issue for 2.5 weeks. Mind you, remembering back to the beginning, I was even having to place bowls directly in front of her face in box to get her to eat and drink so her milk wouldn’t dry up.
There had never, ever been an issue with my hands in the box. I tried to minimize it of course, but there’s no full avoiding it. And she never once showed a hint of an issue with it (again whether or not puppies were around).
The homeowner who fed her for 2 years even came out to visit her last week and did the same things without issue. Same positioning, same movements, same everything I had done for 2.5 weeks with any issue or warning.
Until Sunday.
A 55 pound dog unpredictably lunge biting without provocation or warning is a genuine threat to human safety.
Was it a fear bite? Maybe, sure.
But how do you avoid future bites when she’s going directly from typical calm submissive lying down to full bite? You can’t.
Was she protecting the box? Maybe, sure.
But what does she protect next, and how do you identify those triggers before a bite, when she’s going directly from typical calm submissive lying down to full bite (and when those exact same things weren’t being protected before)? You can’t.
We’ve had some pretty darn “sketchy” and feral like dogs at first come through. None have bit. That is absolutely not to say that those dogs *wouldn’t* have bit in xyz situation. Maybe they would have, I don’t know. I don’t know because it never got to bites. Those dogs warned. There were signs. Precautions could be taken to manage triggers and reactions.
You can’t predict and manage triggers though to avoid a bite — if you don’t know they exist until a bite lands.
I’ve dedicated my entire life to rescuing and rehabilitating dogs. My love or anyone else’s love for and dedication to dogs — cannot take precedence over protecting human life first though.
Human safety has to come first — and Rain was now a 55lb dog I knew with 110% certainty would full bite, bite hard, bite unprovoked, bite without warning.
I chose to protect human life and free her from her mind.
I am at peace with it. Emotionally up and down and kind of all over the place, but at peace with knowing the right decision was made.
I’m at peace knowing she’ll never give birth to another litter in the woods alone, have those babies taken from her and remain alone in the woods, or die a slow death from heartworms. When we got Rain and her babies, it was her third litter out there. Her previous 2 litters were taken by another rescue.
One of the extra hard moments of many in the overwhelming hard situation was the call to the homeowner Sunday night. I couldn’t do it without telling her first. I sobbed before calling her and sobbed as the words came out of my word.
That call ended up being the final peace I needed though. It was completely understood and supported as the right decision. I needed that more than they probably knew.
Everything was done to make her euthanasia as peaceful as it could be for her. She was brought inside in a crate of course. I was there for it.
We did not get her remains because Rain had to be sent off for rabies testing. The alternative was strict bite quarantining for 6 months (you read this right, 6 months). These were the sole two options at hand with her situation per the health department. I spoke with them at length. I refused to make her sit through 6 months of isolated depression just to be euthanized at the end, all to avoid testing. It would have been cruel.
I was going to wait until I had a minute to process the last few days before posting. It’s weighing on me not having it out there though. It certainly felt wrong to post anything else before this.
Her puppies were placed with a bottle feeder following the incident. They are doing well. I’ll post something later there.
I don’t know what else to say right now or how to end this. I’ve never had to do this. No words are going to be right. Emotions are all over the place. I just had to say something.
I would have moved mountains to give Rain a different ending. Those that know me or Joy’s — know that with certainty. I would have done anything.
But Rain is at peace.
Rain had another really incredibly special girl waiting for her at the rainbow bridge, with a big stuffed toy in her mouth no doubt.
The one sent to me by Kindle is with Kindle.
