My dad grew up in rural Maine. Our childhood pets (and there were many) went, after a favorite meal, and much loving, and petting, with a bullet to the back of the head.
Striking “maybe two or three times” with the claw end (!?!) of a household hammer is not the same thing at all.
You are correct it is not the same thing, but city dwellers are greatly restrained in so far as being able to humanly put down an animal....I couldn’t hit a dog with a hammer, unless it was attaching, but I don’t live in the city...Either way, if the man loved his dog, he took no joy in killing it..if he loved his dog it is truly sad.