I take ownership of being a bad pet owner and tryi...

I take ownership of being a bad pet owner and trying to re-home our family dog who we made a commitment to. Judge me because it was horrible on my part. And I judge myself.

The Pixie Project killed our dog within less than a week of being there.

We always kept him safe from running off because we were warned that he should not be around cats. "No cats" was almost literally the only cautionary information we received from Pixie. We adopted him when he was 2 1/2 and put our hearts into providing a safe and loving home for him.

His instincts kicked in if he saw "prey" (cats) and we were careful to keep him away from them for 10 years while making sure he got outside to exercise and socialize. For 10 years, he was a dependable running buddy. He was extremely gentle with our small poodle and two young children. At times he showed anxiety over strangers he felt threatened by, but always calmed down in about 30 seconds. (We inferred he was possibly abused before we adopted him.)

Starting in 2014, I had a 3 year battle with some health struggles that made it increasingly difficult to provide the training/exercise he needed and deserved.

Unfortunately problems in a location change arose immediately. My 2-year-old opened doors (now secured with child proof covers) to the outside and our dog was an escape artist.

On his last escape incident, he bolted over to the neighbors' chicken coup where his instincts took over and he encountered chickens--killing one and hurting three others.

My heart broke that he took the life of someone else's "pet" and hurt a source of their food. My heart broke that, although I tried, I failed in previous training for him to stop charging at smaller prey. My heart broke that my two-year-old expresses feelings of guilt for letting our dog outside (though I was careful not to place that heavy blame on a two-year-old). My heart broke that my kind neighbors were now freighted of our dog. My heart broke that if it happened again, he was at risk that a neighbor could take a shotgun to him. My heart broke that I knew I had failed miserably as his owner.

Pixie repeatedly insisted if at any point we needed to re-home him, we were to return him to Pixie Project. We were instructed *not* to find another home for him. It was a brutal and painful decision to make the call to the Pixie Project. Amy made sure to shame me, knowing nothing of our personal struggles or that all we wanted was a better life for our dog than we could currently provide. I didn't so much mind the fact she shamed me. Or that when she asked me what our dog is like, she cut me off and did not allow me to finish explaining about our dog's personality or experience with us and changed the subject to when we would bring him.

I should have asked her more specific questions such as, "What is the process for deciding if he would be euthanized?"

4 days after we returned our dog to Pixie Project, my brother called saying his friend *really* wanted to adopt our dog after hearing about this and had a great lifestyle for him. I recommended he be assertive in making sure to connect with them ASAP as it is a challenge to reach them.

By the time Pixie called back, it was too late. They had put our dog down without a chance, claiming his behavior (while suddenly being relocated from a comfy home to the shelter) warranted his death.

I never...(repeat), NEVER would have given my dog back to Pixie. We trusted they would try to give him a safe home that he deserved. We thought we were doing the right thing. I can't go back in time to save our dog, but I can, hopefully, save the life of another deserving animal from these inhuman and lazy decisions by an organization.

I made a horrible decision and cost one of our family members' life. I take responsibility for this. I will never forgive myself and I learned from this experience.

But you, Pixie Project. You euthanized my dog within a week. A dog that we could have just found a better home for within days. A home he deserved if you hadn't insisted he come to you first.