I hope you won't have to deal with njerps in real life either...
It can be noted that human relations with animals have shifted over time and location, so in some places dogs are just sort of tools, and farmers used to slaughter their own animals as a way of life (and that remains the case in some places). However, the killing of horses and dogs have sometimes been offloaded to outsiders because the owners have made too strong emotional ties to those animals. For some reason dogs haven't been on the menu in large parts of the world, but it can be noted that sled dogs that died often have been fed to the remaining dogs, at least on polar expeditions.