What Is Your Opinion On This Video?

[poodlefan]

What does it matter - sheep can frighten themselves and either injure each other or abandon lambs etc due to the presence of a dog in the paddock despite it's behaviour.

It matters because the dog is not the only element in the situation. There is always a balance of risk and cost. I'm saying you can't assess that balance if you only look at whether the dog is 'harassing' sheep or not. Maybe the risk is high and the potential cost high, maybe the risk is moderate but the potential cost extremely high... whatever, no situation will be the same and therefore shouldn't be judged on one side of the coin alone. What is the risk of things going wrong, how badly wrong are they likely to go, and what would be the potential cost if they did go wrong? That's how we make decisions about OH&S, and I think it is how we make decisions whenever we are not purely driven by emotion.

The dog is the only element in the situation that simply shouldn't be there.

Stray dogs on farming property are dead dogs. That's how decisons are made by people who get to see what a dog can do to stock. You shoot them if you see them because its when you don't that they tend to cause complete mayhem.

And once again, its not the shooter that should receive condemnation but the owners who allow their dogs to roam. Yes, accidents can happen but no farmer can tell a responsibly owned dog from any other and any dog is a potential stock maimer or killer.

Don't want your dog's shot? Contain them. Simple really.

Edited April 19, 2011 by poodlefan

[Jeff Jones]

I knew I shouldn't have watched this video and sure enough I now feel terrible. Those dogs did not seem aggressive, they were just being dominant and harassing the beagle. The people weren't even scared of them from what you could hear in their voices - just sounded arrogant and like dropkicks. The cop walked right up to the dog, and was just asking, which one is the problem etc, the dog keeping it's distance the whole time - the cop obviously didn't fear it. It didn't hurt any people or the beagle, so I'm not sure how the killing can be justified in this instance - it certainly wasn't self-defense or use of reasonable force.

The dog rushed at the police officer in an aggressive manner, whether you believe the dog posed a risk or not does not matter. The officer believed it posed a risk and used his firearm which he is justified in doing so. It is justifiable to use a firearm against what you perceive to be a real and imminent threat to you're safety. I do not understand why people are saying the force is unjustifiable, The force is justifiable under every Use of Force policy regarding firearms I have ever seen or worked under. Just because you do not agree with something does not mean it is not justifiable under the policies and procedures set out by the department for use of firearms.

[melzawelza]

Thank you everyone for your replies, they have been very interesting and also have me thinking about the situation from different sides. One comment that rang true was that the officer didn't have the luxury to watch the dogs interactions for 2 minutes like we did. This is very true, and for this reason yes he could make a different judgement call to what we would do in that situation.

However I do believe the officer went in expecting to shoot the dogs. He walked in with his gun read, asked which dog it was and then shot the first one that barked at him three times.

I think the main point I've come to with this is that the police officer was the wrong person to be attending. That should have been an ACO trained in capturing dogs with the least injury possible. The cop knew he didn't have a catch pole or seemingly any experience in dogs, so why did he not call for the local ACO to attend?

It doesn't help that a google search brought me to an American law enforcement forum where the posters were flippantly commenting that they shoot '2-3 dogs per week' and laughing over what a big stink the dog owners kick up.

[dasha]

From the comments made by the owners of the backyard and beagle saying they were sick of this and to try calling their owners again...........I would say these dogs have a history of being a public nuisance.

The fact the people were filming from behind a wall or fence also shows these dogs needed to be treated with care. Along with the fact that the owners if the beagle didn't even dare go outside to try and save their beagle says big things to me.

The cops prob have been told there is 2 pitbulls attacking their dog and they couldn't go out in their own yard means warning bells to cops.

Cops shouldn't have to risk injury from an uncontrolled potentially very aggressive and unpredictable dog just to see what happens. Too late once they are bitten. The dog charged in an unfriendly manner - result......shot dog.

I agree with Jeff Jones post about use of firearms.

Besides a cops job is community protection. Sometimes eliminating the risk means killing the threat.................. They shoot people too remember.

Anway its in USA. Not the same scale of problems we have here yet.

Would rather the cop have done a clean shot though rather than 3 shots. Maybe it was not real bullets but the rubber ones.

[OSoSwift]

If I was called out to two reasonalbe sized dogs who were attacking anotehr dog I would most certainly have my weapon drawn. I have not watched it but I agree being there does not have the luxury of being able to watch and analyse it later.

Dogs in with stock at my place that are showing absolutely no interest in them and are nowhere near there will be given a second chance - but they will only be returned once. Any dog that has shown any tendency to chase or harrass my stock is gone. Simple. Stress can cause abortion, muscle melt down and many other things. DO NOT ALLOW DOGS TO WANDER AND THEY WON'T GET SHOT!

As PF said quite simple really. Also if a dog goes missing the immediate thing you do is call all the neighbours and get out there lookign for it straight away. I have lived on this farm for over 10 years and never had one of my dogs wander - ever! I have picked up a few contained them and called their owners, but mine have NEVER roamed - why?? Becaue they have adequate facilities and are propely supervised. Yes accidents happen but if your dogs are never normally an issue then most neighbours are willing to not be trigger happy.

[poochmad]

Please - I hope no one takes offense to this - but could we possibly keep these posts to the in the news (cruelty) section? I saw the heading and immediately felt sick...

I really hope no one is offended by this... I would just prefer not to see this kind of awful stuff.

I'm with you. I found this very distressing for all the above reasons. Poor beagle, poor dog being shot. Very sad, all around.