“Put to sleep”, sounds gentle doesn’t it? The heart-rending decision many people have to make to have their dog euthanised is perhaps deserving of a euphemism. We have never had to make that decision directly, the closest we came was when Martha’s Mother’s dog Nicky had become so ill that it seemed like the humane thing, the last good thing that we could do for her, to end her suffering and discomfort.

In a wider context though, the euphemism seems dishonest. Pounds routinely see perfectly healthy animals undergo this procedure as a matter of either necessity or expedience. Let’s please call it what it is, the dogs are put to death, not sleep. There is no waking up. However humanely the process may be carried out, and I’m pretty sure the veterinarians involved take no pleasure in it, the dogs are destroyed and disposed of like so much detritus.

Rescue centres like ASH operate a “No Kill” policy while state-run pounds put down dogs to manage their resources and space. Dogs which are not reclaimed or rehomed often have only a very few days before they are euthanised. There is a heated debate about the rights and wrongs of the situation. Breed specific legislation in recent years has impacted on the decisions that are made too, and some breeds even fall outside the usual statistical analysis, Greyhounds in particular are classified as “livestock” in some situations and their destruction rates are significantly higher as a result.