To me, dogs are inherently blameless: everything about their acts are the results of millennia of selective breeding, combined with training (or lack thereof). If my dog pisses on the floor or barks at the neighbours, it's my fault for not training properly or selecting a breed that's not appropriate for city living.
There is no concept of morality when it comes to dogs. The idea of punishment for any purpose other than a) training or b) safety is completely irrational, and is applying a human concept of morality to a creature that has no such concept. Tragic incidents like this are often caused from people forgetting that they've got an animal in their house, and instead assuming that it will behave like a person.
On the other hand, I certainly understand the point that many animals get put down for far less than this. This animal, though a tragic story in human eyes, is no more or less deserving of adoption than other animals that have ended up in shelters for a combination of bred instincts and poor training/handling.
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