Woodbine Georgia Police Kill Dog

Date: August 2, 2011
Location: Woodbine, Georgia
Link to article

A K-9 handler responding to a call approached a home where a dog described as a Pit Bull (but is in fact an American Bulldog) attacked the officer's dog. Obviously the natural response was to pull out a gun in a neighborhood and shoot the Bulldog multiple times. The dog lay wounded and died.

Macon, GA

The owner of the ducks told police two dogs dug a hole under his fence and attacked the ducks. He said he killed one of the dogs to protect the ducks. The other dog ran away, according to the report.

The dog later was located behind another house with other dogs, according to the report.

Animal control attempted to collect the dogs, but one of the dogs charged at the animal control officer, according to the report.

The police officer shot the dog and it ran off into the woods. Officers were unable to locate the dog, according to the report.

http://www.macon.com/local/story/820833.html

Ludowici use guns instead of catch poles

Ludowici police in Georgia don't have an actual animal control facility. They don't have catch poles. They have no truck in which to transport animals in.

So when they are faced with loose dogs, especially those who are exhibiting fearful/aggressive behaviors, they feel their only recourse is to use guns.

And that is what happened to Jasmine who happened to be running loose and possibly chasing/approaching people. She never bit anyone but when animal control arrived, they felt it was better to shoot her instead of try to restrain her....which they couldn't do anyways b/c they don't own a catch pole.

I mean, this is just absolutely ridiculous - what a great way to set up an entire system for failure.

Atlanta police shoot dog in own backyard

An officer responding to a house alarm  entered the backyard and was approached by the resident dog. He shot the dog.


ETA: I found this article, which is much more detailed, including information like that the officer who was sent into the backyard to check things out was afraid of dogs.

I agree with this:
"I'd like for the police to get training on this. It strikes me as bizarre that there aren't things in place, protocol and trainings in place, that teach officers who are obviously going to come into contact with family animals, the way to respond in a responsible way," said Feichter.

From the guardian of the dog who was killed. Apparently there were two dogs and a petsitter. The alarm went off and the pet sitter couldn't get it turned off. Police came just to check things out so they knew two dogs were present. One officer went to the backyard where the shooting happened.

Leesburg, GA police shoot charging dog

Once again, we have a case of an owner unable to contain his dog.
 As the owner was rounding up the dogs, one charged the two officers. I am not certain if the officers gave the owner a chance to corral his wayward dog or if they just saw the dog charge and drew their weapons.

The dog is expected to survive.

Atlanta city refuses to pay vet bills of shot dog

In October, while pursuing a suspect an officer entered the backyard of a homeowner without permission. In the backyard was a dog. The dog reacted in an appropriately dog-like manner by barking at the officer. The officer then shot the dog four times.

She survived and her owner has $5,000 in vet bills she would like the city of Atlanta to pay.

Through the mayor's office, the law department issued a statement saying that after reviewing the facts and the law, the officer did nothing wrong, so the city is not responsible for compensating Dummett for the vet bills.

Fort Payne police officer shoots loose, biting dog

A dog normally chained got loose and ended up biting someone.

The dog bit a mailman once on the chest, which did break the skin.

When the officer arrived, the dog charged but did not bite. The officer fired twice at the dog, hitting him once (or twice). The wounded animal ran three blocks away where he was eventually caught by animal control and euthanized at the shelter.

Dougherty County officer cleared in dog shooting

Last week, a Dougherty County police officer shot a loose dog who had jumped up on him, clawing his leg. While the dog did not bite, he was acting aggressively and territorially.

The man attempted to beat the dog off with a flashlight, to no avail. The owner of the dog could not call him off. Of course, this makes me wonder why the owner didn't just walk over and yank the dog off...but maybe not the classiest of dog owners.

The officer then shot the dog once, causing the dog to run off...and apparently the dog was never found (again, classy dog owner).

Macon police shoot loose dog

Someone calls police who arrive and start talking to the caller. Randomly, the woman turns around and is running while being chased by a dog. I don't really get that - if you're standing with two police officers and a dog approaches, why do you immediately run away? That's asking to be chased. Anyway, she gets chased by the dog and then the dog runs away into a house. The dog comes back out of the house and approaches officers.

The dog was yelled at and stopped but then lunged at one of the officers who shot it. The dog ran back to his home but kept coming back out and lunging at pedestrians. At one point the dog and another dog attacked a man in an alley. When police arrived at the scene, the shot dog lunged again and was shot fatally in the head. The other dog was confiscated.

Warner Robins officer shoots at dog sixteen times on porch

I'm not quite clear on why this officer was on the porch in the first place. We have a dog who is on its own property approached by a police officer. The dog might have scratched the officer and may also have growled and barked, all normal behaviors for a dog on its own property. These warning behaviors should have been sufficient for the officer to back slowly away and remove himself from the property.

This barking and growling offended the officer so much that he shot the dog sixteen times, enough to require a reloading of his weapon. Even though the dog had backed up into the porch, whining and screaming. Even though there were people inside of the residence. Even though the dog did not actually try to bite the officer.

The dog did die after he suffered several seizures at the veterinarian.

Chikamauga dog shooting update

I blogged earlier in the week on the shooting death of a mixed breed dog in Georgia.

The chief of police has talked with reporters now and is offering a more detailed description of what happened. It includes that the officer had attempted to go back to his vehicle for some pepper spray.

Now, here is what I don't get. The officer and caller were standing out in her driveway discussing the incident while the dog was pacing and barking mere feet away. Even though they knew the dog had been able to walk up the woman's front stoop, they somehow assumed the dog wasn't planning on coming back over the fence. They knew the dog had been running loose for several hours. They knew where he was located and what he was doing, yet they chose to stand their and act shocked when the dog repeated the same behavior as it did earlier in the day - barked and hackled and growled at people.

In my mind, it seems more prudent to remove civilians from the situation and assess the dog from the safety of a vehicle, THEN grab your pepper spray, a catch pole and see if a safe, non-lethal method can be attempted. Bring another officer to boot. If a reasonable effort is not successful and the dog cannot be safely confined or cornered, consider monitoring the dog and contacting neighbors to find the owner. This isn't a large city, it's a town of 2,200. I think it's fair to make REASONABLE efforts to use nonlethal solutions. And I think this dog would still be alive if a different tactic had been attempted, maybe not.

When it comes down to it, though, we have an owner who KNEW that the dog could get out of his yard. There was a hole that the owner chose not to fix, for whatever reason. When you know your dog can get out, you know he can get into trouble. He could be hit by a car, get into fights with other dogs, get poisoned, or, in this case, get shot and killed, his body dumped into a landfill for you to dig out later. All because a person chose not to block a hole in the fence.

Acworth officer kills dog after being bitten

An Acworth officer shot and killed a dog who was loose and bit him once on the leg.

Chickamauga chief of police kills dog

A 14-mos old dog was shot once in the head by a Georgia police chief for "acting in an aggressive manner". The dog did not bite and was apparently moving slow enough for the chief to aim and hit the dog dead between the eyes. In lieu of trying to find an owner, he contacted city garbage services and had them take the dog to the landfill...where the owner later had to dig his body out for burial.

Dog shot three times

An irresponsible owner in Phenix (not to be confused with Phoenix), Georgia let her 3-yr-old dog out to pee. He got distracted by two people talking down the road and approached them. According to the owner, the dog was trotting up to the two men. According to the police officer who shot the dog, the dog was charging. The officer drew his weapon and shot the dog three times, the third time right about when the owner arrived to grab her dog.

Again, commenters note that the dog is friendly.


The dog is recovering and the owner is filing a complaint. Hopefully, she has learned never to let her dog off leash in inappropriate areas. This could have been avoided if she had done that as much as if the officer had shown some restraint and truly took stock of the situation.