015 | Meaghan Marton, Sunny & Puppy, on setting Sunny free from his troubled life on earth, and celebrating all that he was.

Ruff Around The Edges

Trigger Warning: behavioral euthanasia

This episode is full of amazement, wonder, celebration, grief, sadness, guilt, love and I want to say almost any and all of the emotions from all over the spectrum.

It’s long and unedited because a story like that of Meaghan and Sunny, which unfortunately does not have a happy end, needs to be told in full.

As you listen to the episode you’ll hear how close happiness and sadness really are. You may judge or not, you may find relief in the story or not, you may ask “what if” or not, you may cry or not, but above all you will realize the impact making the decision to put an animal to sleep has on a person.

This topic is not talked about enough. A lot of shame exists around it, and often where there is shame there is silence. We need to talk about it though, for the sake of our animals and the humans that love(d) them.

So before we dive in I want to thank Meaghan for being vulnerable and willing to come on the podcast to share her story.

That story begins with a chance encounter with a gorgeous pitbull named Sunny on the streets of LA. It continues with living the vanlife and traveling the continental USA, to end up back in Canada.

It’s a story that speaks of learning as you go along. Like so many of us, Meaghan changed over from punishment-based learning styles to force-free training. She describes how she got to understand Sunny better as she learned more and more about how he ticked, and how it was fear that drove his behavior.

She also explains how and why she finally came to the decision to end Sunny’s life, and talks about the grief and guilt that came with it.

She too, similar to Annie Phenix, describes how tremendously helpful Losing Lulu, the Facebook group that provides support for guardians who have made the decision to go ahead with behavioral euthanasia, was.

Finally, we talk about serendipity and how a cat named Puppy helped her heal.

I hope that mainly what comes through in this episode though is the celebration of Sunny’s life.

Links:

Meaghan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meaghanmariie/

Meaghan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeaghanMarieMarton

Running For A Reason fundraising initiative: https://www.instagram.com/running_forareason/

The animal farm Meaghan volunteers at: Charlotte’s Freedom Farm: https://instagram.com/charlottesfreedomfarm?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Losing Lulu on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/losinglulu) – this is an extremely well-moderated support group for owners who have made the decision to put down a pet for behavioral reasons. The support here is first class. If you ever felt alone in this painful decision, this compassionate group will prove to you that you are not alone.

Behaviour Euthanasia Decision and Support Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2232229546906347