Whaaaat? That's crazy. I'm tempted to make jokes referring to the 'eating dogs' thread someone else posted. But I won't. But you know what I'm thinking!

What kind of a distraught dog owner leaves their dog outside on a leash, exposed to the elements, on a "frigid January evening" while she goes out and has dinner? It's obvious grandpa wasn't on the ball/concerned about where the dog was, or he would have followed the tracks or gone out to look across the street, called the police...something.

Furthermore what kind of dog owner lets their dog run loose, sure, she CLAIMS he was on a leash and 'slipped out of it' but was he really? I dunno, sounds like somebody needs a fine, don't they have any leash laws there? Animal neglect!

There are records, I assume, showing that the police officer did indeed call around asking for a hospital, 911 collar ID, knocking on doors, etc. to no avail. So what was he supposed to do, pick up an injured (and therefore dangerous) animal and lug it around with him all night long while it was in pain and he was trying to do his real job, which is not animal caretaker? Or the other option, should he just leave it for dead and have it freeze to death slowly, or something else? What good was he supposed to do for the animal that would have satisfied this woman, given the options available to him? Whatever.

I think he did the right thing by shooting it, he did what he thought was best and tried to do his job as well as he could. This is not the same as mercy-killing a person. It was a 15-year-old dog that had already lived a very long life and was probably better off dead than trying to get along with injuries sustained from the accident which could have been avoided if it did not have an owner that left it outside, alone, and unsupervised in the dead of winter.