I commented on a friend’s post about this. It boils down to protecting its pack. The police come, person becomes fearful, and dog gets protective. Lets face it… people don’t get fearful when the mail carrier or meter reader comes around.

I worked for a year in a groom shop. Most dogs that have reputations, have them for a reason. A dog left in the care of a groomer is not the same as one with its owner around. Even “peaceful” dogs that “love everyone” can sense when the owner is scared, and intervene. Don’t be surprised when a cop comes to your door, and a person gets “fearful” if a dog’s reaction is to be protective to its pack. The REAL unfortunate thing, is that it wasn’t even the owner that caused this. It was a 3rd party.

All of these dog shootings started to occur while Bush was president. It’s not Obama’s fault, Obama wanted things to change.

Wouldn’t it be just as effective to taser the animals instead of shooting them? That method seems more humane and is survivable. Dog bites are also survivable. Pets can be very protective if they sense danger to their masters, but are otherwise docile and loyal. If this seems naive and simplistic, so be it. I love animals.

KTA

dangit, the dog was just “standing it’s ground”. The officer should have backed off and called for animal control, those gals are good. They would have lassoed the dog with a pole loop in the blink of an eye. Maybe BPD officers need to take some lessons from them or get some shin guards. Three shots fired in serving a failure to appear warrant and all they got was the dog.

I could get long winded here but won’t. Worked with dogs all my life, yes with dogs in lsw enforcement etc. This stigma about pitbulls is sad, they are born with one of the most gentle dispositions, and no dog is born to fight, they are made that way by irresponsible owners.
Has anyone else read or seen the studies on what is now called tazer mentality. Cops feel why get near any suspect, just tazer, don’t deal with a suspect with a knife, just shoot him.
Keep an eye on these incidents, it is certain departments that tend to have more of these incidents, over others.
Why did it take a properly trained officer 3 shots to knock a dog down, one shot didn’t even hit the dog.
Lastly people keep talk about cops covering for each other ever heard of “The Thick Blue Wall”.

I spent one summer while in college working for animal control checking dog license and rabies vaccinations. I ran into aggressive dogs every day some would back down others got a face full of pepper spray. Cops all have pepper spray and there was no need to shoot the dog. I never encountered a single aggressive dog willing to come at me after a face full of pepper spray. A clipboard between the choppers worked nearly as good as the pepper spray but you had to be mindful of where your fingers were while shoving the clipboard between their teeth.

We checked thousands of dogs and I handed back a nearly full container of Halt at the end of the summer. I got bit once by a small rat terrier on the back of my left ankle. The trigger happy cop needs to be kicked to the curb.

Cops like to shoot things, that’s the only story here. Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day, give a man a gun and he’ll come up with an excuse to use it. Welcome to the Fourth Reich, where every man and his dog is subject to excessive punishment.

You have never seen anything like a 9 year old frozen with 2 large dogs charging. You have never heard a scream in any movie like that which came out of that 9 year old’s mouth.

I got off my bike picked it up over my head and slammed it into the head of one of the dogs. Fortunately for the dogs and the dog’s owner they ran off after that. Bear in mind that I was in shorts and flip flops and had little ability to flee and lots of exposed flesh.

The commotion brought out several neighbors and they all supported me and offered up commentary that this wasn’t the first time the dogs had gone after someone.

Sorry pit bull lovers, but they are unpredictable and do terrible damage when they strike.

Far as I can see. One more Pit Bull gone. YAAAAAAA!

@Sal Nez: BS! Stop blowing smoke officer. The disrespect you feel after actions like this is well earned. You are part of the PR department sent to hush and cover? Have a dog biscuit on me.

B Cynic, pepper spray does work better for bear attack than the gun. does not have the reach of a gun, but better for poor aim up close too.

Just a sidebar observation. As the cops have become more well armed their danger level has gone up too. Chicken vs Egg?

Must say I agree with everyone:

Many cops are trigger happy and aggressive, but they are or become that way because they deal with the dregs of society, so I don’t have too. That is why cops have a higher than average suicide rate (22 per 100K versus society at large of 12 per 100K) and more domestic violence at home (40% of police officer homes have domestic violence, compared to 10% for society on average, national center for women is the source, other sources puport less), although one might say it is not all always reported through the blue wall.

I can somewhat attest to the blue wall. While working for a police chief in another state (not as an officer) our chief had a reputation of “not playing ball” which meant when other officers from other jurisdictions got into trouble in our city, instead of refering the offending officer back to their department for internal discipline, he applied the law of the land. Other jursidictions were negative toward us for not recirpcating the flexibility for officers to bend the law and get a slap on the hand instead of citation and charges. That cheif led by example, when he would get a call in the night that one of our officers got into trouble in another jurisdiction, they would ask what we wanted them to do about it, our cheif responded to the other officers to do their duty. If a warning, issue a warning, if a citation issue a citation, if an arrest, make the arrest. He neither gave nor recieved special treatment, and it appeared that was unusual.

I appreciatte the jobs our police do, they have a tough job, but to be honest many of them love that tough job, and there is a culture issue amongst the blue. They work together, play together, and do not really mesh into the general public very well. That is why we are called civilians, to seperate us from them. Why can’t we all be civilians, even the police?

I did not shed a tear that there is one less pit bull in town. Waste of a breed, don’t realy care someone has a realy nice pit bull, many a “nice” dog attack, should be dinner for someone in Korea.

Again, I have yet to see the dog that won’t do an about face when they get a snoot full of pepper spray and every Cop carries it. A pack of dogs is another story. I knew a sheep rancher who get fed up with dog packs taking down his sheep for sport at night and he cured the problem with some hot lead. He ended up goig to jail over it.

Dogs allowed to run free will pack up and kill livestock just for the sport of it.

Paul, the sheep rancher was in California? Ranchers can shoot a dog harassing livestock in any non-commie state so long as not to endanger etc.

Question? How do so many cops get all pumped up looking by riding in the crown vic all shift? The answer might have something to do with the increase in domestic violence and suicides.

Yes they have a dirty job etc. But so does the guy who cleans my barns. The courts need to reel these guys in some so they don’t think of so many people as pooh on their boot. Idaho is improved to be sure. I’d like to see further improvement though. The pay and bennies are finally good enough, now how about a real education to ingrain a better understanding and connection to the community….. and how stupid it looks to kill someones pet because of poor planning. Criminal justic degree is too easy and too narow

Well folks, I think the lesson leaned here is, there are many views on this. None of us were there, so none of us know how the dog acted, nor do we know how the officer perceived it. So there was a few witnesses that said the dog wasn’t mean. I’m sure there are a few neighbors that would say otherwise. Anyway, its over and done with, lets get onto something that impacts all of us. How about the Broncos upcoming season?

big pac I doubt if you would be in the mood to forgive and forget if it was your dog. Have a good day officer

@Rock, whats funny is, they haven’t even had a quote from the owner saying anything. Its all supposed witnesses, why don’t the press talk to the owner.

I have no idea, but hopefully it coz their lawyer told them not to comment prior to the law suit

Zippo
I don’t think cops can be referred to as thugs, you are correct that they do attempt to intimidate and instigate confrontations to up the ante so to speak. The fact that this incident turned to gun play cannot be defended. The simple fact that this cop had time to fire 3 rounds at the dog means that the individual had time to retreat. I understand that the training cops receive tells them that they will not retreat and give their adversary any option to gain the upper hand.

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the obvious. If the dog had been controlled by its owner, it would be alive. If it had been inside or in a fenced yard…..it wouldn’t have been shot. Come on now, enough of the conspiracy theories. Control your animal

If the cops wernt always looking to busta cap…the dog would be alive

If the dog was in “it’s” own yard……no need to be on a leash…