07/09/2026
BEHAVIOUR IS THE LEADING REASON RSPCA NSW EUTHANASES DOGS
The latest RSPCA NSW figures should concern every dog owner in this state.
During 2024 to 2025, RSPCA NSW euthanased 878 dogs.
Of those dogs, 627 were euthanased for behavioural reasons.
That means behavioural issues accounted for 71.4 per cent of all dog euthanasias recorded by RSPCA NSW.
The previous year was even higher. During 2023 to 2024, 859 of the 1,142 dogs euthanased by RSPCA NSW were euthanased for behavioural reasons.
That was 75.2 per cent.
Think about that.
Behavioural issues are responsible for far more dog euthanasias within RSPCA NSW than infectious disease, medical issues, legal reasons or other recorded causes.
Yet while this behavioural crisis continues, the NSW Government is trying to criminalise the possession and use of prong collars by professional dog trainers, behaviour specialists, owners managing serious behaviour problems and people with disability.
At the same time, government dog handlers will remain free to use the same tools.
This does not make sense.
These figures do not prove that every dog euthanased for behavioural reasons could have been saved by using a prong collar. We have never made that claim.
What they do prove is that behavioural failure is one of the most serious welfare issues facing dogs entering the RSPCA NSW system.
When behaviour is the recorded reason for more than seven out of every ten dog euthanasias, the Government should be expanding access to competent behavioural help.
It should be consulting the professional trainers and behaviour specialists who work with serious cases every day.
It should be examining every safe and effective option.
It should be building regulated pathways that include proper assessment, correct fitting, professional instruction, informed consent, records and accountability.
Instead, it is proposing a blanket criminal prohibition without demonstrating that removing this tool will improve behavioural outcomes or reduce euthanasia.
There has been no meaningful consultation with the Professional Dog Trainers of Australia during the development of this prohibition.
No evidence has been produced showing that the Government examined whether removing access to specialised training tools could increase behavioural surrender, management failure or euthanasia.
No regulated professional pathway has been offered.
No disability pathway has been offered.
No individual assessment process has been offered.
No reasonable adjustment mechanism has been offered.
But government handlers still get an exemption.
If these tools can be used responsibly by trained government handlers, why can they not be used through a tightly regulated professional pathway?
Why should an experienced professional working to prevent surrender or euthanasia face criminal penalties for using a tool that government handlers are permitted to use?
This is why the RSPCA NSW figures matter to our fight.
The real animal welfare emergency is not the existence of a piece of training equipment.
It is dogs being surrendered, becoming unmanageable and dying because serious behavioural problems have not been successfully resolved.
Before the NSW Government removes an option used in some of the most difficult behaviour cases, it must examine the likely consequences.
It must consult the people doing this work.
It must listen to affected dog owners and people with disability.
It must explain why government handlers deserve regulated access while everyone else is denied even the possibility of individual assessment.
With more than seven out of every ten dog euthanasias at RSPCA NSW attributed to behavioural reasons, this is not the time to make effective behavioural intervention harder to access.
It is time for evidence, consultation and accountable regulation.
Not political slogans and blanket bans.
Source: RSPCA NSW Annual Report 2025
Source: RSPCA Australia National Statistics 2023 to 2024
Chris Minns
