Cop Shoots Service Dog During Kid's Birthday Party

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That's the kind of better alternatives I want to explore. And even in a domestic violence situation where the officer wants to respond right away, which this situation was not, shooting an animal seems like an escalating thing and not a de-escalating thing.

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 13 Feb 2014, 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well clearly he was not the right cop for the job than....There is the off chance he 'hates' dogs over that incident and was hoping to harm one as some sort of weird revenge, but I don't know exactly what was going on in his head but the intensity of the rage in his voice when he opened the car door and screamed 'get' makes me kinda wonder.

Most dogs that are barkers don't bite.Its the quiet ones that are just snarling.Not that this is 100%,just my experience.Some breeds are prone to being nippers,like chihuahuas.

I completely agree that dogs in a suburban setting when not in the house should be in a fenced yard and not just out roaming. I clearly got the impression that it was a repeat occurrence for those dogs to be roaming the neighborhood and the dog's family should have been cited for the violation.
Still, these dogs did not display what could typically be called aggression. Being exited alone is not aggression. Any cop should be able to tell the difference since they very commonly encounter dogs when on the beat. If that cop is that afraid or ignorant of dogs, having been bitten before or not, then he is definitely not cut out for police work

True, they are property in the eyes of the law, but that same law has locked up countless people for abusing their property in the form of animals. Dogs and cats are family to most people and no law can nullify the emotional bond with them.
Even if it is ruled a justifiable shooting (it probably will be ) that doesn't do anything to salve John Q Taxpayer's resentment and mistrust of the police. This is 2014 and just about everyone carries a camera around as a feature of their cell phones and are all to eager to capture ANYTHING on video to show it to the world. With that capability always around, public servants need to be more cautions of their actions. That's just the world we live in now and there's no going back.

There is dog that lives three houses down from me and they have a black lab and it has bark viciously at me whenever I walk by but I am not afraid because there is a large black fence that is closed on their driveway and it keeps the dog in the yard and they have this wire fence around their bushes to keep their dog in. The owner has came outside and started screaming at it for barking at me. But I would never walk up to that house that is for sure whenever their dog is out.

Sometimes I wonder if I have something on me that makes dogs run after me or bark nasty at me thinking I am a villain. When they are leashed or fenced in their yard, I just ignore them and keep on walking without fear. Or am I misinterpreting their actions?

I almost got bit by a dog once when i wanted to pet it and I pulled my hand away fast when he opened his mouth and snipped at me missing me. I was embarrassed and the dog owner yelled but then told me "not you, him." It was in the back of a pick up truck. I learned my lesson to never touch a strange animal again because you never know and always ask the owner first before you pet them. I will be teaching my kids the same thing too because you don't know the animal and you never know if they will bite you when you try and pet them.

I know if I walk by a street of houses where there are lots of dogs or something and there are dogs in peoples yards they will bark....but most of them seem to be barking just to show they are there, or even trying to be friendly though on rare occasions I've ran into a couple that seem to want to come out of the fence to attack and I walk past those as quick as I can. And some dogs just have intimidating sounding barks.....like German Shepard's even their more friendly bark is pretty brutal sounding. Also one might mistake a Bit Bulls heavy breathing they get when they are excited for some kind of snarling when no aggression is intended.

I got bit several times when I was little.Once I ran and jumped on a dog that was asleep and he bit me on the forehead,I still have the scar.Not the dogs fault.When they say let sleeping dogs lay,it's a good idea Another time I was skipping past a house and the neighbors Scotty ran out and nipped my ankle,he was protecting his yard.The same thing happened with a chihuahua.Once I went to pet my cousins chow and she had a puppy with her,when I reached down she nipped my hand.It was my fault,my cousin was not there and she was guarding her pup.It is a good idea to teach kids about dog safety,most want to play with the dog but don't understand that the dog may not see it that way.When little kids get at eye level with a dog,some dogs think of that as threatening and can become defensive.Some are very protective of their family,once when a boy was horsing around with me and play punched me in the arm,my foster families' Australian Shepard tried to bite him.I've seen other Aussies and Blue Heelers that are overprotective like this.My daughters weenie dog bit the tip of a girls finger off when she tried to break up a fight between him and another dog.He even ate the finger tip. Our weenie dogs always tried to nip strangers,but when we yelled they would stop.My ex came in the house once with his neck bleeding and said that B had bitten him.I could not see how that happened,I pictured the weenie dog going through the air like a ninja.What had happened was my son was naughty and my ex had bent down to paddle him,as soon as he squealed the dog took action to protect my son.We couldn't really be mad at the dog for that.

Yep. That or they quietly and discretely sneak up behind someone and nail them from behind. But yes, mostly the ones that are seriously aggressive stand thier ground without moving much; hair bristled, ears back, teeth showing and snarl or emit a deep and long growl. The two labs in the video were more exited and nervous than anything. If dumb ass Johnny cop had just stood still for a minute, that shooting and all of what will follow would have been totally avoided.


As a Humane Society dog handler, the only dog that has ever nipped me was a chihuahua. Bigger dogs (shepherds, rottweilers, pit bulls, dobermans, etc...) are usually always friendly and want to play. Of course, I'd rather be nipped by a chihuahua than mauled by a rottweiler but I still much prefer bigger dogs.

Last edited by Raptor on 14 Feb 2014, 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think that's disgusting and if that dog's owner decides to get a gun, track down that cop, and shoot him that cop deserves it. I do wonder why the dog was loose though. It should have been inside or securely tied up.

I've heard other stories like this online, the worst one probably being when the cops busted in some guy's apartment to do a drug bust and shot and killed his dog that was actually tied up for some reason even though it was in the house. To make things even worse they busted in the wrong apartment.

I only have cats which are less likely to be aggressive and more likely to run and hide but I can't imagine what I'd do if that happened to them. I'd never be able to move on without revenge (or even with it probably) and I'd never feel safe again.

In my experience little dogs nip a lot more than larger dogs....and sometimes it seems like there is too much energy for such a small package, with how hyper some get.

No, being fed to a pack of wolves would be much more fitting

I do agree though that given the neighborhood it appears the dogs should have been in a yard or leashed. Though it is a bit unfair since cats get to walk around in most neighborhoods...then again I think dogs can get lost easier than cats.

In our country, whenever a dog bites someone, guess who is always the one to pay for it? The dog. They always get put to sleep for it. I do find it unfair the animal has to be punished when they were provoked because the parents were letting their children be rough with the dog, especially when it's a puppy and it killed a newborn baby because the owners were stupid to leave the baby alone in the room with the animal. I have read online to never leave a young kid alone on the room with a pet, my mom told me you never leave a baby alone in the room with a pet because you never know what they can do. The dog might think the baby is a chew toy or something because what can a newborn do to possibly provoke a dog? Unless they are crawling and capable of grabbing things, then I can easily see how they can provoke a dog. I also find it unfair if the dog has to be put down because he or she was protecting their owner and defending them because they were being attacked or threatened. I remember hearing a story on the news about a dog being on death row here in Oregon because he bit a guy in self defense because the dog was defending his owner.

My son is a little rough with animals but we always stop him when he gets too rough. But he really loves them and he doesn't mean to harm them, he is just playing and doesn't understand how to play with them so it's my job as a parent to watch him and to make sure he doesn't get too rough. We had to watch our brother's dog for a few days when he and his girlfriend came out for Christmas and they couldn't have my brother's dog at our aunt's and uncle's house where they were staying so they had him here.

Yes that is very unfortunate....I think they need to change up that policy a little. Like if a dog clearly bites in self defense there is no reason to put it down that doesn't mean its an aggressive dog. I can more or less understand putting down a dog if its vicious and dangerous, and can't be re-trained, though its still sad. But yeah it is pretty stupid to leave a newborn baby alone with a dog, or even a cat.

Unfortunately this is too common of an occurrence. I am saying it is not right but it is incredibly understandable.

You are gonna take someone with a 2 or 4 yr degree and pay them 60K a year and expect to act with the precision of the Navy Seals?

It is unrealistic for a person to expect a police officer to carry a pistol, and a shotgun, and a stun gun, and a baton, and pepper spray, and anti dog spray, and a tranquilizer rifle; well until we find a way to clone Batman.

I think we can all agree it is wrong. I think we can all agree we love our dogs. But when it comes to expecting intelligence and leniency and compassion to an organization who sole purpose it to deal with the most dangerous parts of our society ... its easy to set the bar to high.

So we should just accept that people and animals can be killed by the police who are supposed to enforce the law and serve the community even if they didn't commit a crime? Something really needs to change so there are less of these instances...and yes I have heard of even kids being shot by the police due to being in a psychotic state(if they have psychotic disorder) can't quite remember any specifically concerning autism but I bet it happens to.

maybe there should be police who specialize in enforcing different things....like if they are going to send a cop to deal with someone having a psychotic episode it should be someone who is trained to deal with that kind of situation. They could have specific cops to deal with animal problems ect......also of course one cop can't carry all those things on their person, but what about in their car so they have access? I mean i don't know I just don't think its right the citizens have to suffer at the hands of police due to them not being properly trained or equipped to deal with situations.

The majority of police have mace or pepper spray,or a taser on their duty belt.Nothing unrealistic about that.Most have a shotgun in the trunk.