NC Trooper - mistreatment of a police dog - updated

Thanks for the link...I've sent my letter to the DA.

 Good lord that made me ill.  I'm sorry, but if a cop is so out of control that he would do that to an animal who is supposed to be his K-9 "partner," then what happens if a suspect resists arrest.....

well the other troopers are defended this guy

story 

kpwlee

well the other troopers are defended this guy

story 

Oh, so other people do it, so then it must be okay?  What's that thing our parents used to say when we were younger...."If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?"  Unbelievable.  I grew up in the Triangle, and my family still lives there.  I passed along the links to this story to them and they are all outraged as well.  My brother lives in Wake County, and my company's corporate office is there, too.  Lots of dog lovers in that office, they have been sent the links as well.

In defense of the trooper ... which is NOT to say I think what he did is acceptable ....

 Situations often encourage bad behavior, and the truth of human psychology is that when you're in an environment that says iffy behaviors are ok, the vast majority of people will be impacted by that.

We all like to think we know right from wrong, and that WE would do the right thing, but statistically most of us would not. And those of us that would, would have to work hard to do the "right thing" in the face of institutionalized badness.

Philip Zimbardo, the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment and a researcher in these kinds of things, says that we like to think of certain people as bad apples, when it is often a bad BARREL that is creating bad apples.

The man who took the cell phone movie is one of the rare ones who stands up. Good for him, for exposing the way this law enforcement institution treats dogs. It is the institution that is the real problem. If you fire the one guy, but keep the same culture, there will be new officers to kick the dogs. 

But see, the man who took the video was also a trooper, in the same environment as the man who was fired.  The difference is, the trooper who took the video had the common sense to know what he was seeing was inappropriate and abusive.  If there are any people in this world we should hold to a high standard of using common sense, law enforcement officers should be right up near the top. 

It seems to me the man was frustrated with the dog and couldn't control his temper.  I get frustrated sometimes with my dog, but I don't abuse him.  If I get frustrated I know it is time for a break and to rethink the situation.  Not fly off the handle because my dog isn't listening to me.  I always default to the fact that I am not being clear enough for him to understand me, and the break is good for BOTH of us.  Even if I am being clear, maybe it's just too hard for him to understand, and we need to stop for a while and come back to it later.  Never would I even think of raising my voice to him, let alone doing something that would physically harm him.  If this particular dog was "hard to train" as the article suggests, then perhaps he was simply not cut out to be a police dog.  Or, more likely, he just didn't respond to harsh physical punishment as part of his training.  JMO.

 The trooper who took the video was awesome, no doubt. But what I was trying to get at is that most otherwise good people can be heavily influenced by their environment.

Here is some good reading on how NOT to succumb to group influence: http://www.lucifereffect.org/guide.htm

 Reading the article today it sounds to me like this dog was too much for this handler and he was frustrated. I mean they tasered it once to get it to drop the toy.  My training is as a psychologist and there is a theory that is played out so often in society about people that are inferior or superior.  Only the person that is inferior needs to try and assert themselves as more powerful.  We see this in dogs too - true alpha's aren't aggressive because they don't need to be.

Using other methods this trooper couldn't get the dog to do what he wanted it to do - so he tried to physically assert himself over the dog.  This is the same sort of person that is prone to wife/child abusing and likely wants to intimidate those that he arrests or writes tickets for; if someone didn't show the expected levels of respect I imagine his fists would come into play there. 

I don't think he is of the strength of mind nor character to be in this sort of job.  There is no doubt that many that are attracted to law enforcement are 'power hungry' types, especially in this country where you get to 'wear a gun'.  DH is retired law enforcement (UK) and currently in a training position here in LE so I am not anti-LE.  I just think that in general in this country it isn't professional enough and the officers are not given appropriate instruction as to how to do their jobs successfully.  Sorry I'm off topic here.

There is no way no how this treatment is OK - someone who wrote in to the paper today is a K9 trainer for forces worldwide (self proclaimed) and he said that under no uncertain circumstances is it OK or accepted practice.

Just pitiful - he deserves to be fired and I hope he will not be drawing a state pension - I also hope that a good hard review and overhaul of the K9 unit takes place.  Anyone that feels the need to hang and kick a dog (or feels that's appropriate) for not dropping a toy doesn't have what it takes to work with dogs.

     I believe that some K9 handlers see their dogs as a partner, and others see the dog as a tool. It would be interesting to find out how an officer is deemed suitable to be a K9 handler, is it just because he thinks it would be cool? In our little county here in Texas, I met one of our K9 officers at a 4-H training class a few years ago, and he was CLUELESS! The handler needed to enroll in a beginners class as he knew vitually nothing about dogs, and had no rapport at all with his nice young GSD.

     Also. who helps the officers with their ongoing training? I have a gut feeling that a trainer doesn't need very many credentials. Look in some of the dog magazines, and see how "you too can train dogs for the police, and personal protection, all with one 16 week course." Not to excuse this cop's actions, but if you don't know any better, and someone who is supposed to be traing you says an action is correct.....? Somebody told these K9 handlers that way to "train", so that is where the heart of the problem lies IMHO! 

Liesje

That is sick.  If they think they need to helicopter their dogs to get them under control, why don't they just TRAIN the dogs properly?  I really hope this is not the norm.  I'm joinging a GSD/SchH club that is just starting and one of the people starting it is a retired state trooper who was in charge of K9 units and used positive training methods.  I'm really excited to join this club even though it's 1.5 hr drive each way.  I also got a note from a trainer who worked with Kenya while I was gone saying she trained police K9s for 15 years and would like to work more with Kenya.  I like to watch the police dog Olympics on TV and those dogs/handlers seem very in tune with each other and have strong bonds.  I really hope that is the norm...

  That is the problem with these sort of stories - it makes everyone jump to assuming the worst about all people who have/train police dogs or personal protection dogs. I have been to several SchH clubs were k9s are worked and have never seen them use what I considered to be out of line corrections or abusive treatment. When I was taking Jagger, someone brought a timid BC mix to try SchH and the help was down on the ground making himself very small to boost the dog's confidence. I there are plenty of k9 handlers who think of their dogs as their pets, as well as working animals and feel the same way about the dogs as anyone here feels about their's. I know people who do SchH as well and have been to different clubs - while correction is generally used for some things, much of the training is very motivational. Some of the best working obedience dogs I have seen were SchH dogs due to the motivational methods used. There are bad people involved in everything but that doesn't mean they are the norm.