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If a dog charges you stand your ground and shout at them forcefully, most dogs will not attack a person, yes there are some that will, its usually been taught to them by the owner.
You would have made a fine addition to the police K9 corps, since you apparently know what dogs will do, most of the time, unless the owner has taught them otherwise. As a police officer, no doubt you would have been willing to take the chance you that would be attacked to protect someone's dog.
I hike and camp quite a bit, and have often come across other hikers' dogs off the leash that approach or even run at me. Thus far, I have been able to tell that they did not intend harm. But frankly, if I ever see a large dog running towards me, and I have any doubt about its intentions, I will stop it in its tracks, and worry about hurt feelings and lawsuits later.
I've seen dogs approach a person slower than this dog, and end up viciously attacking a person, so whether he's charging or not isn't important. My question is, why didn't he think of using pepper spray? The gun should have been the last resort.
I wish the owner would have thought about putting her dog on a leash after she found out the police were on their way. If I thought someone had broken into my home, and the police were coming, the last thing I'd want is to have a dog running around in case there was a situation where guns were fired.
The department has now changed their policy according to this article.
Pepper spray is NOT going to stop a burglar if there was one - ESPECIALLY AN ARMED ONE!
Had he had his pepper spray out to stop said burglar, and that burglar was armed, there would be black badges on every LEO in the state.
He responded to a possible burglar appropriately and this charging dogs life was the result of this officer firing 2 shots to stop the threat. I feel sorry for the LEO as you can tell he was upset about what he had done, but find it totally justifiable, in my opinion. And, I'll say it before someone else does, Opinions are like buttholes - everybody's got one and they stink...
But in this case, due to the size of the dog, this was an over-reaction, in my opinion. Double the size of the dog, and the officer would have had a more reasonable fear of severe injury.
I believe the cops have every right to defend themselves against harm, but the force used should be appropriate to the risk.
Unless you are a child, the risk of sustaining serious injury from a 30 pound dog is not that likely.
The cop was just trying to do his job in responding to an alarm call. I understand him having his gun out, due to the risk of attack from a human intruder. But using that gun on a lesser threat, just because it was in hand, was a mistake.
Cops are people too. I understand people make mistakes. I'm not suggesting this is some psycho with a badge and a gun, as some others are. He made a mistake. His remorse was palpable. He has a conscience and I think he knows he over-reacted.
Well said. I personally would not have fired but I can understand the situation.
"Postal workers, meter readers deal with dogs and don't shoot them." They shouldn't have to. People should control their dogs--yes, even on their own property. You know the electric company is sending someone to fix that electrical issue, the plumber is coming, the mail deliverer is coming--cart your dog up. Put it in a fenced in area, chain it up, whatever. Heck, whenever I call the satellite company to come out, that's the first thing they tell me--if you have any "at large" dogs, cart them up, because otherwise we're not going to enter your property and fix a thing. Good for them.
It is not someone else's job to be the dog whisperer and know your dog. It is their job to fix your pipe, repair your wiring, or investigate the burglary YOU CALLED ABOUT. That's it. I know that if I were a mail carrier, I'd refuse delivery to the home of anyone with an aggressive animal. To me, it's not "part of the job," I'm not a veterinarian or a host of "Doggie World" on cable TV or whatever. It's not my job. It's not the job of this police officer or of any mail carrier or electrician etc. Stop asking people to do things that aren't part of their job description.
Heck, a couple of years ago a plumber came over to repair some issues at our house and I even confined my CHILDREN to their rooms so he could do his job without them pestering them. News flash--I don't care what some people with a warped sense of perspective say, but a dog is not as important as a child, and never will be--anyone who feels otherwise doesn't have a "different opinion," they're just WRONG. Yet, I took no offense in having my CHILDREN stay out of the man's way. I didn't expect him to be a child psychologist and deal with my children. That's not his job. His job is to fix pipes, period.
That's it.
If I can do that with respect to my CHILDREN, who matter infinitely more than any dog EVER will (seriously lady, your dog died, not your child, stop it already), then people can bloody well control their animals. If not, then handle your plumbing, your wiring, and your thefts your freaking self.
People say, the cop should not have shot this dog, that he should have gotten out his pepper spray or taser to stop the dog. There would not have been time to put his gun in the other hand or in his holster and get out either of the alternatives before the dog was already biting him. There simply was not enough time to go to that alternative.
People say, he should not have shot the dog until the dog was biting him. Again that is thinking crazy. Dogs that size, can kill a man, so waiting till he is biting you before you shoot him, may be too late.
People say the dog was just running up to him wagging his tail. False. That dog was rapidly running at the officer, and his tail was not wagging. The motion of the tail was only due to shifting his body as he ran. He was not making a friendly approach.
Some say he should not have had his gun out. False. Standard operating procedure is when going on a call of that type, is to have your gun out and ready in case you come upon someone that has broken in and has a gun out to shoot you. The officer never waits in this type of case to see if he is going to need the gun to protect himself. He goes on the call prepared for anything that may happen.
Some say because he was in a nice area of town, he did not have to worry because in that area dogs don't bite people. They say it is different in that area than in the hood. Remember he was on a call for a possible break in. He had no knowledge of where the person breaking in was from, and most of the break ins are not by friendly neighbors. He had no way of knowing if that dog was a local or there to protect a criminal breaking into the house.
Some people said that the officer should have yelled or kicked the dog or something else to protect his self. When a dog is in attack mode, as the officer would have viewed him, yelling and kicking does not work.
The whole article was very biased. They said it was a Miniature Pincher. Miniature Pincers are about 8 to 10 pound dogs. That dog was not a miniature dog, it was a medium size dog. Pinchers are known as a good guard dog with strong jaws, not a lap dog. One that size, can do serious harm to a person.
And in this case, after 10 minutes of beating a dog with a baseball bat over the head, police batons, steal toed boots, it was finally a full can of bear spray that got the dog to stop.
So far, you've posted a woman who was attacked by a 140 pound dog, a child mauled by a dog (link didn't work for me, so not sure how large), and a puppy killed by a pit bull.
You can keep posting sensationalist stories about dog attacks, but they're not relevant unless you can find an able-bodied adult male severely injured or killed by a 30 pound dog.
Officer had a huge size advantage and should not have been so quick to fire on a small dog, because it didn't pose a huge risk of significant injury to him.
The woman had no such size advantage, nor the child, nor the puppy.
Yeah, I get it, some dogs can be pretty vicious. But you're not posting anything that demonstrates a risk of injury that justifies the force used, IMO.
I've been involved in breaking up one serious dog fight (another dog attacked mine), it was extremely difficult to get the other dog off mine, and that was with both me and the other dog's owner working on it. And with both dogs about twice the size of the dog that was killed, neither one of us ended up with more than minor wounds.
Did any of the people trying to save the puppy from the pit bull have any serious injuries? The video didn't say. I doubt it.
Based on that video, seemed like a knee-jerk reaction by the officer. He was awfully quick to pull the trigger.
I run and have been chased by dogs. Sure it can appear scary. But if I had a weapon I would be able to wait and see if the dog wasn't playing "my territory" and stopped right in front of me, especially a dog of that size and breed. Maybe the reaction to kill would be quicker with a Shepherd or Pit Bull or other large dog, but knowing a gun was in hand I know I could protect myself if needed. This just seemed too quick.
This is why our dogs are contained when we aren't home. And why I'd put them up immediately if an officer ever came around.
I wouldn't trust them not to shot as my overly enthusiastic beagle came bonding towards them or our hound mix tried to climb in their lap.
They stay in closed bedroom on the 2nd floor. And you can bet I'd sue the crap out of any officer who responded to my home and went upstairs, opened that room and then "shoot because they had no choice"....I might do more then sue but that's a whole 'nother topic.
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