Had a miniature pincher. The most energetic and playful dog i've ever had. Though he only stood about a foot tall with all 4 legs planted, he could jump (and use my legs to jump off of) to about my shoulders with a little momentum.

He got hit by a car while chasing a squirrel a while back and it damaged his main nerve in his left front leg rendering it useless and limp. I took him to the vet and he said it was just going to take time to get better. For a few months I had a 3-legged dog (even though he had 4 limbs). Eventually, he started biting at his limp leg. We would put bandages over it so he couldn't bite his own leg, but he got through that. We eventually realized that we had to amputate. To buy us some time before he chewed his own paw off, we put a cone on him.

So we wake up the next morning and his cone is not on him... but neither is his paw. He got all the way through! Thankfully we'd keep him in a large cage at night so he doesn't chew everything up in the house at night.

We couldn't find anyone to amputate that didn't need the money right up front. I just didn't have $1500 to put down at the time, however, I was very willing to finance it. Unfortunately, there's no help or understanding for pet owners who don't have $1500 on tap.

Taking my dog to get put down was the hardest thing i'd ever done. He was only two! He didn't need to go yet!