Line #11 Main/ShootTheDog


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4	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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8	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1551701385057602700
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11	[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superman_kills_zod_n_for_nerds_1.png]]]]
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13	->''"But I've sworn to protect this sorry world, and sometimes that means saying and doing what other people can't -- they shouldn't have to."''
14	-->-- '''Rupert Giles''', ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E22TheGift The Gift]]"
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16	When a character does [[DirtyBusiness an ambiguously (a)moral act]] because current circumstances make it the most pragmatic and logical thing to do. If TheHero performs the job himself, he may even go so far as to hide it from the rest of the cast (possibly with [[PoorCommunicationKills serious repercussions later]]) due to the risk of [[SlaveToPR compromising his moral standards]], or they might say WhatTheHellHero to which he might reply IDidWhatIHadToDo. Otherwise, the AntiHero or TheLancer, whose reputations won't be hurt as severely for the deed, [[SparingThemTheDirtyWork take up the task so that the hero doesn't have to]]. May demonstrate WhatYouAreInTheDark, and is a major reason why BeingGoodSucks.
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18	If one Shoots the Dog too often, one runs the risk of becoming a KnightTemplar or PsychoSupporter. Alternatively, a PsychoSidekick, popular in hard-boiled crime fiction since the 1980s or so, is a character whom the author approves of whose main purpose is to Shoot the Dog whenever necessary. TheSpock is also likely to suggest Shooting the Dog and is the personification of this trope. Depending on [[StrawVulcan the]] [[StrawmanEmotional slant]] [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism of]] the series, he will also be the one to carry out the shooting, or the characters will TakeAThirdOption at the last minute. If the author doesn't want to compromise his heroes' goodness, he'll have the BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork. One common way to show the emotional pain this causes is by showing the shooter [[CradlingYourKill cradling their kill]].
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20	This trope is named after the [[ItWasHisSled climactic scene]] of ''Literature/OldYeller'', where the protagonist shoots the "ol' yeller dog" he has come to love [[MercyKill to spare him a miserable death from rabies]].
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22	For a diametric opposition that makes you ''cheer'' for the hero's senselessness, see HonorBeforeReason. For extra anguish, make it a SenselessSacrifice because the 'dog' is shot at a point when [[InterruptedCooldownHug he's no longer a threat]]. (And never underestimate the power of FridgeLogic to turn an act from 'necessary' to 'but why??')
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24	Note that this trope is '''''not''''' KickTheDog [[Administrivia/TheSameButMore But More So]] (the closest thing to that would be MoralEventHorizon); kicking the dog is the villain being evil just to show the audience how evil he is. Shooting the Dog is an ostensibly good character doing [[DirtyBusiness something that is necessary but morally grey]] -- such as putting down the old family pet. ({{Past Experience Nightmare}}s are far more likely after shooting the dog than after kicking it.) Senseless shooting of a dog would actually fall under KickTheDog or MoralEventHorizon. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant And it also has nothing to do]] with the desire every 8-bit gamer ''ever'' has had to shoot the ''VideoGame/DuckHunt'' [[TheScrappy dog]].
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26	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant This may or may not be confused with]] [[http://www.rrrrthats5rs.com/games/dont-shoot-the-puppy/ Don't Shoot The Puppy,]] but do not confuse with ShootTheShaggyDog, which is a particular form of DownerEnding.
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28	Compare/contrast with JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, LightIsNotGood, OmniscientMoralityLicense, WellIntentionedExtremist, KnightTemplar, TheUnfettered, RevoltingRescue, CruelToBeKind, PragmaticHero. If the act is presented as outright wrong (instead of hard but just) it may fall under DesignatedEvil. When a villain does the deed so the hero won't have to, it's BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork.
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31	!!Example subpages:
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35	%% This trope is NOT ABOUT LITERALLY SHOOTING DOGS (usually), e.g. the Mooks in the movie "Equilibrium" shooting dogs with shotguns DOES NOT COUNT...
36	%% Shoot the Dog is something a protagonist might do: commit a morally gray but necessary act (like shooting Old Yeller).
37	%% If you want to add an example that is merely firing a gun at a canine, don't; if you see an example like that, delete it or move it to KickTheDog.
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41	[[index]]
42	* ShootTheDog/AnimeAndManga
43	* [[ShootTheDog/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
44	* ShootTheDog/{{Literature}}
45	* ShootTheDog/LiveActionTV
46	* ShootTheDog/VideoGames
47	[[/index]]
48
49	!!Other examples:
50
51	[[foldercontrol]]
52
53	[[folder:Comic Books]]
54	* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Montoya]] and ComicBook/TheQuestion are at the wedding of [[Characters/ShazamBlackMarvelFamily Black Adam]] and Isis looking for a [[SuicideAttack suicide bomber]]. When they find the bomber they discover that it is a young girl, just a kid, but they are too far away from her to reach her before she detonates her bomb. Since an explosion in this crowded space would result in hundreds, possibly thousands of deaths Renee realizes she has no choice and shoots the bomber, killing her before she can activate the device. Charlie, and later Black Adam himself, [[YouDidEverythingYouCould assure her that she had no choice]], but Renee [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is traumatised by the fact that she]] [[TheseHandsHaveKilled just killed a little kid]].
55	* ''ComicBook/{{Absalom}}'': Absalom and his men sometimes kill kittens to draw out vampires.
56	* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'': At the climax of ''Atomic Robo and the Vengeful Dead'', Robo's right-hand man [[TheDreaded Jenkins]] is infected by the parallel universe vampires, and ALAN reluctantly {{Mercy Kill}}s him at his own insistence. While Robo refuses to hold it against ALAN, saying that [[OneManArmy he probably saved everyone there, including Robo himself, from what Jenkins could do if fully turned]], ALAN takes it pretty badly.
57	-->'''ALAN:''' You forgive me, then?\
58	'''Robo:''' You did the only thing you could. What Jenkins ''asked'' you to do. There's nothing to forgive.\
59	'''ALAN:''' Then why can't I forgive myself?\
60	'''Robo:''' Yeah, that's harder.
61	* ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'': In one arc, a woman comes to the team claiming to be three-year-old Jenny Quantum's mother. In fact, it turns out she's Jenny's twin ''sister'', Jenny Fractal, with all the same reality-warping powers, but absolutely insane [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds because she was kidnapped and brainwashed by a government conspiracy]]. Fractal kills Jenny and tears a hole in the fabric of reality that will destroy the world. The only way to stop her and save Jenny is for Midnighter to go back in time and murder Fractal as a helpless baby, just hoping he can tell the difference between her and his daughter. It works, but he was very reluctant to do it, and can barely stand to look at Jenny once it's over. He might be a textbook SociopathicHero, but that's a line even ''he'' feels rotten for crossing.
62	* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman'' revolves around whether or not ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret group of some the world's most influential heroes, including Iron Man, [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Mister Fantastic]], ComicBook/BlackPanther and [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]]) are willing to shoot the dog. Shooting the dog, in their case, means potentially destroying an entire alternate version of the planet Earth due to a phenomenon known as "incursions." During an incursion, two universes clash, with their respective Earths being the collision point. If the two Earths collide, the universes are destroyed, so the only way to save both universes is to destroy one of the Earths. [[spoiler:For the most part, the Illuminati avoid committing genocide because most of the alternate Earths end up being destroyed by people other than them, with the first case in which they had to choose the destruction of an Earth by themselves having said Earth devoid of life. When the time comes to choose to destroy an inhabited world, everyone but Namor decides it's not worth it, so he destroys the Earth himself, prompting the rest of the Illuminati to kick him out. Then, Namor assembles a group of villainous monsters to destroy the ensuing colliding Earths until the final incursion between the last two universes.]]
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64	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]] ''thought'' he was doing this for Characters/{{Batman\|TheCharacter}} and Characters/{{Nightwing\|DickGrayson}} back when he was more AntiHero than AntiVillain. Then he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope went really dark]].
65	* ''ComicBook/BeastWarsUprising'': The comic is an extended deconstruction of this. In the GreyAndGrayMorality of the Grand Uprising, many factions and characters are willing to Shoot The Dog if victory depends on it... a fact that does nothing but [[FromBadToWorse make the conflict even worse]], as [[GodzillaThreshold it pushes everybody else into increasingly extreme acts out of fear and desperation]]. Most notably, Lio Convoy's near-constant and ruthless dog-shooting not only leaves him [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone overwrought with crippling guilt]], but also pushes the Builders into unleashing [[spoiler:the Vehicon plague, which quickly spirals out of control and threatens to destroy the entire planet]]. It's also clear that many of the crimes committed for the supposed "greater good" are actually done out of [[HanlonsRazor incompetence or self-gratification rather than intelligent pragmatism]]. In the end, [[spoiler:the real heroes who save Cybertron end up being people like the Ex-Bots or Hot Rod, who refused to let the war corrupt them and did everything they could to find a better way. The DistantFinale shows that most of the dog-shooters get remembered as little more than idiots and bastards who almost got everyone killed]].
66	* ''ComicBook/{{Bloodquest}}'': In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' comic, Cloten and Lysander are forced to gun down civilians while masquerading as renegade marines, or they would risk blowing their cover. They are utterly disgusted by what they have done, but given that a Chaos invasion was under way and if they just left the civilians to actual Chaos Marines to find them and [[FateWorseThanDeath the horrible things they would put them through]], it was just better to kill them [[MercyKill as mercifully as possible]].
67	* ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'': Doctor Strange will do whatever is necessary to protect the Earth and his loved ones. He'll agonize about it afterward, but he'll still do it.
68	* ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'': In the second storyline, the team are assigned the job of killing the Phoenix. They initially think this is no problem because, hey, it's just the Phoenix Force replacing Jean, right? ''Wrong.'' They're informed that in this reality, it's just Jean. Suddenly, everyone but Blink (who has less emotional connection to her reality's Jean) gets cold feet. Then the Tallus shows them what will happen if they don't. However, even with this knowledge, they still find it hard, and as a result half that reality's X-Men die. Funnily enough, the next storyline introduces their shadowy counterpart team, Weapon X, whose job is to do the more unsettling parts of fixing reality (and even ''they'' sometimes have complaints about what they do).
69	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternCorps'' #66, the combined corruption of Parallax and the Black Lanterns have made it impossible to heal [[spoiler:Mogo]]. As long as [[spoiler:Mogo]] is active, he will continue to send out Parallax corrupted Green Lantern Rings across the universe, dooming countless billions to die by the hands of those who should be their champions. Faced with no alternative, John Stewart [[spoiler: channels Black Lantern energy and ''[[EarthShatteringKaboom destroys Mogo]]'']]. Stewart has become kind of a magnet for this sort of thing, as he also [[spoiler:killed a fellow Lantern who had broken under torture and was about to give up the access codes to Oa]].
70	%%* ''ComicBook/HackSlash'': The ending of the story ''Little Children''.
71	* ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'': Some ComicBook/{{Justice League\|OfAmerica}} members [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erased Dr. Light's memory]], and when Batman found out about it, [[spoiler:they did the same to him]].
72	%%* ''ComicBook/NickFury'': Everything [[Characters/SHIELDDirectors Nick Fury]] does in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse falls into this category.
73	* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': Invincible once [[spoiler:killed future Immortal, who turned into a dictator and was begging him to do it]].
74	* ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'': In Creator/AlanMoore's run, the titular character [[spoiler: executes the innocent Johnny Bates]] to permanently prevent [[spoiler: his evil alter-ego Kid Miracleman from resurfacing]]. Subverted in that [[spoiler:Miracleman had already thrown a bus full of people at Bates/Miracleman without a second thought. The caption implies he did so while with at least partial awareness of the innocent deaths that would cause. It didn't hurt Bates anyway. Which Miracleman may have known]]. Miracleman also [[spoiler:kills Gargunza's dog to stop it from turning back into a monster. With a ''rock'']].
75	* ''[[ComicBook/RatMan1989 Rat-Man]]'': In the GrandFinale, a broken and defeated [[BigBad Topin]] mocks Rat-Man with the fact he, being a superhero, can't kill, thus he'll come back again and [[spoiler:kidnap and brainwash his daughter]], and if he kills him he won't be a superhero anymore... But before Rat-Man can decide if to take the risk or kill him [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork former Big Bad Janus Valker kills him]], [[PapaWolf keeping his son from taking a life]].
76	* ''ComicBook/RevolutionaryWar'': In the Creator/MarvelUK event, Mephisto has brainwashed the hero Killpower into leading a demonic invasion of Britain for him. In the final issue, his former partner Motormouth manages to re-access his heroic personality, who begs her to kill him before Mephisto reasserts his control. Motormouth refuses, as she's a hero, but Colonel Liger of the ''ComicBook/{{Warheads}}'', Major Hauer of the Supersoldiers, and ComicBook/DeathsHead I and II point out that they are most certainly ''[[AntiHero not]]'' heroes and empty copious amounts of lead into him.
77	* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'': Shade is forced to kill an enemy that can't be reasoned with or contained.
78	-->"I can't defend it. It was probably wrong... but... things aren't always black and white, are they? Sometimes I guess things get so gray you can't do what's right... only what's going to be least wrong."
79	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': In the fourth issue of ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'', Streaky the Supercat appears to be de-stabilizing a reactor core to blow the school up, so Lena decides to shoot him. However Characters/{{Supergirl\|TheCharacter}} stops her.
80	-->'''Supergirl:''' You were trying to shoot the cat!\
81	'''Lena:''' I was stopping the cat from destroying us all!
82	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': In the storyline ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlSaga'', Superman is the last living bastion of good in an alternate universe and must pass judgement on three Kryptonian criminals [[ApocalypseWow who just went and murdered the entire Earth]]. As he would reason with the Cleric during the ''ComicBook/SupermanExile'' storyline, they threatened to escape to his Earth and destroy it as well and he felt that trying to try them on his Earth wouldn't even fly, so he is forced to play judge, jury and executioner and kill the trio with Kryptonite. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Superman is so distraught by this]] that it's part of the reasoning for his exile from Earth.
83	* ''ComicBook/{{Thorgal}}'': The comic has one case of this when Thorgal and [[ClingyJealousGirl Shania]] end up petitioning one of the gods for the return of Thorgal's wife. Said god lives on a box floating in the middle of a void filled with threads, with each thread representing a single human life. All the god requires to return Thorgal's wife is for Thorgal to take his bow and fire an arrow in any given direction, which will be certain to at some point sever a thread and kill ''someone''. When Thorgal can't bring himself to do it, Shania takes the bow from him and does it instead. [[spoiler:The thread she severs turns out to be her own.]]
84	* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen2001'': An unfortunate teenager wakes up one morning and discovers that he's a mutant [[BlessedWithSuck whose sole ability]] is to emit an InstantDeathRadius [[WalkingWasteland of a few hundred feet that kills every living thing around him]]. By the time he realizes what's happening, he has unwittingly killed his entire town including his family and friends. Frightened out of his mind, he hides in a nearby cave. Then Wolverine, who is able to survive thanks to his HealingFactor, appears. He gives the kid a beer and tells him what happened. In the end, to keep the kid from accidentally hurting anyone else and to keep his existence a secret (since news of a mutant with that kind of power would destroy any chance of peace between mutants and humans), Wolverine kills him. By that point it's almost a MercyKill since the kid can't live with being responsible for so much death.
85	* ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'': [[spoiler:One of the children in the group, Ben, kills and cuts apart his twin sibling. This prompts an eight-year-old Carl Grimes, son of the protagonist, to shoot Ben, because he was "too dangerous" and his father WouldntHurtAChild]].
86	* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': [[spoiler:Ozymandias]]'s plan is a ''nuke'' the dog. Then later [[spoiler: he has to disintegrate his beloved pet, a genetically engineered lynx, in an attempt to destroy Dr. Manhattan]].
87	* ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': As Wolverine puts it so often, he's the best there is at what does, and what he does... isn't very nice. Often Logan will take it upon himself to do whatever no-one else on the team is able to bring themselves to do, such as disposing of a guard blocking them from getting to a vital area.
88	** Subverted in ''ComicBook/Wolverine1988' #47. The killer's wacked-out behaviour causes Logan to associate him with a rabid dog, which for some reason makes Logan unable to kill him, shown as flashbacks to him being unable to put down a rabid pet dog when he was young. [[spoiler:After Logan retracts his claws, the killer is shot dead by a female police officer. In talking with her, Logan reveals at the end of the issue that Silver Fox took the gun from him and shot the dog herself.]]
89	** [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]] was recruited into the ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' specifically so that they'd have someone willing to shoot the dog on the team. With [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]], Characters/LukeCage, and [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]] on the team at the time, the argument was that they needed a dog-shooter for those situations when a hard moral choice might be necessary.
90	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Vol. 2]]: In ''Sacrifice'', Characters/{{Wonder Woman\|TheCharacter}} [[spoiler:snapped Maxwell Lord's neck, in order to break his mind control over Superman. The latter wasn't too happy when he found out]].
91	* ''ComicBook/XForce'': In ''ComicBook/UncannyXForce'', it is revealed that a resurrected [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] will bring about the Age of Apocalypse. To prevent this, X-Force, an already morally ambiguous team that's entire purpose is to shoot the dog, decides to kill Apocalypse. However, it's revealed that Apocalypse is actually a child, who is still innocent. The team is split, with Angel the most adamant about killing Kid Apocalypse, saying that Kid Apocalypse won't be able to control his nature, and that doing this will save millions of lives. However, he stops himself, and the team decide to take Kid Apocalypse back for training. Then Fantomex shoots him in the head. Later on, Deadpool of all people is the one to call the team out on this, and Wolverine says it was the right thing to do, and that sparing him was just a moment of weakness. Fantomex himself secretly cloned Kid Apocalypse.
92	* ''ComicBook/XMen'': During ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', at the end everyone acknowledges that with Jean's level of power, killing her probably ''is'' the most sensible decision, monstrous though it is. They just can't bring themselves to do it. In the end, Jean does it herself. Then later retcons reveal it wasn't Jean, just the Phoenix Force imitating Jean.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
96	* In Creator/FranzXaverVonSchonwerth's "Literature/KingGoldenlocks", a king orders his servants to execute the main character in the woods and bring his tongue and eyes as proof of his death. However, the servants cannot bring themselves to kill their innocent young prince, so they let Goldenlocks go, kill a dog and use its eyes and tongue to trick the king.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Fan Works]]
100	* One of the key factors that makes the ''Fanfic/AftermathOfTheGames'' universe an AU is that Princess Twilight wasn't able to talk Starlight Glimmer down like she was able to do in canon. So she was forced to defeat her by [[spoiler: retgoning the original by adopting her younger self from her OrphanageOfFear and taking her to the future]]. It's made perfectly clear that this really ''was'' the only choice Twilight had. Despite this, and her friends, brother, and fellow princesses assuring her that her decision was necessary to save Equestria, she's massively haunted by it. [[spoiler: Especially since she thinks the Original Starlight set up her time traveling scheme as a SuicideByCop gambit, not to mention how [[AscendedFridgeHorror Twilight's fully aware]] of the [[ButterflyOfDoom possible consequences of rewriting part of the timeline]].]]
101	** ''Integration'' has [[BigGood Celestia]] telling Twilight's friends that part of helping her rule will sometimes require making difficult decisions with harsh consequences. When they all show fear of doing this, [[TheSacredDarkness Luna]] tells them that that's actually good, because hating the responsibility means not only will they'll be able to handle it better than most ponies, they'll truly manage to keep any decisions like that to an absolutely last resort.
102	* ''FanFic/BetterAngels'' has this as Shane Walsh's modus operandi, lightly contrasting the "Ricktatorship" that takes place in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' show canon.
103	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' fan comic from Website/DeviantArt, "[[https://fuyuflowga.deviantart.com/gallery/64893285/Cagney-is-a-Carnation Cagney Is a Carnation]]" by [[https://fuyuflowga.deviantart.com/ fuyuflowga]], [[TheWoobie Cagney]] [[DeathSeeker Carnation]] has to become NecessarilyEvil in order to get the sibling protagonists Cuphead and Mugman to battle him out for the Soul Contract, [[DeathEqualsRedemption knowing that he'll at least be free from servitude to the Devil if he gets killed]]. During the battle, on discovering that Mugman must be so important to Cuphead, Cagney reaches a terrible, reluctant decision: he has to [[WouldHurtAChild kill Mugman with his bare, thorny vines]] in an effort to spur his brother to avenge him and destroy Cagney for the contract. Needless to say, the ploy works ([[https://fuyuflowga.deviantart.com/art/Cagney-is-a-Carnation-page-9-717554651 and the result just isn't pretty]]), although [[UnexplainedRecovery both Mugman and Cagney get better]] after a hard battle.
104	* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'':
105	** Bucky Barnes a.k.a. the Winter Soldier snaps [[spoiler: Arthur Weasley's]] neck in chapter 70 of the first book while still partially under HYDRA's control, on the grounds that [[spoiler: Arthur]] was facing a FateWorseThanDeath if captured alive. Of course, while it was a genuine MercyKill, one that [[spoiler: Arthur]] thanked him for and held no grudge over post-mortem, his family don't see it the same way. Which, since they don't know that the Winter Soldier is in fact not dead, but actually right under their nose, is a problem just waiting to be exploited in the sequel...
106	** Peter Wisdom [[spoiler: a.k.a. Regulus Black]], Director of [=MI13=], whose willingness to do this is perhaps his defining trait. In the sequel, for instance, he makes it abundantly clear to Thor that he would personally shoot Harry, a fourteen-year-old boy, in the head if he proved to be a mortal threat to Britain -- a genuine possibility, considering [[spoiler:the fact that Harry's got a fragment of the Phoenix inside him, his body was used to conquer half a continent by the Red Room, and he's already gone Dark Phoenix once]] -- and he thought that it was necessary (though he is aware that it would most likely just make things worse). He'd feel horrifically guilty for doing so, but he'd do it, and accept the retribution that came with it.
107	** Doctor Strange is also ruthlessly manipulative, coldly moving people around like chess pieces, and continually calculating the cost-benefit balance of each action in human and superhuman lives via his [[spoiler: Time Stone]] boosted abilities as a {{Seer\|s}}. As he puts it: "I do what I must, because the alternative would be worse."
108	* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron'': C.C. has no problems with doing this, [[spoiler: as she was perfectly willing to kill Viletta when the latter saw Shirley's face]].
109	* In the ''Fanfic/DeliverUsFromEvilSeries'', Smith kills his step-nephew (who was a nice guy) [[{{Greed}} out of a desire for his brother's estate]], infects [[HyperCompetentSidekick Davey Wiggins]] and [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] Holmes for the heck of it. Luckily for Holmes, Watson kills Smith when he tortures Holmes with an inch of his life and [[TooDumbToLive gloats over the guy while he's dying]]. That ''proves'' that messing with a detective is '''''not''''' a smart or survivable idea in this fic.
110	* ''Fanfic/FallenKing'' has Joey throwing Ryou Bakura off the helicopter to his death.
111	-->''"I'm protecting my friends," [Joey] replied. Though his voice was steady, his body trembled fiercely. Things had certainly changed. "He's not our friend."''
112	* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': Calamity is not shy about shooting anything threatening, even if it's morally ambiguous to do so. When the group sees a raider colt who hadn't even gotten his cutie mark yet, Littlepip and Velvet Remedy can't bring themselves to shoot, but Calamity kills him without hesitation. As he points out, the colt was currently participating in the rape and murder of an innocent pony; the fact that [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior such a young pony was involved is a tragedy]], but he makes no apologies for killing a raider.
113	* In ''Fanfic/FracturedSovereignGFC'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[=/=]''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]], Samantha Shepard experiences a HeroicBSOD that tilts her away from her usual paragon self, but in the sequel ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', she has MyGodWhatHaveIDone breakdown that makes her question why anyone else would keep her around. Others justify retaining Shepard (rather than imprisoning her for war crimes) based on [[IDidWhatIHadToDo She Did What She Had to Do]]. There are plenty of other morally-questionable actions throughout that may or may not have been {{justified\|Trope}} InUniverse through IDidWhatIHadToDo but nonetheless qualify as shooting the dog:
114	** Moxxi gets Jackie drunk during a "therapy" session to keep her talking.
115	** Jackie deliberately allows an otherwise-innocent marine to be killed by defense systems in her family's Vaults, since him calling for help would lock everyone inside.
116	** Depending on one's [[WellIntentionedExtremist point of view]], the Republic Intelligence Service's attempts to deal with the AlienInvasion could qualify.
117	** Admiral Nimitz clearly does not like working with the Maliwans and Torgue who gleefully bombarded civilian worlds to punish Jakobs.
118	** The KOMBT School seems to qualify as a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors since [[TrainingFromHell severe injuries]] are considered par for the course in its more physical classes. [[HealingFactor Bacta]] takes most of the sting out, and is the given reason why such brutal training is even allowed in the first place.
119	** Keeping Sarah around after she killed [[AMillionIsAStatistic millions]] to stop the [[spoiler:Flood]] doesn't let the heroes sleep easy at night either.
120	** The Citadel Council, after being [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering incompetent morons]] for most of the story, finally "do what is necessary"...by sentencing the entire Terminus to death in order to buy time for defenses to consolidate elsewhere. [[spoiler:Surprise! It doesn't work]].
121	* In ''Fanfic/JewelOfDarkness'', Falcon convinces the [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Endless Council]] to send an assassin after Midnight in order to prevent Trigon from using her as his portal. The justification he gives is that as she's evil, she's more easily corruptible than other versions of Raven, which means that there's a greater chance she won't defeat Trigon, allowing him to conquer that universe, and [[MultiversalConqueror later the whole multiverse]]. He presents this as the LesserOfTwoEvils.
122	* ''Fanfic/MirrorsImage'': Queen Chrysalis was forced to let her first daughter die of starvation, rather than let the rest of her subjects die trying to feed her.
123	* ''Fanfic/{{Moonshadow}}'': Discussed and Played Straight. The plan the group comes up with to deal with The Collector in chapter 9 is to send them back to their prison with the mirror disc Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter found in the human realm and then destroy it leaving them permanently stuck there. King and Eda voice their concern over the morality of this with Luz eventually coming to the realization that they’ll be sentencing a child into eternal solitary confinement. Darius in chapter 10 admits to not liking it but [[TheNeedsOfTheMany not seeing any other solution]] and [[DirtyBusiness having to make these kinds of decisions before]].
124	* ''Fanfic/NightOfTheShy'': After Fluttershy is [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the BigBad, [[EldritchAbomination Nightmare]], the rest of the Mane Cast reluctantly discuss the possibility that if all else fails, they may have to kill Fluttershy in order to defeat Nightmare. Princess Luna actually attempts to do so during the Battle of Ponyville [[spoiler: but is OutGambitted before she can strike the killing blow and is killed herself]].
125	* In ''Fanfic/OrderInChaos'', a Centauri patrol finds an Orieni explorer and initially accepts their surrender... Up until the desperate Orieni admit they had landed on Na'ka'leen and ''something'' had invaded their squadron there, at which point they destroy the explorer, screen the survivors for infection, kill the infected on the spot, and interrogate the last ones to find out how many other ships were with them so they'll be able to destroy every single one. Na'ka'leen is home of brain-eating creatures that reproduce by infecting sentients, hence why the Centauri had quarantined it (the Orieni having managed to land on it only due the war forcing the Centauri to redeploy most of the blockade ships), and allowing even a single one to reach an inhabited planet would mean sentencing ''billions'' to death, with not shooting down the ship to reduce the Orieni to interrogate would carry an unacceptable risk of an infectee slipping by and start the cycle anew on their ship.
126	* In ''Fanfic/OriginStory'', there is Alex Harris's reluctant murder of Henry Peter Gyrich. Gyrich was going to keep coming after Alex and Louise, and it was inevitable that Louise would eventually get killed, as she already nearly had been during Bullseye's attack. To Alex, removing Gyrich from the equation was the only possible way to keep Louise safe. So she removed him.
127	* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', [[spoiler: this is how the Alicorns and Draconnequi justify destroying the G3 world and triggering a CosmicRetcon. If they hadn't, the errors in that world would have caused it to collapse anyway and [[ApocalypseHow destroy everything]]. At least their way allows the world to start over again; they even state they wouldn't be doing so if they had any other choice]].
128	** Similarly, [[spoiler: this is why, after the universe reboots, Destruction prevents the transition from G2 to G3 by basically nuking the planet at the critical moment. Sure, millions die and pony civilization collapses back into the Dark Ages, but if he hadn't, the CosmicRetcon would have been rendered pointless]].
129	** [[spoiler:Pandora, the Draconequus of Imagination, had no choice to imprison her child (the entity that would eventually become General-Admiral Makarov) [[SealedEvilInACan in her box]] after it went on a rampage and turned the Realm of Legends into its own twisted fairy tale, despite clearly not ''wanting'' to. Later on, she has to help Shining feed Makarov to [[ClockRoaches the Blank Wolf]] to save the entire world, and more or less sees doing so as this trope.]]
130	* ''Fanfic/ThePowersOfHarmony'': When [[BigBad Cetus]] first [[HiddenVillain reveals]] herself, Luna and Shining Armor try to kill her, despite the fact that [[spoiler: she's [[DemonicPossession possessing Rarity]]]]. Shining actually points out that everyone else will be upset with them, but Luna views it as a necessary evil.
131	* ''Fanfic/RiseOfTheGaleforces'': [[spoiler:Violet feeds [[BigBad Ludlow]] to baby T. rexes. ''In front of everyone.'' Though to be fair, Adam did imply several times before that Ludlow thoroughly deserved it]].
132	* In the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'', we have Takeru's plan to [[spoiler: allow Takato to die in order to prevent Daemon from acquiring the power of God]].
133	* In the ''Teen Care Bears'' series the Care Bear Magi state that this is their purpose: they were created to take on the burdens and perform the actions that the main Care Bear Family cannot, specifically to kill threats to peace and caring that cannot be reasoned with. Their first major series of actions is to systematically kill every member of the [[FantasticRacism Hunters]], an organization that pathologically fears and attempts to destroy all forms of magic, as leaving them alive might cause most of humanity to turn on the Care Bears. In a later story, they seem determined to kill Fauna because she's been corrupted by No-Heart and might pose an unstoppable threat to everyone if she's left alive.
134	* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'': [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix]], in order to save [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]] from a guilty verdict by extending the trial one day to get more time to investigate, [[spoiler:[[AccuseTheWitness places suspicion of the murder over Fluttershy]]]]. To make matters worse, [[WhatTheHellHero he gets berated constantly as he's doing this]], and given the circumstances, he can't explain to them neither his reasoning behind this nor [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone how much he hates himself for it]].
135	* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592717/chapters/67500103 Your Own Worse Enemy]]'', which takes place 5 years before ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Toshinori Yagi (All-Might) and Izuku Midoriya are both passengers on the ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' and need to overcome their issues to get off the train. In [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592717/chapters/75640955 chapter 7]], [[spoiler:Izuku manages to get his number to zero and gain a way home, but decides to stay on the train until Toshinori gets his number down to zero. Toshinori, not wanting Izuku to spend years on the train and away from the family, pushes the boy into the exit. And then two chapters later, it turns out to have been AllForNothing, as the grief of not saying goodbye to his companions causes him to be trap between the two worlds]].
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Print Media]]
139	* A classic cover for the National Lampoon magazine features a gun being held to the head of a dog with the warning "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog." At the time the magazine was struggling, so the cover was intentionally controversial to inspire interest. [[CrossesTheLineTwice On the back, the gun is smoking and the dog is missing with the comment "You should have bought the magazine!"]]
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
143	* In 2008, Wrestling/{{Batista}} confronted Wrestling/ShawnMichaels for doing this to Wrestling/RicFlair and ending his career. ''Old Yeller'' was referenced leading up to the friendly match at Wrestling/WrestleMania 24, but -- as was referenced in the color commentary for the match itself -- it was rabies, not age, that forced the main character to kill the dog. Still, the match was presented as Shawn knowing full well that Flair was too old to wrestle any more and that he was going to lose to ''someone'' soon -- all Michaels could do was fulfill his friend's wishes and be the one to end his career. It's implied that Batista was jealous, because Flair asked Michaels and not him.
144	* Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's actions in the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob. Vince and Shawn really did screw Wrestling/BretHart out of the [=WWF=] Championship, out of Vince's fear that Bret would appear on rival promotion Wrestling/{{WCW}} with the title, since Hart was about to leave the [=WWF=] and go work for [=WCW=]. Something similar had happened before where then-[=WWF=] Women's Champion [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} Alundra Blaze]] dumped the Women's Championship belt into a garbage can on WCW's flagship program, ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', and Vince didn't want the same thing to happen again. Hart refused to drop the title to Michaels, since the two had bad blood. Finally, at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries in 1997, as Michaels put Hart into Hart's own submission move, Vince called for the bell, costing Hart the match. Whether or not the real-life screwjob was justified or not is still a contentious issue among wrestling fans, even today.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Roleplay]]
148	* In ''Roleplay/YuGiOhEastAcademy'', Marcus orders his partner to read the mind of a helpless cultist then execute him. Naturally, [[WhatTheHellHero this horrifies the other members]].
149	* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' character Adam Dodd was forced to euthanise his friend Marcus Roddy, as he had fallen into a coma. Most of the rest of his group didn't agree with the action, but Adam pointed out that had they left him catatonic, somebody else would have just come along and done the same, or he would have just been eaten by animals or some equally gruesome fate.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
153	* One bit of flavour in ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' is a message from a Firewall veteran telling you how much of your career will consist of this and how shitty you will feel afterwards. One of the examples given involves a child infected with TheVirus, and a [[ThrownOutTheAirlock handy airlock]].
154	* In ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'', the Scorpion clan's 'hat' is that they exist solely to shoot the necessary dogs. The Scorpion, despite being traitorous bastards, are extremely loyal to the Emperor, and people who are worthy friends. Make sure you are one of those two, and preferably both.
155	** A story explaining them: An author asks, in jest, each clan what the most important virtue is. Each clan picks one, and the Scorpions pick loyalty, while the Lions pick honor. The other clans laugh at the Scorpion talking of Loyalty, since they are traitorous bastards. The Scorpion proposes that each Daimyo will call his greatest warrior in, and give him a task. The one whose warrior does not hesitate, loses. The others are suspicious, but he talks them into it, offering to demonstrate the task first. He calls his warrior in, stares at the author, and gives her a look that says, "You know what I am about to do." He then says his command. "Kill me." Without hesitation, the Scorpion Warrior kills his Daimyo, then draws a knife and commits ''seppuku''. Everyone else can only stare in awe.
156	* This was pretty much Urza's whole hat in the original storyline for ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering.'' He had several thousand years to prevent a [[SwarmOfAlienLocusts Phyrexian Invasion]] on his home plane of Dominaria. In the end, he started wars, killed thousands, ruined other planes (particular Rath and Mercadia), betrayed the person who was the closest thing he'd ever had to a son, sacrificed the lives of half a dozen other [[PhysicalGod pre-sundering Planeswalkers]], and was himself destroyed. When the smoke cleared, Dominaria was badly damaged, but still standing, while Phyrexia was a ruined husk, its [[DeusEstMachina Machine-God]] destroyed in the process. Pity that it got better a few years down the line.
157	** Taken to the most agonizingly literal extreme in the ''Shadows Over Innistrad'' block. The archangel Avacyn has been driven insane by Nahiri's cryptoliths, and is killing the very humans she was crafted to protect. And the only one strong enough to stop her is Sorin Markov. For reference, Sorin ''created'' Avacyn, and she is probably the ''only'' thing in the countless universes he still loves.
158	* The titular [[PlayerCharacter Nobles]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'', who have transcended human morality anyway, do some bad, bad things in their ForeverWar against the OmnicidalManiac Excrucians.
159	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
160	** [[TheEmpire The Imperium of Man]] regularly Blows Up The Planet The Dog Was Living On in response to the worst outbreaks of heresy, daemonic incursions, or alien threats. Billions are killed, and the planet is rendered uninhabitable or destroyed, but the alternative is generally much, much ''worse.'' To enforce this trope, a special Inquisitorial group scrutinizes every use of Exterminatus: if insufficient justification is found, the person who ordered it is sentenced to immediate execution, or to be killed on sight if they have already fled. (The [[MemeticMutation meme]] of Exterminatus being performed by the Imperium because someone on a planet sneezes and it sounds vaguely like "Chaos!" is pure {{Fanon}} and/or BlackComedy.)
161	** The [[ThePoliticalOfficer Commissars]] are justified in [[YouHaveFailedMe shooting their men]] as maintaining unit cohesiveness for the cost of a few men is preferable to having many more die in the chaos of a general rout.
162	* ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'': Parse is the most likely to put an arrow into someone's body. Her introduction to the world of Sentinel Comics was her stepping in and putting an arrow through the head of SerialKiller Spite, and Highbrow's villain origin involved Parse killing a different supervillain and her mutant brain was created in the aftereffects.
163	[[/folder]]
164
165	[[folder:Theatre]]
166	* In ''Theatre/AllMySons'', this is discussed when Chris is arguing with Ann about why he can't put his father in jail where he deserves to be. "We used to shoot a man who acted like a dog, but honor was real there, you were protecting something," Chris says. In this dog-eat-dog world, however, Chris doesn't see any sense in singling out his father for acting the way everyone else has to, even though "it just happened to kill a few people this time."
167	* In ''Theatre/{{Philoctetes}}'', after spending ten years away from home caught in a war with heavy casualties, it's reasonable that if Odysseus knew of a way to end it soon and with Greek victory, he would pursue that course. That course requires bringing a crippled man he had personally wronged and left alone on a DesertedIsland for years back to the war front. He is pragmatic in trying this first by deceit and then by force, because the man would never agree, but it's not very flattering for Odysseus.
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
171	* Teased ''hard'' in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney -- Justice for All'', where Phoenix has to make the SadisticChoice to either acquit a murderer or let his friend Maya die. While the game mercifully lets you TakeAThirdOption, it makes the player choose first whether you will violate justice or Shoot the Maya.
172	* In general, exposing the killer in a ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' case typically feels like this, since the culprit is often a SympatheticMurderer forced into a DeadlyGame like everyone else. If they are exposed they will receive a CruelAndUnusualDeath, but if the wrong person is picked ''everyone else will die instead''. Particularly sad examples of this:
173	** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' has a non-player version when [[spoiler:Kyoko]] is forced to [[spoiler:let [[TheHero Makoto]] take the blame for the fifth murder case in order to avoid a trap laid by the mastermind, leading the mastermind to attempt to execute Makoto in Kyoko’s place. Luckily [[ArtificialIntelligence Alter Ego]] hacks the machine and saves Makoto]].
174	** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' has an absolutely heartbreaking moment in Chapter 5, when [[spoiler:Chiaki turns out to be the [[AccidentalMurder accidental]] killer ''and'' the Future Foundation [[TheMole spy]]- only she ''isn't even a spy'', just an observer who was on the class's side the whole time. You have to play a few more mini games to convince everyone else that she is the spy, meaning that, in order to survive, you have to ''actively condemn Hajime’s {{Love Interest\|s}} to death'', all while the others ''beg and plead'' for you not to]]. Try not to feel like [[YouBastard a bastard]] afterwards...
175	** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has a similar situation with [[spoiler:[[GentleGiant Gonta]], who was manipulated by Kokichi into commuting the murder and lost his memories of it. You must prove this and condemn him to die, despite the desperate protests of nearly everyone else, except for Kokichi [[KickTheDog who just mocks you for it]], knowing that you can't touch him because he didn't do the deed himself]]. This is often considered to be a MoralEventHorizon for [[spoiler:Kokichi]] who [[ManipulativeBastard set it all up in the first place]].
176	* In the infamous "Mind of Steel" 'bad' end (#30) in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', having been told that [[spoiler:Sakura, the girl he loves, will go insane through mana deprivation and kill people]], Shirou decides to follow his father's footsteps by freezing his emotions in order to [[spoiler:kill Sakura]] and (once he learns [[spoiler:the [[ArtifactOfDoom true nature]] of the Grail]]) coldly win the Grail War--whatever it takes--for the sake of the greater good. As Kotomine says, now that he has turned his mind to steel, he ''is'' his father, and his success is guaranteed. Also, [[spoiler: killing Saber on the same route]]. Yes, it avoids a horrific Bad End, but at the time you have no way of knowing that, so choosing that option on your first playthrough without having read a walkthrough has many aspects of this.
177	* Doing morally questionable things like sacrificing others' lives for the team's sake is a recurring theme in ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'''s Decision Game, but a major one occurs in the "Outbreak" fragment, where [[spoiler:Phi has been infected with Radical-6 and begs Diana to kill and burn her before the virus spreads across the globe]]. The trope is {{defied\|Trope}} here, with horrible consequences: [[spoiler:''6 billion people'' die]].
178	[[/folder]]
179
180	[[folder:Web Animation]]
181	* The opening of ''WebAnimation/{{asdfmovie}} 9'':
182	-->'''Mom:''' Jimmy! Take out the dog!\
183	'''Jimmy:''' ''[puts on sunglasses]'' Yes mother. ''[[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant shoots]] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint dog]]]''\
184	'''Mom:''' ...For a ''walk'', Jimmy!
185	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Played for dark laughs in the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "virus". The computer viruses in Strong Bad's virus-riddled computer [[PaintingTheMedium start infecting the Flash file]] and [[RealityIsOutToLunch warping reality throughout Free Country USA]], so Bubs is forced to take a shotgun to the Compy to turn things back to normal.
186	-->'''Strong Bad:''' You murderer! You killed my brother! I mean, computer!\
187	'''Bubs:''' Look, Strong Bad, my mouth was a broken JPEG. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo I had no choice!]]
188	[[/folder]]
189
190	[[folder:Webcomics]]
191	* In ''Webcomic/{{Crossworlds}}'', Karl sees Lilly about to smash a [[HarmlessFreezing frozen]] slaver, and [[LiterallyShatteredLives does it himself instead]].
192	* In ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'', Rilian the First Necromancer has taken the role of Dog Shooter several times, and is always ready to do so again. Rilian has killed [[spoiler:Acibek]] on [[spoiler:Acibek]]'s request to seal the Storm of Souls the first time. He later killed [[spoiler:the first Sylvan Oracle]] to deal with the Storm a second time. He's also let [[spoiler:the Deegan's worst enemy]] threaten Dominic and [[spoiler:his brothers as children]], because he knew [[spoiler:their mother]] would [[MamaBear kill her to protect them]]. Later yet, he arranged for a "test" of Dominic and Luna, to see if Dominic was ready to Mindbreak; since Mindbreak is essentially a psychic SuperpowerMeltdown, it is a '''''very bad thing'''''. If Dominic failed any of the tests, Rilian was ready to kill him. Rilian noted once that his role requires him to be cold.
193	** Immediately afterwards, it was revealed that Rilian was able to [[spoiler:be his old jolly self around Dominic]] during the test, making the whole scene a rare case of [[PetTheDog Petting The Dog]] while holding a gun behind your back.
194	*** In a twist, while unaware of Rilian's [[ThePlan plan]], Dominic did check his future if he [[spoiler:didn't go on the trip]] -- definite Mindbreak and the mass murder of anyone within range -- which, given Dominic is one of the more powerful psychics in his universe, is pretty darned big.
195	* Baron Wulfenbach in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' apparently has to do this a lot. [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050803 At one point]] the heroine has to be talked into leaving a situation for him to deal with because they know he'll do it. (The fact that as the ruler of most of Europe he's much better ''equipped'' to handle it probably factored in as well.)
196	* In ''{{Webcomic/Harkovast}}'', Quinn-Tain breaks Brightleaf's neck because he considers after she has already been disarmed and is helpless. He considers this to be essential to serve as a warning to others. This gets a furious reaction from Scatterpod. After she has gone, Quinn-Tain expresses regret, but still considers his actions necessary evils.
197	* Towards the end of Act Five of ''WebComic/{{Homestuck}}'', [[spoiler:Vriska is about to leave the trolls' hiding place to try to confront [[BigBad Jack Noir]]. However, [[BlindSeer Terezi]], who has the power to predict the consequences of decisions, has foreseen that if Vriska leaves, Jack will follow her trail back and kill everyone remaining on the asteroid. Vriska refuses to listen, guessing that Terezi won't have the guts to stop her. [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice She guessed wrong]]]].
198	** Later, Aranea [[Film/TheWizardOfOz drops a house]] on [[spoiler: Jade, who really is part dog]], due to said dog being under villainous mind-control that would only be continuously reapplied if she were to live.
199	* In ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'', Cale'Anon on his quest to redeem his evil race through personal heroism, is railroaded by Forces Beyond His Control to murder a child in order to save the future. [[spoiler: The child turned out to be the Arch-Mage in disguise (and [[UnexplainedRecovery he got better]] as soon as they left), so it was actually a SecretTestOfCharacter.]]
200	* [[http://meninhats.com/d/20040802.html Played with]] in ''Webcomic/MenInHats'':
201	-->'''Aram:''' See me shredding the papers? This is the only humane way to deal with them. Like putting a dog to sleep instead of letting it run around with a tumor in its brain.\
202	'''Beriah:''' ...Is that why Scruffy's gone?\
203	'''Aram:''' No, that dog was just ugly.
204	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[SmugSnake Lord Kubota]] surrenders to avoid being killed, and once captured, proceeds to outline his plan to escape justice by manipulating the upcoming trial to an enraged Elan, who can't do anything about it. Vaarsuvius, however, overhears, and takes [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0595.html measures to eliminate the obviously still dangerous threat because Elan can't]]. The next strip subverts it, though -- Vaarsuvius had ''no idea'' who Kubota was, and had only overheard the "trial" portion, concluding that indulging in such a thing would do nothing but waste valuable time and making this more of a Kick the Dog moment for V.
205	* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'':
206	** There was debate among the fandom about whether Petey's making the Tricameral Assembly into an object lesson in the necessity of a healthy defense budget in the Teraport age by vaporizing them from orbit was a Shoot the Dog moment or falling through the MoralEventHorizon... [[spoiler: However, the revelation that the "vaporizing" was just a show to scare the other governments into compliance, and that he'd merely teleported them away to draft them into his attempt to save the Andromeda Galaxy -- and the universe in general -- from hostile Dark Matter aliens made it pretty clear it's the former]].
207	** Petey has a bit of a habit of this. [[spoiler:During the "A Function of Firepower" arc, those dark matter entities create a micro-supernova in the Xuvoth system, home to a world with a population of three hundred billion. Petey immediately uses precision targeting to take out every single teraport denial system in the system, then deploys a device that had been referred to as a "soulgig" and teleports the brains of the people out - essentially killing them in order to ensure that there is something to revive them from later.]]
208	** A failed version is the reason Kaff Tagon and his father Karl hate each other. [[spoiler:Kaff's girlfriend was a mule for a nanite attack, and had infected Kaff's mother. Karl grabbed them both and ordered Kaff to [[KillItWithFire throw an incendiary at all three of them]] before the nanites could spread and kill everyone else in the room. Kaff hesitated to kill his parents, so Karl had to grab one of his own grenades, but that gave the mule a chance to wriggle free and sprew nanites across the room, killing everyone except Kaff and Karl (who had their helmets up).]] Flinders points out that this was all Karl's fault: He could have pulled out an incendiary grenade ''before'' grabbing them, blowing up the whole mess in one go, but he couldn't bring himself to kill his wife so he asked his son to do it instead, then blamed him when he couldn't.
209	* In ''[[Webcomic/DHSComix Way Back Home]]'', thinking Mana Ahmad is dead, Elle moves to kill [[spoiler:Yasid]]; lest she "sully [her]self" -- in body whether or not not in soul, due to feathries' MarkOfShame -- Zamil does it instead.
210	* In ''Webcomic/TheWotch'', [[spoiler: [[https://www.thewotch.com/?comic=dolly-46 Miranda]] offs Natasha Dahlet]].
211	* ''Webcomic/ZombieRanch'': The Wild Zones are populated with "practical sorts" who either lived through the ZombieApocalypse or grew up knowing that zed bites are best dealt with quickly and with a minimum of fuss. The law's even on your side, as discussed [[http://www.zombieranchcomic.com/2010/11/17/52-a-moment-with-uncle-chuck/ here]].
212	[[/folder]]
213
214	[[folder:Web Original]]
215	* Ami from ''Literature/SailorNothing'' was a haughty Alpha whom most of the main characters hated, to the point that Shin [[IWishedYouWereDead said she hoped something horrible happened to her]]. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor And it does]]. [[spoiler: She's kidnapped by Argon of the Yamiko, who then turns her into a living music box by surgically strapping her into a machine made from human bones and teeth. Ami is kept in place with wires and hooks that are inserted into her face, eyelids, arms, legs, breasts, ''and her vagina''. The worst part is that Ami is still alive, and her mind hasn't been shattered so much as it has been obliterated completely, save for her mad laughter. And Argon purposefully targeted Ami because he knew the Sailors hated her, to make it a point that the so-called soldiers of peace and justice wished for an outright evil fate to befall on Ami.]]
216	* Happens a lot in ''Literature/ShadowUnit''; one instance involved an actual dog, which (hidden for squick) [[spoiler: a gamma nicknamed "Mrs. Chow" had started ''eating''. Alive. From the middle]].
217	[[/folder]]
218
219	[[folder:Web Videos]]
220	* Diddybob in ''WebVideo/MindMyGap'' finds himself stuck on the mountains with his only son Jona screaming and crying his head off. Nothing he tries to sooth him helps and the cries become too much for him to bear. He's right at the end of his mind until he's interrupted by the man from the mountains. "You've got a gun in that frikkin suitcase no? What are you waiting for? Use it man!"
221	[[/folder]]
222
223	[[folder:Western Animation]]
224	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Avatars Kyoshi and Yangchen (and probably others, [[MessianicArchetype but notably not Aang]]) believe this to be part of the duty of the Avatar.
225	** WordOfGod has it that only Kyoshi was actively advocating that Aang kill the Fire Lord. Yangchen's advice ("be prepared to sacrifice your spiritual needs") is ambiguous, as Yangchen was not necessarily stating that killing Ozai was the ''best'' option; she was only telling Aang that, if a better option didn't present itself, killing Ozai was a very viable option, and not something to be dismissed out of hand because Aang was feeling squeamish.
226	** For her part Kyoshi takes responsibility for the death of a conqueror during her time as the Avatar, who fell off of a cliff after Kyoshi separated her home from the main continent. When Aang consults her in later episodes, he claims that [[KarmicDeath she was not responsible for his death as he was killed by a freak accident when the rocks he was standing on fell away]]. Kyoshi [[DefiedTrope refuses to recognize the distinction]], and adds that she would have killed him had it come down to that.
227	** Sokka also has a tendency to this. At one point, he immediately leaps on a (somewhat poor) village's asking how they can be repaid despite Katara's KeepTheReward attitude, pointing out that trips across the world are expensive. [[spoiler: He also goes back on a promise made to a powerful spirit who is disgusted by human belligerence (made on his behalf by Aang, no less) in order to discover information necessary for forming a strategy to defeat the Fire Nation.]] Notably, when Aang hesitates to "kill" a training dummy of the Fire Lord and asks how he can be expected to kill another human being, Sokka coldly lops the training dummy's head off with his sword and replies, "like that." Sokka acts as the team's PluckyComicRelief so much that it's easy to forget that he's also the prince of a [[ProudWarriorRace warrior tribe]] and has trained in warfare his entire life.
228	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': In the episode "Framed," Ben and his EvilCounterpart Kevin 11 are dueling on a bridge, surrounded by an army led by Lieutenant Steele, an InspectorJavert alien hunter, whom Ben just stopped Kevin from killing. After Ben [[SwordOverHead wins and spares Kevin]], he ends up dangling from the bridge.
229	-->'''Kevin:''' You know why you can't beat me? Cause you're a good guy, and good guys never have the guts to finish guys like me!\
230	'''Steele:''' But I do. ''[orders his men to shoot Kevin down]''
231	* ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'': While the angels that actually carry out exterminations of sinners' souls in hell are shown as self-righteous sadists, Sera, who authorised these mass executions, presents it as a hard decision and a necessary evil to safeguard heaven from being invaded by the endless hordes of hell. She also hides the decision from most other angels.
232	* Happens several times in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and ''Justice League Unlimited''. These unpleasant-but-necessary duties seem to fall on Shayera "Hawkgirl" Hol's shoulders quite frequently:
233	** In "The Savage Time", in the middle of a retreat, ComicBook/GreenLantern tells Hawkgirl to leave him behind so she can carry wounded soldiers out in his place. She does so without argument.
234	** In "Starcrossed", she helps the Thanagarian invasion force defeat the League and conquer the Earth, because she believed the occupation of Earth was necessary to defeat the Gordanians, which was in the best interests of both her home planet Thanagar and Earth. (Though she [[NotWhatISignedOnFor draws the line]] at ''destroying'' Earth to save Thanagar, and she turns on her brethren upon discovering that they intend to do exactly that.)
235	** In "Wake the Dead" Solomon Grundy gets reanimated through Chaos Magic as a raging, mindless zombie, and the only merciful option is to kill him (again):
236	--->'''Dr. Fate:''' ''[to Shayera]'' Your mace may be [[AntiMagic the only thing]] that can give the creature peace.\
237	'''Green Lantern:''' What are you saying?\
238	'''Shayera:''' Your favorite movie is ''Film/OldYeller'', you know '''exactly''' what he's saying.
239	** In "Epilogue", Shayera reached for the weapon designed to kill Ace, but Batman insisted on taking it himself to insure that things were done [[TakeAThirdOption his]] [[ThouShaltNotKill way]].
240	** ComicBook/TheQuestion gets in on the act in "Question Authority." He struggles for months about how to prevent the events that led, in an AlternateUniverse, to the Justice League becoming [[KnightTemplar fascist rulers]] of the world--events that centered around Characters/{{Superman\|TheCharacter}} murdering [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] (then came to this universe, imprisoned the League, and impersonated them to take over that world as well). Question's solution: go kill Lex himself (using his tie). After all, Supes is the ultimate good guy, and Question's a confirmed loony conspiracy nut. (Unfortunately, the real conspiracy Question uncovered in the process of confronting Lex was a bit more than he could handle.)
241	** In "A Better World", the show opens with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman storming the White House to put a stop to President Luthor's current plan to start a nuclear war. Luthor takes the time to gleefully gloat to Superman that sure, they stop him now, but the dance will just repeat itself because Superman can't bring himself to end it by killing Lex once and for all. Realizing that he's right, Supes takes that step and fries Luthor with his heat vision. It turns out that this moment is the StartOfDarkness for the Justice Lords, the previously-mentioned evil alternates.
242	* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[BigGood Rose Quartz]] had to do this a couple of times during the Gem War. She [[spoiler:betrayed [[KnightTemplar Bismuth]] and covered up what happened, as the alternatives were letting Bismuth [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope genocide the Diamonds and their allies]] or telling her army the truth and sowing discord at the worst time possible]]. She also may have [[spoiler:murdered Pink Diamond]] to save Earth, though recent revelations have called into question whether she was actually responsible; [[StealingTheCredit she certainly took credit for it though]]. Steven's view of his mother is badly damaged by learning of all this, as he wonders if her quasi-DeathByChildbirth was just a way to escape the consequences of her actions. [[spoiler:In reality she actually was one of the Diamonds. And she defected from the Gem Empire by faking her own death under the belief that the other diamonds didn't care enough about her and falling in love with the earth.]]
243	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans\|2003}}'', when Robin [[spoiler:becomes Red X to uncover Slade's plans]].
244	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'':
245	** Parodied in an episode of Leonardo's favorite [[ShowWithinAShow sci-fi show]] one character gets taken over by a PuppeteerParasite and another character instantly decides they should kill him, doing so without a second thought.
246	** Later played straight in Splinter's fight with the Rat King, Victor Falco. [[spoiler: Splinter tricks the Rat King into a hopeless battle until the King falls off a cliff to his demise. As the King was an amoral monster that had mind-raped Splinter multiple times and directed him to murder his own sons, Splinter loses no sleep over it.]] Splinter advocates this as part of his CombatPragmatist nature: he's perfectly fine with showing mercy but he is also not soft.
247	* In the season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', [[spoiler:Optimus Prime destroys the Omega Lock -- thus ruining any chance of restoring Cybertron -- in order to prevent Megatron from using it to terraform Earth and wiping out humanity in the process]].
248	[[/folder]]
249
250	[[folder:Real Life]]
251	* UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington (hero number one in the U.S.A.) has a Shoot the Dog episode among his many awesome moments. With the revolution in danger of falling apart due to the demoralizing effect of endless military defeats, Washington broke the traditional Christmas truce to [[http://s3.amazonaws.com/mtv-main-assets/files/resources/large_crossing-the-delaware-met-museum.jpg lead troops across the Delaware River]] and sneak attack a group of enemy mercenaries. The resulting lopsided victory had a crucial psychological effect.
252	** The US was on the receiving end of this during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, as a cease-fire was called to observe the Vietnamese New Year, Tết Nguyên Đán - which resulted in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive the Tet Offensive]], in which the North Vietnamese broke the cease-fire and launched a massive, coordinated attack against the South. While this assault ultimately failed - so badly that the Viet Cong were effectively wiped out as a fighting force - it signaled the beginning of the end of the US' involvement in the conflict as popular opinion in the States soured on the conflict.
253	* The real reason for the disastrous Dieppe raid of 1942 was to ease considerable pressure on Britain to launch an invasion of France that year. UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill chose to deliberately sacrifice 7,000 men, several Navy vessels and a lot of aircraft to make the point to Russia and America that any premature attempt to invade France would be a total and utter disaster and it was best to plan ahead and do it properly in 1944. He chose to have a battle Britain could not possibly win to make this point as dramatically as possible. Dieppe may be a double dose of this, as some historians have also suggested that it was a smokescreen to keep the Nazis distracted while special forces captured an Enigma code machine.
254	** Another theory has it that the British intentionally sabotaged the operation by giving the Canadian troops whose poor luck it was to carry it out two weeks pay and 48 hours' leave right beforehand, [[BatmanGambit guaranteeing that German intelligence would know something was up and put their military on alert, and then canceling an early order to abort, just so they could get a good idea of what the Wehrmacht had in the way coastal defenses to better plan the ''real'' invasion]].
255	* The UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki remain controversial to this day, but those who defend them claim that, despite the horrific damage and cost of life, they prevented a longer and inevitably more bloody invasion of Japan. At the very least, they unambiguously saved the lives of almost every Allied [=POW=] being held by Japan. Their captors had orders to kill them if it was announced the Allies were actually invading Japan.
256	* A more literal example caused the suppressed version of the Smith & Wesson Model 39 pistol to be called a "Hush Puppy." Its purpose was for special forces teams to covertly eliminate sentry dogs and guards without alerting the main target. There is also the more openly marketed "Velo-dog" revolver, specifically developed for early cyclists to defend themselves from dogs.
257	* Another thing pretty close to literal is modern science's experiments on various animals, including dogs, for the sake of medical research. Whether you consider it justified or not, the reality is, many of the medical procedures that save lives today would not exist without experiments on animals, and if it weren't animals used as test subjects, it would be humans.
258	* German soldiers in World War II actually had orders to shoot every stray dog they encountered on the eastern front on sight. This was the result of the Soviets experimenting with "anti-tank dogs" that had a bomb strapped to them, a triggering mechanism on their backs, and were meant to run under German tanks. The dogs were easily confused by the loud noises of the battlefields and had no way of knowing how to differentiate a German from a Soviet tank, and the project wasn't pursued much further. So the Germans decided to shoot the dog literally because the Soviets did figuratively.
259	* Operation Catapult during WWII. Britain's main ally, France, had fallen to German forces and signed an Armistice. Britain, resolved to fight on, is worried that Hitler will now be able to seize the well-equipped and trained French Navy. So the British launched a surprise attack on their former ally's fleet at Mers-el-Kébir. Caught completely by surprise by [[EtTuBrute their erstwhile comrades]], the French rapidly lost the battleship ''Bretagne'' and suffered crippling damage to the rest of their fleet, as well as the loss of over a thousand sailors. Britain would not be threatened by German-flagged French ships, and would eventually be the jumping point for the liberation of France.
260	* Creator/GeorgeOrwell famously wrote, "Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf" in 1945 essay "Notes on Nationalism," capturing the essence of this idea. The quote, incorporating similar sayings from other authors such as Kipling, evolved into the better known version since then, "People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf," which has been apocryphally attributed to many people.
261	* The practice of SWAT teams in the USA is to shoot any dogs, peaceful or otherwise, for fear that they may attack anyone else. While the reasoning is understandable, if a bit grim, this has unfortunately resulted in several victims of swatting (i.e. innocent people whose homes were deliberately falsely reported as the site of a situation requiring SWAT intervention) losing their pets.
262	* Apparently, many animals have been known to [[OffingTheOffspring kill]] [[ImAHumanitarian or even cannibalize their own young]]. Anyone who might be tempted to call this MonstrousCannibalism would like to know that this behavior is more common among animals who tend to have [[ExplosiveBreeder more than one offspring at a time]] [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty and not enough food to feed all of them, let alone themselves]]. For these animals, killing, abandoning, or eating one baby is a small price to pay if it means that the other baby (or babies) survives to adulthood.
263	* The bear that was famously spared by UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and inspired the now-ubiquitous Toys/TeddyBear ended up being shot by one of his aides instead. There are two conflicting stories as to exactly how it went down --one that he refused out of good sportsmanship to shoot a bear that had been hounded down, beaten, and tied up for him to finish off, and the other was that he'd bagged an adult bear without realizing it had a cub that couldn't have fended for itself-- but in either instance the bear was put down as [[MercyKill an act of mercy]], not cruelty.
264	* Creator/FredRogers - yes, the same [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Mr. Rogers]] who can arguably be called the patron saint of the Internet, ended up having to perform a non-fatal version of this trope. To make a long story short, he heard that François Clemmons, one of his co-workers, was gay - [[ValuesDissonance in a time where homophobia was rampant]] and word getting out would have [[CreatorKiller ruined Clemmons's career]]. Despite his support of Clemmons's sexuality, Rogers advised him to remain closeted.
265	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ShootTheDog