melzawelza Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I came across this video on youtube and was pretty upset by it ( not to mention the disgusting comments underneath). However i'm a pit bull/amstaff/stafford lover so I could certainly be biased. I'd like some opinions from others on the behaviour of the dogs, the homeowners and the cop. Video: Be warned that the end of this footage shows a dog being shot and injured briefly. It is upsetting although luckily not too graphic. The poor dog does scream though Even if you don't want to see the dog be shot, you could watch up until the cop arrives and turn it off, as i'd still love people's opinions on the dogs behaviour at the mans house and whether they believe it needed to be shot. My observations: The blue dog that was shot was trying to play with the beagle. That is clear. The fawn coloured dog seems less friendly from what I can see, but in my opinion if these dogs wanted to hurt or kill the dog they would have. Yes the blue dog is barking at the homeowners and cop, however they were threatening it with a rake.... I have no doubt that these dogs should NOT have been loose and on this property and they certainly should have been seized by animal control, but I believe the cops action is absolutely disgusting. He clearly came on the scene expecting to shoot the dogs with his gun drawn, and the dog let out one bark at a man in a uniform holding an implement and he shot it. Disgusting. I would bet no action would have been taken either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 First of all, i don't care about the fact that 'if they wanted to kill the beagle they could have'. My reaction to the first part of the video is to feel sorry for the beagle who is clearly distressed in the situation. The cop should have gone out there with a pole but as he didn't choose to do that i'm not really sure what else he should have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 (edited) Of course anyone would feel sorry for the beagle, there are two strange dogs in his yard and he is very distressed by it. However, the blue dogs body language in my eyes is nothing but playful. Not so sure about the other one, as you don't see much of it's interaction with the beagle in the footage, but it doesn't seem as relaxed and friendly as the blue dog. My point in that comment was that they DIDNT injure or kill the beagle, so do they need to be shot? Yes their behaviour is inappropriate, yes they shouldn't be in this man's yard.. but do they deserve to be shot within thirty seconds of the cop arriving? Edited April 18, 2011 by melzawelza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum86 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Personally I think the cop acted with no human decency. Yes the dog barked at him but it didn't look like it was going to attack him. Why wasn't animal control called? These dogs should not have been on the loose and the fawn one was certainly more "aggressive" than the other. Surely there could have been another way to grab the beagle and wait until animal control could come with a pole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I didn't say they 'deserved to be shot' at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Rhetorical question, not aimed at you specifically, just musing on my initial point and why I made that comment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I found that quite shocking. If I had those dogs in my yard I'd just walk out nice and casual, probably with some food, put some leashes on them and tie them to the nearest anchor point. They don't look very threatening to me. Erik would do that if someone pushed a rake at him as well. Defensive is not the same as 'attacking'. The Beagle was obviously petrified, poor thing, but I don't think it was necessary to shoot the dogs. Pretty sure it didn't help the Beagle's sense of psychological trauma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 The opinions you are going to get here are going to be slanted in a particular way because the majority here are pretty dog savvy and can (hopefully) do a reasonable job reading a dog's body language. However, if you are not dog savvy then your reaction to, and understanding of, a dog's body language may be vastly different. Think of how many times people comment - 'oh they're fighting' when seeing 2 dogs play rough and you can respond with 'no, they just play like that' - 2 different people see the same situation differently. (I have not watched the video) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravenau1 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 If that was my dog, and two other dogs came onto my property and harassed my dog, I'd probably shoot them myself. Well, probably not because I don't own a gun, but I'd at least be out there trying to fend them off my dog! I can say that they don't look very threatening, but I am not a professional and certainly can't rely on my own two second temperament assessment. It would be safer for me to assume that they could indeed hurt my dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 (edited) Assuming they could hurt your dog and shooting them are two different things IMO. ETA I would judge the risk of predatory drift in this scenario to be high, especially given the noises that Beagle was making. Again, doesn't mean it's necessary to shoot the dogs. It's not a matter of choosing which dogs get hurt. If there's a way that no dogs get hurt it's kind of obvious that is the preferred way to handle it. It's all speculation, but I've seen that kind of behaviour at the dog park every now and then and I wouldn't consider it risky for me to intervene. I might get an inhibited bite, but I'm unlikely to get mauled. I think how the behaviour is interpreted is beside the point. It's not acceptable to shoot a dog on a misunderstanding. Edited April 18, 2011 by corvus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I believe it was unjustified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotTheDog Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 (edited) That's just a trainwreck. The poor beagle is incredibly frightened. The blue and white dog is boisterous, rude and obnoxious. The fawn dog looks anxious. It displays less aggression towards humans than the blue dog, but is more full on with the beagle and reacts hard to the beagle's distress. It looks like it'd rather be somewhere else, but it's waiting for the blue dog to tire of harassing the beagle and leave first. The bloke with the garden rake does absolutely nothing except stir the blue dog up. Scared beagle, scared owners, scared fawn dog, and highly strung blue dog in the middle of it all who, while wagging madly, still may go off like a firecracker given the wrong stimulus. Wouldn't like to be dealing with it myself, but think it's unfortunate the cop chose a 'shoot first questions later' approach. Would have far rathered seeing animal control out there with a couple of catch poles. Saying that, if I found two uncontrolled dogs in my yard harassing my pets, my first instinct would not be to make an effort to be understanding of the interlopers, especially not if they were stressing my pets out. If they were just in my yard and behaved as displayed in the video towards me, I'd be happier trying to win them around with food / leashes etc. However if they were in high drive and one of my pets was out there and at risk, I'd be more likely to be out with boots and the yard brush and the garden hose I'm afraid. (Saying that, if they were pestering Gus, I'd have more faith in his ability to manage the interaction. If they were harassing one of my cats I'd be out there roaring like a train and swinging the nearest thing to hand.) Edited April 18, 2011 by SpotTheDog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezy Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 everything else aside, 3 shots and the poor thing is still crying out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 There was no need at that point to shoot the dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Saying that, if I found two uncontrolled dogs in my yard harassing my pets, my first instinct would not be to make an effort to be understanding of the interlopers, especially not if they were stressing my pets out. If they were just in my yard and behaved as displayed in the video towards me, I'd be happier trying to win them around with food / leashes etc. However if they were in high drive and one of my pets was out there and at risk, I'd be more likely to be out with boots and the yard brush and the garden hose I'm afraid. Boots and a garden hose are a fair bit different to bullets, don't you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 poor dog didn't deserve to be shot and the cop was a lousy shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keira&Phoenix Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 That is really distressing to watch, and the noise the poor dog makes after it is shot is heart wrenching. Feel for the poor Beagle who was clearly very frightened. The cops actions were excessive the dog didn't need to be shot and he had his gun out from the start. They should of had catch poles or animal control. Also 3 shots....sorry but it got hit the first time anything after that was overkill the dog wasn't going to be coming back for more after the first hit. Disgusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Back story would be handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddy Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Also 3 shots....sorry but it got hit the first time anything after that was overkill the dog wasn't going to be coming back for more after the first hit. Disgusting. Just to clarify here.. are you suggesting the officer should only have shot once, even if that meant leaving the animal seriously wounded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keira&Phoenix Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 (edited) Also 3 shots....sorry but it got hit the first time anything after that was overkill the dog wasn't going to be coming back for more after the first hit. Disgusting. Just to clarify here.. are you suggesting the officer should only have shot once, even if that meant leaving the animal seriously wounded? EDITED: Woops sorry just realised what you meant by your questions. If you quoted my whole post it said earlier that "the dog didn't need to be shot" which seems pretty clear to me. I was wondering why he felt the need to shoot a 2nd time and cause the dog further pain and distress.. Edited April 18, 2011 by Keira&Phoenix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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