Galty - I didn't say anyone was stating that! I'm saying that if anyone could prove it was the best way then fair enough. And until it's proved then I'm against it. Please don't get the idea that I approve of it. It's just I don't have any proof that it is or isn't the best way to PTS a dog.
I've already said I don't like the idea. I'm into rescuing dogs not killing them.

Neither you or Jodie responded to this thread that started a year ago with 160 odd replies and lasted nearly 6 months.

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php...t=gsd+bolt+gun

My dogs are pets that are used to being handled, and kept as such. My choice, for my dogs. What others choose is THEIR choice.

GSD's not Greyhounds Galty!

I must say that I was surprised to know that to kill a dog or horse with a bolt gun does not require that person to be licensed for what is after all a lethal weapon. If this is true, then I think something should be done to legally remedy this.

The original question was - should a bolt gun be used to kill a Dog - and I would say that in the vast majority of circumstances no. They are not the size of a horse or cow (whose carcase is often utilised afterwards) and if it is considered by "experts" to be the best way to kill a dog then why is it not the routine method used by veterinary surgeons, who must be the most appropriately experienced people.
The killing (and I am using the word killing deliberately - not pts, euthanise, or any other term) is for most people a distressing and stressfull thing and should not be done lightly or casually by someone who is doing it for convenience and sees it as the least expensive means of despatch.
If you can get near enough to use a bolt gun efficiently on a dog, then you can also get near enough to sedate it effectively enough to then go on to administer the final dose of a drug to end its life.

Borederdawn - I wasn't being sarcastic you know. I'm interested that's all. Sometimes you come across as being really sarcastic. I don't know if you mean to or not

Well, I'll have to take your word for it JB, but when I had Tally euthanised by injection, it was so calm and peaceful for him. I had him on the headcollar and leadrope outside the stable, munching a delicious haylage breakfast. The vet walked up to him, patted him on the neck, and told me what to do and what to expect. He injected him, and he carried on munching until the anaesthetic took effect, which from memory was a few seconds. He just went down and that was it, he died so peacefully with a few wisps of haylage sticking out of his mouth like a dummy. The danger of the bolt gun, the vet explained, is that occasionally they can cock up ... they are only human after all ... and they don't kill the animal instantly, but have to reload.

Now THAT IS the stuff of nightmares, and I was not prepared to put my beloved horse through that, however unlikely. The vet explained there is always the risk of the horse jumping at the wrong moment, due to car backfiring, or gunshot, or whatever, although this was very unlikely with Tally because he was an ex Metropolitan police horse. It costs a shedload of money to use the injection method, plus disposal is more expensive because of cremation costs, but I am totally confident that Tally knew nothing of what was happening.

I cannot see how shooting a bolt into a horse's head can be as peaceful an end, but each to his own, we are all different and have different perceptions of what is bearable and what is not.

Clearly, you are more of an expert than myself Dawn on these bolt guns, so are more qualified to comment than I, but I cannot see how you can say definitively that 100% that wound was NOT caused by a bolt gun.

No Jackbox, I have only experienced Tally being put to sleep, but I am going by what my vet advised. It is a long time ago, and I don't remember now if he was sending out a slaughterman to do the deed, or he himself would do it, I think it was he himself, so I am taking on board that vets may not be the best for the bolt gun route, but having had 1 horse put to sleep by injection, and more dogs than I care to mention, I cannot see how the bolt method can be less traumatic than the injection. In every case with the dogs, it was peaceful and dignified, even though I was less so, and with the horse too, as I have explained before.

This post sums up my feelings as well. I cant help but think alot of why the bolt gun is used on dogs by certain people or organisations is more about saving on costs then saving on distress to the animal.