# Another K9 attack



## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Walmart Worker Mauled By Police Dog

There are so many questions about this story.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

The door popping open obviously triggered the dog. If it was a 'real' situation he may have been saving his handler with his actions. Too bad it wasn't a bark and hold in this instance.
I hope the dog isn't held liable.....I feel really bad for that employee and I hope he is compensated big time for his pain and suffering.


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

Once again, this is why K9s need to be trained a hold and bark. This is the main reason we gave up our training contract with the area K9 units we used to train.


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## CelticGlory (Jan 19, 2006)

This makes me question whether adopting retired K9's is even safe for pet owners. This made me think of the adoption of K9's into pet homes and whether or not something like this could happen later.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> The door popping open obviously triggered the dog. If it was a 'real' situation he may have been saving his handler with his actions. Too bad it wasn't a bark and hold in this instance.
> I hope the dog isn't held liable.....I feel really bad for that employee and I hope he is compensated big time for his pain and suffering.


Seriously? I mean its sad that the dog is probably going to pay the ultimate price for its actions but its definitely liable from what I read. It wasn't restrained in it's vehicle and somehow popped free? If any one of our dogs did this, there wouldn't be any questions of what is going to happen next. Without the handler around, there is no way this dog was protecting anyone, it just decided to maul the guy. No matter what the reasons in the dogs head, this is definitely not acceptable behavior of any dog, much less a K9.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

With all the cameras Walmart has installed in every nook & cranny the police should be able to piece together what happened...I hope.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

martemchik said:


> Seriously? I mean its sad that the dog is probably going to pay the ultimate price for its actions but its definitely liable from what I read. It wasn't restrained in it's vehicle and somehow popped free? If any one of our dogs did this, there wouldn't be any questions of what is going to happen next. Without the handler around, there is no way this dog was protecting anyone, it just decided to maul the guy. No matter what the reasons in the dogs head, this is definitely not acceptable behavior of any dog, much less a K9.


Big difference between our pet dogs and a dog that is trained to protect its partner. The mechanism was at fault and certainly the dog shouldn't have attacked. Who knows, maybe they just came off a case where the dogs adrenaline was fired up.....
I've seen many K9's that look like they'd kill when in a vehicle/extremely reactive. Without their handler I bet many would have done the same thing as that Mal.....I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> Big difference between our pet dogs and a dog that is trained to protect its partner. The mechanism was at fault and certainly the dog shouldn't have attacked. Who knows, maybe they just came off a case where the dogs adrenaline was fired up.....
> I've seen many K9's that look like they'd kill when in a vehicle/extremely reactive. Without their handler I bet many would have done the same thing as that Mal.....I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.


Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the employee or someone else had been trying to get a reaction out of the dog. Seen that happen as well. That is not saying what the dog did was acceptable, just another possibility.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

That is what I thought too. People seem to think it is cute to ramp up dogs in cars, particularly police dogs because the bark and act like they want to kill, and the big strong car is holding them back. 

But if the guy was actually doing nothing more than drinking his coffee, then yeah he should be compensated for his injuries and pain and suffering. 

This is NOT one of our dogs. The dogs are loose in the car so that they CAN protect their handler if necessary. We can crate our dogs or put a seat belt on them. We do not have a mechanism to open the door so the dog can bail. And if private citizens adopt retired police dogs, then it is unlikely they would install such a device in the car. 

Someone should post some real statistics. How many active police dogs are there out there in the US. How many undeserved attacks are there in a year? What people need to understand is that dogs are not robots. They are animals. And, even with tons of training, training done properly, a dog might make a mistake. And then, oh well. Pay for the injuries, loss of work, pain and suffering, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater because there have been some negative incidents. 

My guess is that when police dogs attack the wrong people, it is news, so it is highly publicized.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Super post, Selzer.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

gagsd said:


> Super post, Selzer.


Agreed!


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## melsie (Jun 9, 2012)

*I agree with Selzer*

It's just hard for me to believe that the dog was not provoked somehow. I've seen people walk up to police cruisers many times (even with an officer close by and telling them not to), and tap on the window or try to reach their hands into a window only cracked open a couple inches to try to pet a K9. 

You know, we're not talking about your average obedience trained or even home defense trained dogs; they are trained to attack and kill if necessary. They are police officers and canine partners to human officers. They are extraordinarily intelligent and have the capacity to logic and reason. Personally, I believe the dog was provoked and it was just a coincidence that the door was not completely closed, it was accidentally remotely opened, perhaps prior to this man approaching the vehicle ..and being teased or provoked caused the dog to attack.

It sure would be interesting to see any video surveillance of what truly happened. Maybe it was the dog's fault...but if it was it would truly surprise me. Anyway, that's JMHO..


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## KentuckyGSDLover (Nov 17, 2011)

Lots of questions and variables until more of the story comes to light.

I watched a K9 GSD police partner in a local town that the officer obviously did not know how to handle. I was a bit shocked. He couldn't even get a toy from the dog or make the dog drop it, so I have serious doubts he could call the dog off in service, either. His dog was the ONLY dog that has seriously attacked another dog in the dog park in that town, and when he shows up, the dog park clears. Go figure. Kinda sad because it's a beautiful dog, but it knowing it is in control is probably going to cost its life some day.


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## Elsa'sRHC (Jun 9, 2012)

KentuckyGSDLover said:


> Lots of questions and variables until more of the story comes to light.
> 
> I watched a K9 GSD police partner in a local town that the officer obviously did not know how to handle. I was a bit shocked. He couldn't even get a toy from the dog or make the dog drop it, so I have serious doubts he could call the dog off in service, either. His dog was the ONLY dog that has seriously attacked another dog in the dog park in that town, and when he shows up, the dog park clears. Go figure. Kinda sad because it's a beautiful dog, but it knowing it is in control is probably going to cost its life some day.


Unfortunately, I've also seen this kind of K9. I was a rookie reporter in this hillbilly town. One of the two (yes, TWO) police officers in town had taken it upon himself to train his GSD as a "K9." There was nothing that resembled standard K9 training in this dog, and this guy was convinced he had the "best control." The dog, looking back, was a ticking time bomb because his handler/trainer had no idea what he was doing. It was a shame, too, because it was a very nice, if huge, GSD. 

And I have also seen people intentionally agitate K9s in cars. The people think it's funny. Some people have no sense.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

im really curious about this also if the man was really just having coffee? 


what was the trigger? 

getting let out of a car with no command for personal protection dog or police dog to just go maul someone for no reason is really really scary. It will just take out whatevers in its way lol


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

melsie said:


> I've seen people walk up to police cruisers many times (even with an officer close by and telling them not to), and tap on the window or try to reach their hands into a window only cracked open a couple inches to try to pet a K9.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

In most places you can be arrested for 'harrassing' a police K9.
And it is probably up to an officers discretion what justifies that harrassment.
On the WDF there was a discussion about this case and most of the K9 handlers were in agreement that the dog should have been trained to track his way to his handler.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

Sunflowers said:


>




yep people will bug a police dog which makes me kinda wonder about this


In california you see signs outside of k9 cars saying STAY BACK FROM THE CAR!!! they dont make those signs for no reason


i dont know this man may have done nothing wrong i just wish in general public had more respect for dogs

someone recently got an aggressive reaction out of my dog by trying to "talk to her" through the fence on her turf then had a heart attack almost when she got aggressive, even tho there was lots of signs and me telling him not to, people are just stupid


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

pets4life said:


> yep people will bug a police dog which makes me kinda wonder about this


What part of finger amputation don't these people understand?

I guess they've never seen a raw fed dog snap bones as if they were Cheetos.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

ive been around a handful of pp dogs not many police dogs ever just curious about this i wonder if many got out what most would do?

I know a pp dog should be aloof normal or friendly in public if its the type that would take down a person when it leaves the car or gets loose and is not on its own turf anymore that dog is not a pp dog anymore. A lot of pp dogs will attack someone on their property. But if they go out and about and just wondering on their own they should NEver attack just someone that gets in their way they can either ignore the person or go sniff them be friendly depends. If they take down the person this dog cant be a pp dog you cant take a dog like that in public cause it is a serious liablity. I expect the dog to get aggressive when its attacked or im attacked OR i give its attack turn on command. But i agree things can go wrong and sometimes a person can just rub a dog wrong. But if it just ran and all out attacked someone on nuteral ground that would be insanity.


But for police dogs it would be another story i guess. I don't know much about them. They seem like they are trained to be a much more offensive animal usually.


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