I know I'm going to get hate for even suggesting any level of mitigation on Duck abandoning his dog, but hear me out. The one thing I think is totally overlooked and every discussion about this ever is the following: 

*In New York City in the early to mid-60s and even well into the late '60s there was practically speaking no such thing as a no-kill animal shelter option for abandoned pets.*

In other words, there was no place to take the dog at that time which could be relied on not to kill the dog. Also, at that time, and even well into my childhood, taking in abandoned pets (as well as abandoning them), especially well bred and decent looking friendly dogs like Chauncey was far more expected and common than it is now to a large extent because taking an animal anywhere like the pound meant very likely to get euthanized.

Now I agree that Duck was negligent: It was his dog, and he should have made arrangements to find and have someone reliable to take the dog, but obviously the stress from his divorce, alcoholism, and rehab  made this very difficult on him and his family did essentially make a surprise visit out to his work during an objectively stressful. basically just to dump the dog on him and tell him that his ex-wife is getting remarried. He was angry, contemplating alcohol relapse, not thinking straight, and he went for a practice that was very common at the time. It's shocking to us, but at the time it would not have been as shocking (much like the scene of the Draper family leaving all their trash at the park) and there were reasons at the time to do it other than alternatives. He still deserves scorn for not taking the time to find somebody to take the dog, which would have been much more considerable effort at that time than it is nowadays but not overwhelming effort (probably a few afternoons of putting up posters and networking over the phone or person to person to see who wanted a dog). But he was also barely holding it together in terms of stress and keeping sober and clearly was extremely upset both at the dog had been pushed on him and that he felt he needed to abandon it. There's also a decent chance that Chauncey was taken in by somebody relatively respectable within a few days. 

So my argument is that it is a wrong but an understandable and forgivable wrong In the context Duck was operating in.

Hear me out... a *partial* defense of Duck on Chauncey.

Hear me out... a partial defense of Duck on Chauncey.