Playing God

Today is Monday 14th November 2011, day 14 for me, I had our pup put down today.  The decision was ours, not an easy decision but one that had to be made.  Monte was only 9 months old, a purebred staffy, a beautiful white with black markings.  He was a nice dog except he was very naughty.  He had a bad habit for stealing food, either the cats or the kids or whatever he could get from the table, bench or freezer.  He also liked to chase the cats and had started chasing the chickens and we were scared he would chase the sheep. Or hurt the kids.  Certainly not good.

When we decided to explore the possibility of getting the caravan, my only stipulation was that we had to rehome the dogs, because we have had a caravan before and we didnt use it because we took our responsibility to our dogs very seriously. So this time the dogs had to go. Even though I said that I was not really expecting that to happen.  Not in the real sense anyway.  Because I know both Matthew and myself and we are both animal lovers.  We have been married for almost 15 years and our wedding present to each other was our first dog, Sophie a golden retriever.  So we have had dogs with us for the last 15 years either one, two or three dogs.

About 18 months ago we had to put our old dog down, that broke us and Callie our 3year old Staffy did not cope with the loss. So that is why we decided to get another dog which turned out to be Monte. He was a nice dog but extremely naughty.  We were yelling at him all the time.  A lovable rouge.

Because I look after children, I cant trust Monte around them when they are playing outside or eating.  I dont know what he would do. It would kill me if he hurt one of them even unintentionally.

So we talked and discussed at lenght Monte's future, we could have tried to rehome him but I did not want him to be used as a bait dog, it still happens esp to male staffys.  I also did not anyone else to have to put up with his naughtiness.  There were too many conditions to rehoming him.

We went to Dunedin on Saturday to look at caravans and we have put a deposit on one that has yet to arrive in the country.
So today when I woke up, I knew what had to happen, I rung the vets and made an appointment. I really hoped I was doing the right thing.  Or was it just a convinence thing, getting rid of Monte so we can get a caravan and go touring around NZ?

Because we had to wait 2 hours till the appointment I found myself questioning who was I to play God with a life?  Even though he is an animal, he is still one of God's creatures.  We had agreed to look after him and be responsible for him when we took him on.  I kept thinking Monte is alive now and in 2 hours he will be dead.  Was that fair?  He was a healthy dog with nasty habits but does that give me the right to put him down?

I always thought euthanasia was acceptable, even for humans, after all I had tried seriously to end my own life twice,  God interveined and I am so happy He did. But I thought that because I had tried, it was my right.  I know that God has brought me with a price, I belong to Him and He alone knows my future.  Including when and how I will die.

When we got our old dog put down, we knew it was for the best, he was in a lot of pain and had no quality of life left.  So we were told by the vets, we listened to them and believed what they had to say. God gave Adam and Eve the animals and gave them dominion over the animals, they got to choose how to look after them, which ones needed looking after and which ones could fend for themselves. So we do get to choose what is best for our animals including dogs.

Humans are a different story, we do not have the right to play God. God is God and He know best.  He has everything mapped out from the beginning.  So today has challenged my beliefs about life and death, everything from euthanasia to abortion to suicide.  It all interferes with God's plans for our lives, and just like the snake deceived Adam and Eve by telling them that they would not die if they ate the fruit off the tree.  They believed that they would become like God and be able to make decisions for themselves. Decisions that only God gets to make.

Long story short, I took Monte to the vets and he died very peacefully and he will not be able to destroy anything here on earth, be it property, chickens, cats, furniture, or chase sheep or hurt the kids anymore.  What is done is done and I cant second guess our decision with what if??? We got him as company for Callie our other dog and he did not work out, I am very sad we had to make the decision we did, but I would not have been able to live with myself if he had hurt any of the kids.

But it challenged me also because there was a time where I would not have hesitated to end my own life yet I struggled to end Monte's life. So how much value do or did I put on human life???  On my life?????

Human life is precious.  Dont waste it worrying about things that do not matter instead find out what matters to God because it should also matter to us.  People, love, forgiveness, grace, mercy, salvation, truth, integrity, authenticity.

RIP Monte 14/11/11