Mum savaged for putting down dog

Lifestyle influencer Nikki Phillippi, who has more than 1.28 million YouTube subscribers, revealed in an Instagram post this week that the family had euthanised their dog Bowser.

“Bowser had an aggressive side that reared its ugly head a few times over the years,” she said. “After a lot of counsel, we decided it was time for Bowser to pass peacefully on.”

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Nikki explained in the post, which contained a series of photos from a photo shoot with Bowser, that making the decision was “one of the saddest days of my life”.

In a YouTube video titled “We have some really sad news”, Nikki and her husband Dan Phillippi explained that Bowser had “seriously injured a couple different dogs”.

Nikki, who became tearful as she spoke about missing Bowser’s smell, said they had spoken to a local dog shelter about having him rehomed, only to be told it wasn’t an option for the dog. Recently, Bowser had bit their son Logan on the face after he attempted to take food from the dog.

The bite “wasn’t bad” but Logan still had a “little mark” on his face from the incident.

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YouTuber’s decision to put down dog ‘disgusting’

The couple’s decision to euthanise Bowser was slammed, with Nikki forced to disable comments on the YouTube video and make her Instagram private.

People on Twitter labelled the decision “disgusting”, pointing out that Nikki could have used her online audience to find a new home for Bowser.

“She had a public platform I’m sure there are MANY people who would have taken that dog and given it a nice home,” one person tweeted.

Others took issue with the “disturbing” fact that Nikki had posted a photo shoot with Bowser to announce he had been put down.

“The whole Nikki Philippi thing makes me sick to my stomach. how do you have a dog for 9 years, claim it’s aggressive, and take a photo shoot with it before putting it down?” another tweeted.

The couple stoked further anger when Dan reportedly changed his Instagram bio to read: “Dog murderer (allegedly)”.

He has since removed the reference, however, not before screenshots of it were taken and circulated online.

What to do with an aggressive dog

According to the RSPCA aggression in dogs can be caused by “underlying fear and anxiety” and split into six different types: territorial, predatory, fear, pain, sibling rivalry or sexually related.

The RSPCA says that aggression in dogs can be “successfully treatment and managed” as long as the dog’s triggers for aggression can be identified, usually with the help of a veterinary behavioural specialist.

“Treatment for aggression often involves behavioural modification techniques. These techniques use positive reinforcement as the basis – reward ‘good’ behaviour and avoid reinforcing ‘unwanted’ behaviour,” the RSPCA said.

“Treatment for aggression generally does not involve the owner ‘punishing’, using aversion therapy or being aggressive towards the dog as this is likely to make the dog’s aggressive behaviour worse.