gulogulo: Ok, fair enough. But that's true with anyone you interact with, especially in places with concealed carry or 'stand your ground' laws.

I contest that it's orders of magnitude moreseo with law enforcement. Between their training and the way the legal system is set up to protect them, they are much more dangerous to your livelihood than most people, and I think it's silly to pretend otherwise, but if that's how you want to live your life, so be it.

Like I said, they are trained to treat each interaction with you as if it is a life-threatening situation. The pizza boy isn't (although he probably should be).

gulogulo: yves0010: It said that she asked the cop to stay outside so she can secure the dog in the back room.

No it did not. I re-read the article. She just told him to wait, but there was no indication of where he was.

And the end of your post already predetermined his guilt on the premise that he's a bad guy because of the uniform he wears. Nice.

I thought I read it was outside. But I might of heard it on the interview. But then again, I could of just be mistaken.

The end of my post was supposed to be a stupid cop joke. I am in the camp of, there are good cops and there are bad cops. For every good cop doing a good thing, there are 5 bad cops doing bad things (or feels like it).

Ambivalence: Do cops ever shoot a cat? I wonder.

They're a lot harder to hit. They're small and quick.

The Homer Tax: I have two dogs that bark very very loudly, but wouldn't bite anyone.

The moment you cease respecting the notion that it's an animal and you don't know its mind as completely as you think you do, that's when it hits the fan.

You're not just doing yourself discredit with this sort of conceit, you're doing your dog a disservice as well.

People who have misbehaving kids seem to take a similar attitude: "MY son would NEVER..." As the person reporting to the parent whose child did indeed just do that thing they had put beyond the realm of all possibility of them doing, if you don't feel much like hitting them upside the skull with a clue sledgehammer, then you're at least really wanting to tell them that it would do them a great deal of good if they'd kindly return to planet Earth- where mere familiarity with the animal in question (no matter how lengthy) isn't sufficient grounds on which to deny all possibility of a thing happening because of that animal.

Can't tell you how many times that sort of attitude inevitably ends in "Well, I never saw him do anything like that before..." And of course by then, it's too late for the person he just did it to, and in this case, too late for your dog as well.

This gonna sound like a strange thing to say, but trusting your dog's "angelic" nature a good deal less would be not only doing the next phone repairman, plumber, or insurance salesman you happen to have in your house a favor, but also, your dog as well. Once again, dogs don't know any better, can't know any better. You, its owner, are responsible for keeping them out of danger in these matters. And there it isn't enough to assume what they "wouldn't" do. Make sure they can't do it. You may just save Fido's life one day.

SkunkWerks: People who have misbehaving kids seem to take a similar attitude: "MY son would NEVER..." As the person reporting to the parent whose child did indeed just do that thing they had put beyond the realm of all possibility of them doing, if you don't feel much like hitting them upside the skull with a clue sledgehammer, then you're at least really wanting to tell them that it would do them a great deal of good if they'd kindly return to planet Earth- where mere familiarity with the animal in question (no matter how lengthy) isn't sufficient grounds on which to deny all possibility of a thing happening because of that animal.

Can't tell you how many times that sort of attitude inevitably ends in "Well, I never saw him do anything like that before..." And of course by then, it's too late for the person he just did it to, and in this case, too late for your dog as well.

This gonna sound like a strange thing to say, but trusting your dog's "angelic" nature a good deal less would be not only doing the next phone repairman, plumber, or insurance salesman you happen to have in your house a favor, but also, your dog as well. Once again, dogs don't know any better, can't know any better. You, its owner, are responsible for keeping them out of danger in these matters. And there it isn't enough to assume what they "wouldn't" do. Make sure they can't do it. You may just save Fido's life one day.

I knew that statement was going to invite this response, and I agree with you for the most part. I try to keep my dogs as restrained as humanly possible when they are barking very loudly and completely understand and agree with what you're saying.

That said, I also go the extra mile and try to keep cops away from them as often as my power allows it, for their own safety as well.

SkunkWerks: gulogulo: Yeah, like no one has ever lied to reporters before to make their story sound better or to garner sympathy. I don't think just because your dog had puppies gives you the a-ok to let it attack people. It was a tense situation in the house, lots of screaming, a stranger comes in there (and it was obvious the situation was tense enough to warrant the gun already being drawn, as I doubt the gun just Billy-the-Kid-Style unholstered and the dog shot), and a dog charges the cop. That's one scenario where I could see the cop being justified. So, I'm reserving judgement.

Clearly the cop was just trying to get the couple to unite in common cause. It's a valid negotiating tactic!

That said, everyone says their dog "doesn't bite". People who utter this sort of insipid screed generally don't know much about dogs. Just because he doesn't bite you doesn't mean he wouldn't consider a nibble on others- given the right circumstances. The responsible dog owner discovers what those circumstances are, and considers it his responsibility to keep his dog out of those circumstances.

The dog doesn't know any better. You should.

This is true. My MIL's OTHER dog (not the heeler) actually had a minor history of biting strangers but she was a farm dog and it was rare, so no one really ever made a fuss about it. I about brained the creature when one of my Army sergeants visited and the dog went after her leg. Fortunately she just got some fabric from the ACU pants, and a second later my yelling made her back off and go cower.

MIL doesn't like military, apparently the dog picked up on that despite MIL not actually being there that day.

mod3072: Ambivalence: Do cops ever shoot a cat? I wonder.

They're a lot harder to hit. They're small and quick.

Or a cat just runs away from everything. A dog will protect the home, a cat runs away from a threat. As seen in my dog and cat. My little dog will part at someone he does not know that comes over to the house. My cat runs off and hides some where.

CapeFearCadaver: I simply hope that after this conversation you're able to stop yourself from immediately thinking and verbalizing that anyone calling the cops is too buttfark stupid to handle her own domestic issues.

No offense intended with the statement, but I am justgetting kind of tired of these stories where people call police for some sort of "protection" and then they act all surprised when the cops shoot, them, their brother, or their dog. So, I was being a little glib as a result.

That said, it's Fark, so the filter is a little lighter than before. Again I'm sorry about your situation, but I'm having a problem being sympathetic to this woman who is surprised that the cops shot her dog.

ladyfortuna: Awwwww damn it. I hadn't read it yet and assumed it was something more along the lines of pitbull or other similar breed. Blue heelers are awesome and usually very smart. Obviously I don't support shooting any dog except in extreme cases, but hearing it's a heeler makes me even sadder about this.

In the spate of recent "cop shoots family dog stories, the minority for them at pit bulls. They killed another Blue Heeler in Austin, and a Border Collie in Fort Worth supposedly because the dogs were "aggressive"

Dangerous Blue Heeler at the wrong house

Vicious Border Collie, also at wrong house.

List of family dogs killed by police in recent years

This is complete and utter B.S., just cowards throwing their weight around.

The Homer Tax: No offense intended with the statement, but I am justgetting kind of tired of these stories where people call police for some sort of "protection" and then they act all surprised when the cops shoot, them, their brother, or their dog. So, I was being a little glib as a result.

That said, it's Fark, so the filter is a little lighter than before. Again I'm sorry about your situation, but I'm having a problem being sympathetic to this woman who is surprised that the cops shot her dog.

What we have here is a sampling bias, though. It's a sensational story, and the kind that makes the news. In order to understand just how systemic the problem is, we'd need to know how many domestic disturbances go down with dogs that don't result in the dog dead. My guess is that what we're reading in the news is a tiny fraction compared to all hte cops doing good jobs.

Another aspect of automatically killing dogs:

Link

"But shooting the animals as a matter of procedure is also dangerous. During a 2008 raid in Lima, Ohio, one officer heard his fellow officer shooting dogs in the home and mistook the shots for hostile gunfire. Thinking he was under attack, he opened fire at shadows coming from an upstairs bedroom. In that room, 24-year-old Tarika Wilson was on her knees, as she had been instructed, with one hand in the air and her other arm holding her year-old son. Wilson was killed, and the boy lost a hand. During a 2007 raid in Stockton, Calif., a police officer inadvertently wounded Kari Bailey, 23, and her 5-year-old daughter Hailey while trying to kill the family dog. (The police had shown up at the wrong address.) Last month, one officer firing at pit bulls in Minneapolis accidentally shot a fellow cop."

These guys are just trigger happy bastards.

gulogulo: What we have here is a sampling bias, though. It's a sensational story, and the kind that makes the news. In order to understand just how systemic the problem is, we'd need to know how many domestic disturbances go down with dogs that don't result in the dog dead. My guess is that what we're reading in the news is a tiny fraction compared to all hte cops doing good jobs.

It's possible, but is that a risk you want to take? I don't.

I know I'm repeating myself here, but it only takes one cop to kill your dog (or you, or keep you alive and ruin your life forever). Just one cop having one bad day and everything you know and love goes away. Will it likely happen to you? No, probably not. Could it? Absolutely. Is that a risk you want to take? It's up to you, I guess.

Like I said, while unlikely, Cops are trained to treat each interaction with civilians as a potentially life-threatening situation. Civilians would be wise to do the same.

CapeFearCadaver: No offense taken, at all. And in regards to this story, it's incredibly light on the details of why she called for them in the first place. For all we know he could have been beating the crap out of one of their kids... we don't know. That's the point. You don't know. I just ask that you don't go straight to thinking that people who do call the police are stupid and can't deal with their own issues. Sometimes life puts you in situations that you did not ask for, which you did everything to prevent and that you really cannot deal with on your own; in other words, shiat happens.

All I hope is that whatever the reason she called the cops was, it was bad enough to cost her dog's life.

I also bet she thinks long and hard about calling the cops again for anything other than the most critical of situations.

Cops need to be trained in reading animal behavior. A dog approaching you does not automatically mean it is attacking, but in all the cases in the last two years, the cops said they assumed the a dog approaching them was hostile. That is an idiotic assumption and step away from cops assuming that any human approaching them is hostile. It's farked up and needs to be addressed in police training. They are there to serve the public, not wage war on them.

KiplingKat872: ladyfortuna: Awwwww damn it. I hadn't read it yet and assumed it was something more along the lines of pitbull or other similar breed. Blue heelers are awesome and usually very smart. Obviously I don't support shooting any dog except in extreme cases, but hearing it's a heeler makes me even sadder about this.

In the spate of recent "cop shoots family dog stories, the minority for them at pit bulls. They killed another Blue Heeler in Austin, and a Border Collie in Fort Worth supposedly because the dogs were "aggressive"

Dangerous Blue Heeler at the wrong house

Vicious Border Collie, also at wrong house.

List of family dogs killed by police in recent years

This is complete and utter B.S., just cowards throwing their weight around.

Right next door to "my dog would never do that...", is "only, vicious dogs like, pittbulls and rottweilers bite people" comes in second on my list of Willful Canine Conceits.

I don't know if it's still accurate, but when I was a kid, do you know what the most common breed of dog to get bit by was?

Cocker Spaniel.

Know why? Because- at that time- everyone and their brother had one. The "viciousness" of the breed has very, very little to do with it.

SkunkWerks: Right next door to "my dog would never do that...", is "only, vicious dogs like, pittbulls and rottweilers bite people" comes in second on my list of Willful Canine Conceits.

I don't know if it's still accurate, but when I was a kid, do you know what the most common breed of dog to get bit by was?

Cocker Spaniel.

Know why? Because- at that time- everyone and their brother had one. The "viciousness" of the breed has very, very little to do with it.

And "the cops are always right" come right next to, "I believe politicians" in my book.

If these dogs were attacking, why have NONE of the cops in these stories been treated for bites? Not one.

It bullshiat paranoia and machismo, the assumption that anything approaching you is a threat and you have to use deadly force to subdue it. That attitude makes for a shiatty police officer. As I said, they are there to serve the public, not make war on them.

KiplingKat872: Cops need to be trained in reading animal behavior. A dog approaching you does not automatically mean it is attacking, but in all the cases in the last two years, the cops said they assumed the a dog approaching them was hostile.

It is. What behavior was the dog in the article presenting?

KiplingKat872: If these dogs were attacking, why have NONE of the cops in these stories been treated for bites?

We know the officer wasn't treated for a bite? Don't get me wrong, I know it wasn't in the article, but then again, neither was the nature of the "domestic disturbance" he was called in for either. Leaving out vital details seems a pattern to this article and I'd hardly trust an omission in it to be proof of something not happening in the overall scenario.

I can't speak to the other incidents.

KiplingKat872: And "the cops are always right" come right next to, "I believe politicians" in my book.

Cheers to you. I haven't said the cop was in the right- by default or otherwise. In fact I've said his response is worthy of questioning, actually. My belief in the cop's rightness or wrongness in the matter is of less concern to me than the other sentiment I'm seeing you express with regards to dog breeds- specifically what they do and don't do.

KiplingKat872: It bullshiat paranoia and machismo, the assumption that anything approaching you is a threat and you have to use deadly force to subdue it. That attitude makes for a shiatty police officer. As I said, they are there to serve the public, not make war on them.

And the conceit that my dog can't bite people because...

A) "...it's my dog, and he just wouldn't do that"

or

B) "...my dog- being not a pitbull, rottweiler, or other 'vicious' breed of dog is therefor incapable of biting people"

...makes for a shiatty dog owner. People like that end up getting other people bit because they assume their dogs are so innocent that they should be free to run around the house as some poor plumber s hanging his crack out of your sink-hole, or run around the neighborhood unleashed to maul some poor kid.

And then it's "well, I've never seen him do that before, I just don't know what got into him".

Which is, of course by then, too little, too late. Not only for the person who was bit or mauled, but for the dog- who damn well didn't know any better and was trusting to his owner to keep him from doing anything he wouldn't likely be put to sleep or shot for.

Fine time to start believing your little Jack Russel Terrier can indeed put a hurt on someone under the right circumstances, eh?

SirDigbyChickenCaesar: It is. What behavior was the dog in the article presenting?

SkunkWerks: Which is, of course by then, too little, too late. Not only for the person who was bit or mauled, but for the dog- who damn well didn't know any better and was trusting to his owner to keep him from doing anything he wouldn't likely be put to sleep or shot for.

Fine time to start believing your little Jack Russel Terrier can indeed put a hurt on someone under the right circumstances, eh?

Fine. All dogs are vicious attack dogs and all cops are saints.

Both of you obviously do not have animals, and it's best you never do.

KiplingKat872: Fine. All dogs are vicious attack dogs and all cops are saints.

Jesus. It's one extreme or the other with you, isn't it?

Actually, it is best that both you never go near anyone's dog since you are so terrified of them, you will probably hurt an innocent animal in your paranoia and terror.

KiplingKat872: Both of you obviously do not have animals,

I have three, as it happens. I love 'em all.

When I have someone unfamiliar in my house, I don't trust any of those animals to what I believe them incapable of based on unimportant trivia about their breed- or how familiar I think I am with them.

It's my job and responsibility to keep them out of trouble. Not slack off because I think I know what they can and can't do.

KiplingKat872: and all cops are saints.

Again with the sour grapes...

gulogulo: KiplingKat872: Fine. All dogs are vicious attack dogs and all cops are saints.

Jesus. It's one extreme or the other with you, isn't it?

Since they are insisting that in every single incident of the police killing a family pet in the last two years was a utterly warranted, it's obvious they are the absolutists.

KiplingKat872: Since they are insisting that in every single incident of the police killing a family pet in the last two years was a utterly warranted, it's obvious they are the absolutists.

They did not insist that at all. You are making things up.

KiplingKat872: SirDigbyChickenCaesar: It is. What behavior was the dog in the article presenting?

SkunkWerks: Which is, of course by then, too little, too late. Not only for the person who was bit or mauled, but for the dog- who damn well didn't know any better and was trusting to his owner to keep him from doing anything he wouldn't likely be put to sleep or shot for.

Fine time to start believing your little Jack Russel Terrier can indeed put a hurt on someone under the right circumstances, eh?

Fine. All dogs are vicious attack dogs and all cops are saints.

Both of you obviously do not have animals, and it's best you never do.

I rescue dogs in my free time and you didn't answer my question.

KiplingKat872: Actually, it is best that both you never go near anyone's dog since you are so terrified of them, you will probably hurt an innocent animal in your paranoia and terror.

SkunkWerks: KiplingKat872: Both of you obviously do not have animals,

I have three, as it happens. I love 'em all.

When I have someone unfamiliar in my house, I don't trust any of those animals to what I believe them incapable of based on unimportant trivia about their breed- or how familiar I think I am with them.

It's my job and responsibility to keep them out of trouble. Not slack off because I think I know what they can and can't do.

KiplingKat872: and all cops are saints.

Again with the sour grapes...

I have two, and I am very careful with their socialization and training.

But I don't think that in every single incident in the last two years, the cop was being attacked. And I don't think they have the right to just kill family pets becuase they were so paranoid of dogs that any approach by a dog was deemed and attack.

I think it is shiatty "Us vs. Them" training by police forces that makes cops assume that everyone and everything they deal with is automatically hostile. It's farked up, and it needs to be changed.

gulogulo: KiplingKat872: Since they are insisting that in every single incident of the police killing a family pet in the last two years was a utterly warranted, it's obvious they are the absolutists.

They did not insist that at all. You are making things up.

Oh, when did they say that any of the events I linked to was unjustified?

Where have they ever said that that sometimes the cops reacted inappropriately?

All they have done in this thread is blame the dogs and the dog owners and excuse the police.

SirDigbyChickenCaesar: I rescue dogs in my free time and you didn't answer my question.

What, you DRTFA?

From the FA:

Harmon said the officer did not wait and when her 6-year-old dog Sophie came near the deputy, he pulled his weapon and shot and killed the dog. Sophie was a female blue heeler who had just recently had puppies.

"came near"

Not growling. Not barking. Not lunging. "Came near."

Same as the border collie in the story i linked to above.

Or do you think dogs should be trained to be so unsocial they never approach strangers?

KiplingKat872: SirDigbyChickenCaesar: I rescue dogs in my free time and you didn't answer my question.

What, you DRTFA?

From the FA:

Harmon said the officer did not wait and when her 6-year-old dog Sophie came near the deputy, he pulled his weapon and shot and killed the dog. Sophie was a female blue heeler who had just recently had puppies.

"came near"

Not growling. Not barking. Not lunging. "Came near."

Same as the border collie in the story i linked to above.

Or do you think dogs should be trained to be so unsocial they never approach strangers?

My point is, the "article" never says how the dog was acting just where the dog was. As I said further up thread, there isn't nearly enough information in this "article" to either condemn nor clear the officer.

For you to infer the puppy just wants some love is just as wrong as assuming it was about to attack based on the info that has been published. But please feel free to continue with your "They are there to serve the public, not wage war on them" rhetoric.

As someone who owns a 7yr old, 75lb Female Blue Heeler\Blue Tick mix (that's hated people in uniforms since Animal Control tried to take them...another story), I can understand why the dog might have been shot. If anyone, and I mean ANYONE BONNIE DOESN'T KNOW, comes onto my property they'll be chased off. While she doesn't attack unless provoked (like someone with an arm up like they're attacking or acting violent; I've trained her well), she can be VERY intimidating and scare the hell out of whomever she charges. She's very smart (smarter than most people actually....but people are dumb for the most part) and won't leave the yard, go in the road w\o a leash, does lots of tricks, and is protective of her family and friends; BUT, if you didn't know that she wouldn't actually bite you without provocation you'd be scared as hell of her if she met you before I did. Once she knows you're a friend or not a threat, she'll be your best friend (cause she wants you to feed her a snack). She also sleeps with cats and kittens to give you an idea of how gentle she can be.

My other dog, a Catahoula\Red Heeler mix named Leecie, only charges when Bonnie does. If she sees someone first she'll get Bonnie to do a threat assessment, unless she knows you, then you have to throw the ball or frisbee...she's more addicted to frisbee than a crackhead is to rocks.

Animal Control came to get them because my neighbors at the end of the street accused my dogs of killing their small dog (which my dogs played with regularly and let it eat from their food dish). They couldn't have done it since Leecie was at the vet overnight getting spayed and I picked up Bonnie that day from her spay -- she was out of it till the next day from the meds. Their just happened to be two dogs that roamed the neighborhood as well (I lived in the county at the time) and they were a Chow and Rott. From a distance of 50+feet and low lighting, my dogs could easily be mistaken for those two, and it just so happened that the attack happened 100 feet away at sunset. The Chow and Rott also killed 2 of my cats, but that happens in the country where dogs are allowed to roam free.

/Boobies ever
//signed up way back, but changed phone plans to save money (dropped edge since 3g wasn't available where I lived at the time)
///no Internet other than Sat or 56k where I used to live (its still that way there still, cable network ends 1000ft from my old place)

SirDigbyChickenCaesar: For you to infer the puppy just wants some love is just as wrong as assuming it was about to attack based on the info that has been published. But please feel free to continue with your "They are there to serve the public, not wage war on them" rhetoric.

But..but..things get done when we talk in ragey hyperbolics..don't they?

That /Boobies ever was supposed to say Boobies....I have no idea how autocorrect changed that one.

skeevy420: That /Boobies ever was supposed to say Boobies....I have no idea how autocorrect changed that one.

You're being filtered..it's something to stop people from drawing attention to the fact that they are the numero uno post.

CapeFearCadaver: One of the problems is that police departments are City or State; there is no federal jurisdiction over them, no guidelines for how each city or state train their LEOs. Should there be? I don't know. What I do know is the resounding outcry from local city and state governments if such were even thought about being put into place.

That's very cool that your PD decided to address the issues rather than sweep it all under the carpet. I applaud them for not sticking their head in the sand.

I don't think federal guidelines would really help local PDs which have to deal with a slightly different flavor of local climate and crime. Sheriffs in my miniscule hometown in Maine would probably not get much form the training the LAPD go through and vice versa. (Though we do have a drug trafficking issues with a hot turn pike to Boston, we simply do not see the violence that urban areas do.) I also understand that the police need to be on guard for potential threats, but some police departments have simply gone to far, alienating their force from the populace through paranoia. They act aggressively, making the populace mistrust them, creating a charged atmosphere, so the cops act more aggressively and it becomes a downward spiral.

CapeFearCadaver: One of the problems is that police departments are City or State; there is no federal jurisdiction over them, no guidelines for how each city or state train their LEOs. Should there be? I don't know. What I do know is the resounding outcry from local city and state governments if such were even thought about being put into place

Well I don't know where you live but here in VA they are state mandated guidelines and they are all available for anyone to have:

http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/standardsTraining/compulsoryMinimumTrain i ng/officers.cfm

Those are the minimums, local departments can only modify them to make them more strict.

You don't want the feds involved...

SirDigbyChickenCaesar: My point is, the "article" never says how the dog was acting just where the dog was. As I said further up thread, there isn't nearly enough information in this "article" to either condemn nor clear the officer.

For you to infer the puppy just wants some love is just as wrong as assuming it was about to attack based on the info that has been published. But please feel free to continue with your "They are there to serve the public, not wage war on them" rhetoric.

Just as it is for you to infer that the shooting, inside a house where the bullet ricocheted, was completely justified.

Go read all these stories i posted above and tell me they were all completely justifiable.

I've just found this video shot by the Police during arresting a guy on murder charges... when his confused dog shows up. But this wasn't in America so the dog ends up licking a cop hand.

Link

gulogulo: skeevy420: That /Boobies ever was supposed to say Boobies....I have no idea how autocorrect changed that one.

You're being filtered..it's something to stop people from drawing attention to the fact that they are the numero uno post.

I figured something like that was happening after my attempted correction...but damn. Thanks for the heads up though.

Any other weird ass filters I need to be aware of???

I feel really bad for the lady in the article. I'd want to die if my best friend of 7 1\2 years was shot for doing her only job of trying to keep me safe and protected.

traylor: I've just found this video shot by the Police during arresting a guy on murder charges... when his confused dog shows up. But this wasn't in America so the dog ends up licking a cop hand.

Link

This is what happens when cops understand of a dog's body language and can differentiate an aggressive dog from a friendly one. The dog even barked and the cops was unfazed, recognizing that its stance showed no aggression, no prelude to attack.

But in the U.S., mostly likely the dog would have been shot when it barked.

KiplingKat872: Just as it is for you to infer that the shooting, inside a house where the bullet ricocheted, was completely justified.

He said the exact opposite of what you're claiming. He made no comment about it being justified because there is not enough information. I can't tell if you're being willfully obtuse or not, but look, your anecdotes don't prove that this case is the same case as those. Of course no one here has suggested it's ok to shoot a dog that poses no threat, but you can't always tell what in the heat of a moment of what is a threat. In the instances where it is painfully obvious that there was no threat and the cop shot anyway, then yes, throw the book at them.

That said, you're making villains out of people in this thread by misrepresenting them. Calm down and try treating your fellow humans with the respect you afford dogs.

"...cops *were* unfazed..."

Sorry.

KiplingKat872: But I don't think that in every single incident in the last two years, the cop was being attacked.

Again, great for you. I didn't say that's what I think happened either. The article says she left the two alone and went inside for a short time- during which the dog was shot by the officer. And that's it. Doesn't say how the dog was acting. Doesn't even stop to address whether the officer felt threatened by it.

The dog had just had a littler. It's possible the dog might have attacked him. It's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. The article is- as I've said- thin on details. Even in that case, I'd prefer to say there were better options for dealing with an angry dog that size than discharging a firearm- if not because it seems like overkill, then because the article also reports the ricochet was within ten feet of bystanders inside the house.

It's hard to say just what happened here. But if I'd been the owner, that dog would have been penned up with her puppies the moment I'd decided to call the police in the first place, not waiting to greet the strange, armed man right in the front yard.

That was galactically negligent of her- regardless of whether the cop was in the right to shoot the dog. Right, wrong or indifferent, her dog is dead now because it wasn't where it should have been while all this was going on, and a litter of puppies now are lacking a mom.

I don't like cops that abuse their power and privilege. This could be one of those cases. It's a terrible thing to do to people who trust you to protect and serve them.

I also don't like dog owners that abuse their power and privilege. This is definitely one of those cases. It's a terrible thing to do to animals who trust you to protect and serve them.


It takes a long time to graduate from a police academy and be this callous and reckless (if indeed that's what happened here). Sadly a negligent/abusive dog owner can accomplish the same feat in one trip to the local pound.

gulogulo: That said, you're making villains out of people in this thread by misrepresenting them. Calm down and try treating your fellow humans with the respect you afford dogs.

You realize you are the only person in this page that is actually approaching this objectively. Everyone you are currently defending is automatically assuming the cops are in the right.

skeevy420: Any other weird ass filters I need to be aware of???

Yeah, I think putting something about being the final p*st will also filter it to 'Weeners'. And a few naughty words are also filtered.

KiplingKat872: traylor: I've just found this video shot by the Police during arresting a guy on murder charges... when his confused dog shows up. But this wasn't in America so the dog ends up licking a cop hand.

Link

This is what happens when cops understand of a dog's body language and can differentiate an aggressive dog from a friendly one. The dog even barked and the cops was unfazed, recognizing that its stance showed no aggression, no prelude to attack.

But in the U.S., mostly likely the dog would have been shot when it barked.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.