Had he known ahead of time, Braff might have figured out a more stealthy and successful way to take the prop away from the set.
And that was assumedly before he knew that ABC was going to give the taxidermied mutt a rather undignified new home.
He was perhaps one J.D. daydream away from figuring it out.
I’m not sure if this is the kind of thing that PETA goes for, but it seems to me like Zach Braff was doing something good for the dog community by trying to save Rowdy from whatever post-Scrubs existence he was destined for.