The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

heartbreaking and should never have happened...

https://www.facebook.com/#!/JusticeForCisco

OMG...I couldn't even finish reading that. How awful and soooo soooo wrong. I doubt much will be done, but if I was Mike, I would not go away, until I made myself VERY VERY public. I can't even imagine that man's pain.

I am so sad about this. This dog was just trying to defend his master, I think his name was Cisco. I will sue the police depatment and not for money but for establishing better security and guidelines policies referring to dog handling in situations like this.

I think this is very sad and tragic - however before I chose to decide which "side" to promote, I'd have to know - was the front yard fenced? If not, I'm not sure I could say it was ok for Cisco to be loose. YES it is tragic - YES it is senseless - but could any of it have been prevented, in spite of the original accident (wrong address)?

I don't think the point is weather the yard is fenced or not. it really is about a cop entering a property, gun drawn, holds a man at gun point and 11 seconds into the event shoots the man's dog. The cop berats the man for not securing his dog after he shot it. WTF the man being held at gunpoint is supposed to secure his dog. the dog was on his property.

police cam captured the interaction, you see him but once he moves out of sight range, you can hear the interaction.
video is posted on Cisco's FB page

I agree! It should not have happened---period.

The cop was responding to a call about a domestic dispute which can be very dangerous. Turned out to be a tri-plex and he didn't know which unit it could be. In that situation, I'm sure the cop is on edge - not knowing what he is walking into. The dog appeared to him to be approaching him aggressively and his owner didn't appear to have control over the dog. Too bad he shot the dog; maybe he over-reacted; maybe not. I'm glad they are investigating the shooting, but I won't be surprised if they find it justifiable. I'm glad I don't have to make split decisions like that.

If you watch the police cam you see the officer unholster his gun as he walks onto the property, fully not knowing which place it really was. Why did he unholster his gun in the first place? The call was about a man with his hands around a womens neck, not about an armed man. If you listen to the video everything takes place in about 4 seconds or so. As the owner walks out from his fenced back yard the cop asks what's your name .. as the officer is doing this you hear the dog start to bark (not aggressively from the sound of it, just barking) as the office is saying get your dog he shoots the dog. The officer never attempted to let the owner get the dog just shot the dog. This was a 50lb cattle dog, not a pitbull. Any dog would bark at a stranger especially in a situation like this when I am sure the dog could sense the tension. It was totally wrong of the cop to be so trigger happy.

First of all, I would like to say that I am sad to say that this happened and in my city. There has been a huge uproar and the city is reviewing the policy that it has in place for how to handle aggressive animals and officer training in these instances. Cisco had two previous "aggressive dog" complaints logged against him by citizens. These were not made by animal control officers nor people trained in dog behavior but they are there and he has scared people in the past. I am sure the adrenaline of the officer was pumping as he was responding to this call and in conjunction with a charging dog, he made the wrong choice but it was made in seconds of him feeling fearful. Please keep in mind that a fellow officer was killed in the line of duty this week (responding to a 911 call) and the streets of Austin were lined with thousands of people showing their respect and this may also have been fresh on his mind. I would be livid if this happened to any one of my pack but I have to take a step back and look at all the information before passing judgement. If I had an aggressive dog, it would not be off leash....period...end of story.