“Carl’s right, Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 3, Slim to Candy. The men try to convince Candy that it is all right to euthanize his dog. The suggestion is that once you get older and are unable to do physical work you are a burden and no use to anyone, even yourself. The same argument will come up again at the end of the novella when George must kill Lennie.