Petition; Family Pit Bull Shot and Killed on Sight

http://www.change.org/petitions/justice-for-big-boy

This is the SECOND time this month that an officer has shown up to someone's house and shot and killed their pet dog without warrant. The first was a blue heeler in Austin, Texas, and the officer was at the WRONG address when he confronted the man who lived there and then fired. Both officers also had tasers and pepper spray at their disposal. I don't know how we're supposed to trust the judgment of these assholes in a REAL stress inducing situation when they can't even walk up to a house without unloading their lethal weapons into something that spooks them a bit.

Breaking News: Cops are now deathly afraid of miniature dachshunds. Pathetic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...648&title=Coco

There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of thing. An officer is supposed to Protect and Serve. The officer who ignored the sign is basically trespassing. The officer who simultaneously told the man to put his hands over his head, and restrain his dog, is too fukken stupid to be an officer.

Still, at the end of the day, it is my opinion that NO dog should be off a leash/chain when unaccompanied by the owner. I for one would never have one of my pit bulls running around the yard, and if I was outside playing fetch with mine, and went inside for a minute, that dog would have gone inside with me.

Jack

I agree, Jack, I immediately thought the same thing while I was reading the articles. Hopefully, the fact that my dogs are ALWAYS enclosed or restrained responsibly would save them from such ignorance and useless force -- but the second article also mentioned officers shooting dogs that were kenneled or tethered, obviously posing no threat.

In the case of the ACD that was shot, where the officer ordered the man to put his hands up and restrain his dog at the same time, there is an audio tape of the incident. It's sickening to listen to. The officer shows up, at the wrong address, and immediately draws a gun on the man in the middle of the day, when he was posing no threat and hadn't shown any resistance to questioning. He literally shot the dog three seconds after first seeing him. He didn't assess the situation, didn't give the owner a chance to restrain his dog or say anything about it whatsoever. He pulled the trigger as soon as he got spooked. Then, to add insult to injury, when the man moved to go to his DYING companion, the officer further lost his cool, and yelled for him to keep his hands in the air, stay where he was, DON'T MOVE. While the man was pleading for the officer to let him take his dog to the vet.

These are sub-level human beings, not mentally capable of handling a slightly stressful situation OR giving compassion when they've wreaked unnecessary and irreparable damage. They're like power hungry toddlers with hand guns. A very precarious situation for us every day civilians.

Wow, I think I would kill someone if they did that to me and Silverback.

I must admit my own negligence with The Gorilla, earlier this week in fact. The UPS guy shows up at the house to make a delivery, and my front screen door was unlocked. Silverback pushed passed the screen door and jumped into the UPS truck! Fortunately for the driver (and my insurance company!), Silverback jumped onto the man's lap. It is also fortunate that the UPS guy is calm and rational. Dude has been delivering here all the time, and the Gorilla knows he is no threat, so it turned out okay. But that was a severe amount of negligence on my part, for not locking the screen door, that could have turned out worse if The Gorilla didn't like the guy.

So we as owners all have our moments of negligence, and it is also up to people who get into the business of coming into other people's property to have a sense of calm about them, rather than to be overly-excitable cowards, because property owners DO have dogs, and so the people who choose (and are selected for) positions where their job entails going onto other people's property MUST have the right temperament for the job.

Jack