SLS61185 wrote:Angie, I'm with you, though... I would like to know how in the hell that was even justified.
Shooting a dog that is charging an officer? How
isn't it justified? I've had my hand chewed on by a dog that I was evaluating, and I had been working with that dog for a half hour and I was
not expecting it.
Of course the family said the dog was ancient and arthritic and couldn't move, etc etc etc. Read accounts of our breed's history - they fight with broken legs and
win. An angry dog will ignore a
lot of pain and infirmity if it thinks its home is in danger. A bite from a 14 year old dog hurts just as much as one from a 3 year old dog, because at that moment, that old girl had no idea she was 14... like someone else already said
she was protecting her property.
No one wants to put any blame here where it belongs - on an owner who left a dog out and set an alarm. The alarm went off. The police officer did his job and went to the house. The dog did her job and went after an intruder. Unfortunately, the intruder that she went after happened to be the police officer.
Everyone wants cops to "read dogs" and "asses situations" and "use less lethal tactics." I want owners to be responsible for their dogs. YES officers make mistakes. MAYBE this was one of them.
I have no idea. When I had officers at my house once because of an alarm, I let Ruby out of her crate because she was flipping out (it was before Demo was an officer) she ran up to one of them, sniffed him, and then ran to the door - yes, he could have shot her in my kitchen. I had no idea that I was doing the wrong thing, and
it would have been my own damn fault. I would have been horrified, and screamed about her being a therapy dog, and never hurting a fly and all the rest... but I would have still let my dog out of her crate (where she had been perfectly safe) and she charged an officer who had
no idea what she was going to do.
Is it better for him to have a career ending injury because "maybe this one is friendly" or "maybe I can outrun this one" or "this one wants to play" or "this dog is only protecting it's property, I'm in the wrong here" No. Not hardly.
I kinda doubt he went there and just shot the dog while she was curled up sleeping in the corner. Seriously... does anyone think that there wasn't a
reason that an officer would pull a gun on a dog? I haven't met any personally who find it fun to kill dogs, so they don't do it if they don't think it's
necessary.