History Main / ShootTheDog

* In the Marvel UK event ''Revolutionary War'', 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 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.

* In the GrandFinale of ''ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}}'', 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]].

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was recruited into the ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' specifically so that they'd have someone willing to shoot the dog on the team. With ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}, and ComicBook/IronMan 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.

* In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Renee]] [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Montoya]] and ComicBook/TheQuestion are at the wedding of ComicBook/BlackAdam 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]].

* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', [[Comicbook/RedHood Jason Todd]] ''thought'' he was doing this for Batman and ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} back when he was more AntiHero than AntiVillain. Then he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope went really dark]].

* The third volume of ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' revolves around whether or not ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret group of some the world's most influential heroes, including Iron Man, ComicBook/MisterFantastic, 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.]]

* In ''ComicBook/UncannyXForce'', it is revealed that a resurrected ComicBook/{{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.

** 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 {{Franchise/Superman}} murdering ComicBook/LexLuthor (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.)

* Franchise/{{Wolverine}} was recruited into the ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' specifically so that they'd have someone willing to shoot the dog on the team. With ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}, and ComicBook/IronMan 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.

** Spoilered due to content - violence to children: [[spoiler: This applies to humans. Infanticide is remarkably common throughout history, and many scientists hold post-partum depression is meant to allow time for a woman to seriously consider whether she is better off investing more calories in the current child or putting it down quickly and saving her strength. It was common for abandoned infants to be tossed to the streets or smothered, and in some places "soothing compounds" that could be given in lethal doses were used. This has been a topic in evo-psych and other fields of science, not the armchair reasoning of pseudo-intellectual horrible people, and in medicine, where early detection of post-partum depression and its stronger cousin psychosis are part of routine care post-partum nowadays. [[https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-16999-6_3692-1 Source 1]]. [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23107563/ Source 2.]] [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8845528/ Source 3.]] The conclusion of the researchers is that women in desperate situations were the most likely to commit infanticide. They state hardness of life, not heart, was responsible, and in our time of abundance, we have the means to prevent these tragedies.]]

** Spoilered due to content - violence to children: [[spoiler: This applies to humans. Infanticide is remarkably common throughout history, and many scientists hold post-partum depression is meant to allow time for a woman to seriously consider whether she is better off investing more calories in the current child or putting it down quickly and saving her strength. It was common for abandoned infants to be tossed to the streets or smothered, and in some places "soothing compounds" that could be given in lethal doses were used. This has been a topic in evo-psych and other fields of science, not the armchair reasoning of pseudo-intellectual horrible people, and in medicine, where early detection of post-partum depression and its stronger cousin psychosis are part of routine care post-partum nowadways. [[https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-16999-6_3692-1 Source 1]]. [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23107563/ Source 2.]] [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8845528/ Source 3.]] The conclusion of the researchers is that women in desperate situations were the most likely to commit infanticide. They state hardness of life, not heart, was responsible, and in our time of abundance, we have the means to prevent these tragedies.]]

* The titular [[PlayerCharacter Nobles]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'', who [[AGodAmI have transcended human morality anyway]], do some bad, bad things in their ForeverWar against the OmnicidalManiac Excrucians.

Compare/contrast with LightIsNotGood, OmniscientMoralityLicense, WellIntentionedExtremist, KnightTemplar, TheUnfettered, CruelToBeKind. If the act is presented as wrong it may come across as DesignatedEvil. The version where a bad guy does this for a hero is BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork.

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.

!!Example Subpages:

!!Other Examples:

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superman_kills_zod_n_for_nerds_1.png]]]]

If one Shoots the Dog too often, one runs the risk of becoming a KnightTemplar or PoisonousFriend. 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 about 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 CradlingTheirKill.

* In TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 comic ''ComicBook/{{Bloodquest}}'', 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 [[AFateWorseThanDeath the horrible things they would put them through]], it was just better to kill them [[MercyKill as mercifully as possible]].

* In ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' ''Corps'' #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, [[spoiler:John Stewart channels Black Lantern energy and ''[[EarthShatteringKaboom destroys Mogo]]'']].
** John Stewart has become kind of a magnet for this sort of thing lately, as he also [[spoiler:killed a fellow Lantern who had broken under torture and was about to give up the access codes to Oa]].

* Some Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} members actually [[spoiler:{{brainwash|ingForTheGreaterGood}}ed the dog. Twice. They [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erased Dr. Light's memory]]]], and when Batman found out about it, [[spoiler: they did the same to him]].
** Also, Franchise/WonderWoman [[spoiler: snapping Maxwell Lord's neck, in order to break his mind control over Superman. The latter wasn't too happy when he found out]].

* In Creator/AlanMoore's ''{{Comicbook/Miracleman}}'', 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'']].
* Wolverine was recruited into the ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' specifically so that they'd have someone willing to shoot the dog on the team. With ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}, and ComicBook/IronMan 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.
* The third volume of ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' revolves around whether or not ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret group of some the world's most influential heroes, including Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Black Panther and 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]].

* ''Comicbook/{{Thorgal}}'' 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]].
* In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', 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 Franchise/{{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.
* In ''Uncanny X-Force'', it is revealed that a resurrected 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.

* 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]]]].

* ''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.]]

* 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 inhabitated 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.

** [[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]].

* Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's actions in the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob. Vince and Shawn [[{{Kayfabe}} 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, ''Monday Nitro'', 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.

* 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.

*** In a twist, while unaware of Rilian's {{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.

* In ''{{Webcomic/Harkovast}}'', Quinn-Tain breaks Brightleaf's [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/index.php?p=704692 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 [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/index.php?p=716796 Scatterpod]]. After she has gone, Quinn-Tain expresses [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/index.php?p=722223 regret]], but still considers his actions necessary evils.

* 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]].

** 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.

* 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]].

** 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 [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior tribe]] and has trained in warfare his entire life.

** 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 {{Franchise/Superman}} murdering ComicBook/LexLuthor(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.)

* 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]].

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' where in an episode of Leonardo's favorite 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.

* Apparently, many animals have been known to [[OffingTheOffspring kill]] [[ImAHumanitarian or even cannibalize their 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.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Crossworlds}}'', Karl sees Lilly about to smash a [[HarmlessFreezing frozen]] slaver, and [[LiterallyShatteredLives does it himself instead]].

** 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 [[PyhrricVictory 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.

** 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 [[PhyrricVictory 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.

** 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, it signaled the beginning of the end of the US' involvement in the conflict as popular opinion turned against it.

* From ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]]'': [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2015717.html Shift and Indigo]]

* One absolutely [[TearJerker/UltimateXMen heartbreaking]] example appears in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. An unfortunate teenager wakes up one morning and discovers that he's a mutant [[BlessedWithSuck/ComicBooks 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 Franchise/{{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.

* 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.

** 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. 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.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractured}}'', 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/SovereignGFCOrigins 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:

* 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:

** ''VisualNovel/NewDanganronpaV3'' 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]]]]. This is often considered to be a MoralEventHorizon for [[spoiler:Kokichi]] who [[ManipulativeBastard set it all up in the first place]].

* 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 losing their pets.

* Ami from ''Literature/SailorNothing'' was a haughty Alpha[!frumious bandersnatch!] 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]].