Can I butt in here? I know your question is directed to Azz, but can I just say that no, I would not expect folk to be downright miserable - but neither would I be comfortable with extreme pleasure, or bloodlust. Just a matter of fact approach, and an appreciation of the animal that you are killing to feed yourself, making sure that you despatch the animal as quickly and cleanly as you can.

I used to have the honour and privilege of knowing a reasonably well known ornithologist, Frank Rountree, who we would dine with, and his wife, when we were holidaying each year on the island of Sark in the Channel Islands. He wrote an excellent book on the birds of Sark, and I enjoyed several interesting conversations with him about the island in general, but in particular the birds to be seen there. Something he said has stuck in mind - the thrill of the "chase", the thrill of the "hunt" to him was terribly exciting - but with a camera in his hand, not a gun. The skill, the patience, the tracking know-how and local knowledge required to get a photograph of a shy and rare bird such as the Golden Oriole, far, far outweighed the skill required to blast any bird with a 12 bore. Frank would say that the blood lust is still in us as a species, but that we could satisfy it by photographing wildlife, or playing a competitive sport far more effectively, and without the need for anything to die.

I detest this "outliving their usefulness" more than anything else, more than the actual killing of foxes by hounds.

Foxhounds are not pets, but that is no excuse for disposing of them just because they are no longer so effective at their job. I have a strong ethic with my pets, whether they be a horse, a dog, a hamster, a parrot, whatever. For years your pet has given you loyal service - guarded your house, carried you on his back, entertained you, whatever. That level of loyalty deserves care when they are no longer capable of performing the duty for which they were originally bred. When our parents get old, we don't have them put down because they are incontinent, demented, old and sick. I find it distasteful in the extreme that pets are just disposed with when they become redundant, not fit for purpose any more.

When we lost our beloved Hal prematurely and very unexpectedly, we grieved for 6 months when out of the blue Tai came up for rehoming. My very good friend tawneywolf had fostered him for a short time over one christmas, and knew him well and filled us in on everything she knew. Neither myself nor OH wanted to adopt him, but we both felt it to be our duty. He is a utonagan, Hal was a similar type although not registered, Tai needed a special home who would not leave him home alone all day and who understood utonagans. Much against our better wishes, we adopted him. He is a dear, sweet boy and I love him to bits, but he is not Hal, and never can be. But it was something that we had to do - I felt it was like "pay back" for the 10 years of wonder that we had had with Hal.

I feel very strongly indeed about this subject, and I think anyone who thinks it's OK that hounds get shot when they are no longer useful is absolutely NOT a dog lover, or an animal lover. In extreme circumstances - eg, the welfare of the hound - then OK, but not just because he has reached the end of being useful.

Excellent post . Totally agree .

Actually, I've just re-read it and i have to say I am rather pleased with it too! I mean every word, I feel very strongly about this.

I have had to make some tough decisions with my pets - I had an ex police horse who poor darling, he suffered from both laminitis and navicular. The vet told me that his pedal bone was about to come through the sole of his foot, and really it was not safe to ride him any longer, but he could be run barefoot in the paddock with his chums for the rest of his natural life, but that in the spring and summer months he would have to wear a grazing muzzle, and be brought in every night as well. I was not happy with this, I considered that my horse would not be happy with no more exciting sponsored rides, and so had him humanely destroyed, in consultation with his owner. It was heart breaking for us both, but we did it in the interests of the horse. This to my mind is acceptable euthanasia.

You usually do.


Just kidding, of course you can, tis a free world.

I agree, totally. I dont know anyone who goes out working their dogs by whatever means, or shoots, purely for "blood lust." Never see any blood, well hardly any when we shoot. Rabbits are dispatched immediately, never a mark on them.

I do indeed!! Just trying to behave myself a bit better nowadays

I think I probably do know people who kill just for the sake of it. A friend of our's, he's retired now, but he used to host a large pheasant shoot on his land in Northants. I have overheard several of his friends bragging about their bag. These people I do have issues with. They don't eat any of the birds they shoot, they just blast away every time the beaters put up a wave of pheasants, and try to kill as many as they possibly can - for the sport, for the fun of it. It is beyond me how this sort of killing can be sport, or fun.

I would call this blood lust ... irrespective of whether there is any actual blood or not, it is a euphamism for "I enjoy killing things".

Better to have never been born than to be killed a few years,or less, down the line imo.

What a disrespectful & callous way to treat an animal that has served its masters.


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Well said, i couldnt agree more, & im so sorry for your loss x

7 weeks ago we lost one of our beloved dogs to cancer, the one on my avatar as it happens, and its broken our hearts, we would have given anything to have been able to save her but there was nothing the vets could do, so we had to let her go. What has made losing her all the more painful is she was only 7, & up until the week before she died she was happy and full of life & appeared healthy, we feel like shes been robbed.

Most hounds are disposed of by that age! To me that is horrifying, ...people who support hunts are certainly not genuine dog lovers.


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never said i agree with it,,,,,,,,,,,,, but its a fact, and you can spout all you want on this tiny part of the internet but it won't change a thing.

I do work my dogs, not because of any sort of blood lust, but because my dogs enjoy it, and even though we do other things to keep them mentally and physically stimulated during the off season they are never quiet as satisfied as they are after working.

OH and FWIW all the birds are either taken by the guns or beaters or if there are any left they are given to the pub that plays host to the shoot.

I take it you run your dogs in Harness? which is what they're bred for and they'll love it, same as the hounds will love running with the pack, and the gundogs love working to the gun, this is what they're born to do.

I have a situation for you, i have a springer she has crocked legs, bad knees and hips, when this was first diagnosed the vet said the best thing i could do for her would be to give her long on lead walks, she lives to run, her life would have been miserable if i'd chosen that route, i chose to let her lead her life as a springer should, if by doing that she has a shorter life then so be it, she will have had a shorter life being fulfilled, not a long miserable life not being able to do what she was bred to do.

So the comparison is the Fox hounds have done their job, they have lived for however many years they have had doing what they were bred to do, they are now in a situation where they can no longer work for whatever reason, the question is whats kinder?, confine them to kennels for the rest of their lifes, never getting to go out with the pack and getting frustrated because the rest are going out, or the alternative? and don't say rehome, have you ever tried to housetrain a dog thats spent years in a kennel, or get them used to things in the house, its a nigh on impossible job, now thats not to say that shooting them is the answer