That article says the dog, Kastor, was only two years old. The officer could not have had him for a couple years. My guess would be that he only had the dog for 2-4 months at the most. This would support my initial assessment. However, maybe the dog was at least 2.5 years old and had been with his human partner for over a year, but I doubt it.
Knowing dogs of this caliber, i would not put a dog like this on active duty until at least three years of age. They are not fully mature mentally and able to be stable enough under the stressful environment they work in until then. I think they should have also lived with their partner for at least 6 months in order to bond. An additional 6 months would be very helpful for the team to undergo training together under a controlled environment to simulate work conditions to discover and work out “bugs” before hitting the street.
In the dog world we used to call “bugs” skeletons. Almost every dog will have a skeleton or two somewhere in their closet and might show up and a bad time. We will probably never find out if that was the case for Kastor.
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Return to “Waco PD K9 attacks handler, was killed to save human LEO.”
- Tue Oct 09, 2018 9:43 am
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: Waco PD K9 attacks handler, was killed to save human LEO.
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3451
- Sun Oct 07, 2018 7:40 pm
- Forum: Off-Topic
- Topic: Waco PD K9 attacks handler, was killed to save human LEO.
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3451
Re: Waco PD K9 attacks handler, was killed to save human LEO.
I saw this and pondered whether this may have been a relatively new dog to this handler.
When I was doing dog training of this nature I also worked with many police handlers. Just like we are aware that many are not all that proficient with firearms, there are also many K9 handlers that are not very proficient dog handlers or trainers and only know the basics. They really rely on bonding with their dog to gain that familiarity of how THAT dog thinks and works, but rarely, if ever, does that officer train his dog/partner anything. For many departments the raising and training is done by someone else and then the handlers are also taught by some of those facilities before taking possession of their dog and return for refresher training every now and then if they think a problem has arisen or just scheduled "maintenance" according to their contract. Larger (BIG) departments may have their own program.
I haven't done that sort of thing or been involved with it for almost 10 years now. Maybe it's different now, but I doubt it.
BTW, I've been in situations like what this officer got himself into and been able to safely get the dog off the handler it was attacking more than a few times. If the other officer's had the knowledge they also could have done so without taking that dog's life. I'm VERY sorry it ended that way for the dog, the officer that was attacked, the officer that shot the dog, and the department. However, I think it also illustrates that for most LEOs their only response to any aggressive dog is to shoot it. Most don't have the knowledge or skill to have the slightest clue how to deal with an aggressive dog in a safe way for both dog and human.
I apologize for my rant.
When I was doing dog training of this nature I also worked with many police handlers. Just like we are aware that many are not all that proficient with firearms, there are also many K9 handlers that are not very proficient dog handlers or trainers and only know the basics. They really rely on bonding with their dog to gain that familiarity of how THAT dog thinks and works, but rarely, if ever, does that officer train his dog/partner anything. For many departments the raising and training is done by someone else and then the handlers are also taught by some of those facilities before taking possession of their dog and return for refresher training every now and then if they think a problem has arisen or just scheduled "maintenance" according to their contract. Larger (BIG) departments may have their own program.
I haven't done that sort of thing or been involved with it for almost 10 years now. Maybe it's different now, but I doubt it.
BTW, I've been in situations like what this officer got himself into and been able to safely get the dog off the handler it was attacking more than a few times. If the other officer's had the knowledge they also could have done so without taking that dog's life. I'm VERY sorry it ended that way for the dog, the officer that was attacked, the officer that shot the dog, and the department. However, I think it also illustrates that for most LEOs their only response to any aggressive dog is to shoot it. Most don't have the knowledge or skill to have the slightest clue how to deal with an aggressive dog in a safe way for both dog and human.
I apologize for my rant.