APD shoots a dog inside PETCO

[texanjoker]

This is a story that could hit home for any one of us that decide to take our dogs to a pet store or other venue that allows dogs. What are you going to do if some loose pit is attacking your dog and you cannot stop it? Yup, this time the shooter is a LEO and not a citizen like in the previous post from SD, yet he was also stopping a dog fight. This was an off duty officer working at PETCO. He most likely was in uniform working this gig. I imagine there will be some surveillance video from PETCO, especially one that hires off duty officers for security.

Just a thought, If you are going to bring your pit or any other dog into a busy store, it would probably be a GOOD idea to control your dog!

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AUSTIN - An off-duty Austin police officer shot and killed a dog inside a pet store Wednesday night.
Police tell KVUE News the officer was working security at the PetCo store near Lakeline Mall.
They say someone brought a pitbull into the store around 7:20 p.m. It got lose and attacked a maltipoo.
After trying to separate the animals, the security guard opened fire killing the dog.

[Jumping Frog]

Now we'll get to read 4 pages of arguing, where one viewpoint will condemn the oppressive trigger-happy militaristic LEO's and the other will assert LEO's are perfectly justified and never step into stink.

I get so tired of the arguing.

On a side note, I brought my dog to Petco for a bath today. Signs on the door clearly state that leashed dogs are welcome. I was armed, as always. If a non-leashed pitbull was attacking my leashed GSD, and by extension placing me in jeopardy by being in physical proximity, then I am shooting it too after checking line of fire for safety.

[Redneck_Buddha]

I believe it was clearly a good shoot.

[carlson1]

I do not see how there is a debate about this. The owner is at fault. If you look at most of these LEO's that have to shoot the dogs it is the owner's fault not the LEO.

[Dave2]

Yeah, there's not that much to argue about with this one. Still sad, though :-/

[EEllis]

Austin is one of the few dept that actually have some dog specific training. As far as I know TCLOSE has no training except that officers can shoot dogs if they feel threatened. APD had received quite a bit of bad press about several dog shooting incidents before starting dept wide training in handling situations with dogs and shootings involving dogs are supposed to receive full chain of command overview instead of a review just by the officers immediate supervisor. This has been enacted for just under 1 year and there is supposed to be a 50% reduction in shootings involving dogs.

[C-dub]

That is one of my biggest pet peeves, no pun intended. After many years of training dogs for protection I can appreciate the desire to have a trained dog, but there are so many people that chose a dog that they cannot physically restrain. Unfortunately, this happens mostly with women, but there are quite a few men that big some big strong breed that they are either not strong enough to restrain or just don't have the coordination. This would be like having a gun that would go off on it's own with no warning. I just don't get it.

[EEllis]

That is one of my biggest pet peeves, no pun intended. After many years of training dogs for protection I can appreciate the desire to have a trained dog, but there are so many people that chose a dog that they cannot physically restrain. Unfortunately, this happens mostly with women, but there are quite a few men that big some big strong breed that they are either not strong enough to restrain or just don't have the coordination. This would be like having a gun that would go off on it's own with no warning. I just don't get it.

In this case, before the shooting, there were reportedly 5 people trying to separate the dogs and were unable to do so. I was present for one pit attack on a young child. several people attempted to intervene and could not get the dog to release the child. One guy came running up and jammed his fingers in the dogs nose and yanked the pit off by it's nose. There happed to be an unarmed security there and he sprayed the dog with oc as soon as the dog was clear of the child. It was a white pit and that dog looked orange by the time the can was emptied. The dog ran in circles for a min and dropped on it's back barely moving. The owners, two pree teen kids, drug the dog back inside an apartment each hauling on one leg dragging the dog along. If I was armed I would of shot that dog in a second but this was many years ago and I believe it may have even been before CHL. Size and strength meant little in stopping that attack. I was kicking the crap out of that dog with no success but the one guy knew enough about pits, I hate to profile but dude was a tatted out banger never been so glad to see a gang member in my life, to help the girl. I literally think I would of had to beat that dog to death to otherwise stop him.

[sunny beach]

Now we'll get to read 4 pages of arguing, where one viewpoint will condemn the oppressive trigger-happy militaristic LEO's and the other will assert LEO's are perfectly justified and never step into stink.

I get so tired of the arguing.

Then don't feed the troll.

[texanjoker]

Now we'll get to read 4 pages of arguing, where one viewpoint will condemn the oppressive trigger-happy militaristic LEO's and the other will assert LEO's are perfectly justified and never step into stink.

I get so tired of the arguing.

Then don't feed the troll.

Sorry no troll here. This is a legit "what if" for any CHL holder to think about

[mojo84]

The dog definitely needed to be shot. Thanks to the cop for taking action. I think I would have done the same thing given the opportunity.

[rbwhatever1]

Pit bulls were bred over many centuries to fight. All dogs are livestock and all livestock has a purpose, or used to anyway. My father had bird dogs, rabbit dogs and an old farm dog named Smokey that was too tired to tree a coon but he would let you know if something wasn't right outside. My kids were raised with livestock guard dogs and that's all I have around here now. These dogs break up bull fights, cock fights, keep vultures from killing the calves and keep all the predators off the property. I didn't teach these dogs to do what they do. They just do it because many centuries of protecting livestock have been bred into this breed. One could also say that bad habits have been bred out of this breed from the natural human selection process over thousands of years. My LGD's don't like strangers and absolutely despise the Fed Ex delivery guy. USPS is okay since that lady gives them treats. If my LGD ever went to Petco I would probably shoot him myself.

When an ignorant human chooses to raise or keep a dog bred for fighting they should expect that at some point the dog is going to do what it has been bred to do. Doesn't matter if its your toddler, a baby in a crib, a neighbors kid or a bunny rabbit. When it makes the decision to fight, fight it will and fight it does.

People shouldn't bash a dogs actions. Dog owners shouldn't bash people that shoot their dogs. When this ignorant human chooses to introduce this livestock to the rest of society in a public place he should expect that his dog may be killed, or his dog may kill something else. Some cities have even adopted ordinances against these fighting breeds of dogs. That's all we need is more laws because humans are ignorant.

Cheers, Happy Sunday!

[cb1000rider]

What are you going to do if some loose pit is attacking your dog and you cannot stop it?.

It's been about 8 years ago, but I had a German Shepherd on a leash in my property and we had a pit bull walk right up to his face. No collar. No leash. No owner.
As soon as I pulled my dog back from the face to face, my dog bit. Then it was on. Dogs really don't care who started it, but mine definitely started it.

It was super fast and my dog quickly got the bad end of that encounter. I did what you shouldn't do. I reached in and tried to grab both dogs to separate them. Both of them bit me. I was actually bit worse my my dog. He bit, twisted, and shook. The pit bit me 2-3 times very quickly, I remember feeling the pressure on my bones, but he didn't hold or shake.
My dog actually held and shook, which did more damage. I still have scars. Advice: Once you're bit in your hand or arm, you're going to have a very hard time deciding the do something else. Many aggressive dogs don't bite and release.

I eventually got them separated, walked mine into the house with more than a few holes in his neck. Walked back outside with a leash, leashed the pit bull, who wasn't acting people-aggressive and then walked the neighborhood until someone told me where he lived. I didn't clean up, blood all over everything, dropped him off and got an "I'm sorry, the kids must have let him out" and "we'll be by to pay for the medical bills" - which never happened.

I almost called the police, but I really don't think that the pit bull was aggressive to people and didn't "start" the problem with my dog. He just had a bad owner or an owner that made a mistake.. He was just protecting himself from a dog who was protecting his yard. I knew what would happen to the dog if I reported a serious bite. In retrospect, I probably should have sued the owner as I saw that dog out more than once after that incident.

Today, if that happened in my yard, I'd definitely shoot. Things have changed though. I now live in an area where I can legally fire a gun. The property is secured all the way around, so it's real difficult for a dog to get in. We've got a lot more loose dogs in the neighborhood, but none in my yard. Zero chance of getting arrested for discharging a firearm.

If it happened again in the city, I'm not sure if I would do it differently just due to potential criminal and civil liability. If I did shoot, it would need to be almost straight down, with no issue of backstop.

I wouldn't shoot on account of a 3rd party's dog being attacked. It's just too financially and criminally risky. Good thing that APD was there.

[cb1000rider]

When an ignorant human chooses to raise or keep a dog bred for fighting they should expect that at some point the dog is going to do what it has been bred to do. Doesn't matter if its your toddler, a baby in a crib, a neighbors kid or a bunny rabbit. When it makes the decision to fight, fight it will and fight it does.

People shouldn't bash a dogs actions. Dog owners shouldn't bash people that shoot their dogs. When this ignorant human chooses to introduce this livestock to the rest of society in a public place he should expect that his dog may be killed, or his dog may kill something else. Some cities have even adopted ordinances against these fighting breeds of dogs. That's all we need is more laws because humans are ignorant.

In more than 30 years of dog ownership, I've changed my perspective:
1) There are some dog behaviors that are innate to the animal. You can make them better or worse through training and proofing, but you'll never completely get rid of the behavior. I say this per animal, not by breed.
2) I do not believe in bad breeds or vicious breeds. Well, I take that back, I believe the Chihuahua is both a bad and vicious breed... Little boogers, they are... Unpredictable.
3) In regard to #2, excluding Chihuahuas, there are pit bulls that I would leave with my kids 24/7/365 and there are some that I would not. The same can be said for German Shepherds, Dobermans, or any powerful hard-mouth dog breed. If I don't know the dog, we don't trust it. Breeds have tenancies and certainly physical characteristics, but the personality makeup and disposition of the dog vary a great deal within breeds. Those dispositions are influenced, but not entirely defined by, upbringing, social conditioning, and breeding - there is not one absolute that overrules the others.

Overall the vast majority of problems would be solved by getting rid of the irresponsible dog owners out there. Just check your local Craigslist pets section and you'll find a list of people giving away dogs that they treat like 2nd hand clothing... Or seeing a hard-mouthed breed like a pit bull for purposes of aesthetics and "cool" factor in the local neighborhood. In my mind, about 75% of the people out there probably shouldn't have a dog.. Perhaps I've just worked in rescue too long and I've seen some really horrible things go prosecuted. Texas is not a good state for animal welfare.

[Cedar Park Dad]

This is a story that could hit home for any one of us that decide to take our dogs to a pet store or other venue that allows dogs. What are you going to do if some loose pit is attacking your dog and you cannot stop it? Yup, this time the shooter is a LEO and not a citizen like in the previous post from SD, yet he was also stopping a dog fight. This was an off duty officer working at PETCO. He most likely was in uniform working this gig. I imagine there will be some surveillance video from PETCO, especially one that hires off duty officers for security.

Just a thought, If you are going to bring your pit or any other dog into a busy store, it would probably be a GOOD idea to control your dog!

http://www.kvue.com/news/Police-shoot-d ... 30971.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crim ... cmComments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


AUSTIN - An off-duty Austin police officer shot and killed a dog inside a pet store Wednesday night.
Police tell KVUE News the officer was working security at the PetCo store near Lakeline Mall.
They say someone brought a pitbull into the store around 7:20 p.m. It got lose and attacked a maltipoo.
After trying to separate the animals, the security guard opened fire killing the dog.

Oh wow, thats where I go to get important doggie treats for Team Wienerdog! I was just in there last weekend.
I've never seen a police officer in there though.

Based on the limited info I have to support the shooter on this one. Control your dog!