why would a person put down a dog simply because they were too busy to take care of it?

I know of two vet clinics locally that won't put an animal down for convenience. There must be something legitimately wrong with the creature, such as painful terminal cancer.

I know this because when I took my cat in a year ago for a check-up, the vet staff were very angry because a person had brought in a female cat almost ready to give birth. He wanted the kittens aborted and the cat euthanized. They refused and told him they were "confiscating" the cat. They couldn't technically do that, but the person didn't really argue it either. She gave birth to five amazing kitties who all have good homes now.

Obviously, they are dumb.
They should take the dog to the shelter and let someone else deal with it if they want to get rid of it so badly.

When I did clinical observation @ a veterinary clinic, this was explained to me as such...

"We may not agree with the decisions made by the owners, but we must respect their decision and remain non-judgemental"

This is a fine line to walk, but two thumbs up to the clinics that refuse treatment when they feel it is wrong to put an animal to sleep.

I actually worked for a wonderful staff of veterinarians who would not euthanize a healthy pet. If they didn't agree with the reasoning, they had no problem sending that person away with their pet if they absolutely would not sign it over to the hospital.

Vets don;t like to euthanize a pet for the owner's convenience, and they have the right to refuse to euthanize a healthy animal. However, a pet is considered property. An owner may do almost anything he wishes with is pet. Some pet owners are better than others and will do whatever they can to resolve their pet's health or behavioral issues. Others simply don't care. A vet may suggest remedies for a pet's problem, but if an owner is set upon euthanasia, well, it puts the vet between a rock and a hard place. In the case of an aggressive pet, a vet may advise training, but what if the owner doesn't want to put forth the effort? What does the vet do then?