Dog's Death After Westminster A Classic "Whodunit"

Photo of Cruz by Lynette Blue, one of his owners, courtesy of The New York Times

Cruz, an award-winning Samoyed who competed at this year's Westminster Dog Show, mysteriously died a few days later in Colorado where he was competing in another show. The attending veterinarian said "he had symptoms that strongly resembled those of dogs that had ingested rodent poison," although there were no conclusive findings. But Cruz's handler and owners suspect foul play. 

Before your suspicions are aroused enough to dig out that copy of "Best in Show", let's examine the facts. According to this article in today's New York Times, "They [Cruz's handler and owner, Lynette Blue] have spent the days since his death retracing every paw step, replaying conversations with onlookers, racking their brains to understand what happened." But here's why we're a bit suspicious...of the owner: Although this poor dog did exhibit symptoms of poisoning, whether intentional or accidental, it also could have been an undiagnosed, rare genetic disorder. Blue, however, "...declined for Cruz to have a necropsy [an examination of the body], because she was confident that he had swallowed poison."

Ms. Blue continued to proclaim how "devastating" this loss has been, saying that she "could not stop from speculating about what happened to her beloved dog...We keep thinking of the various scenarios and it's starting to feel like something we may never know." Well, one big reason she may never know is that she declined to have her dog's body examined. If you really wanted to know what happened to cause the death of a beloved dog, wouldn't you resort to, say, science, rather than wild speculation? We do realize that a necropsy might not have been conclusive, but wouldn't it have turned up poison?

We'd sure love to hear what you think about this tragic whodunit.

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