Walking dogs. Turned corner. Huge, black, rot/dobie/hell hound/dire wolf w/ spiked collar rushing at me.
Freeze. If you run, it will kill you certainly. Leashes in hands can be used as weapons.
Black and white police unit behind hell hound.
Trained dog?
Five yards and closing. I’ve just said “Woah!, Woah, Woah, Woah! Woah!” like Vinnie Barbarino on crack about six times in one second. Totally unaware mouth was moving.
Well holy shit- that’s scary. Why was the dog after you? What the heck does the cop mean “Sorry- my fault”. That’s scary as hell to think they don’t have control of a dog that’s trained for police work.
I think he meant that the dog should have been on a leash but I was in no danger. Of course, try to tell my primal brain that. Actually, now that it’s over, my rational brain is putting it all in perspective.
I’m just glad that I didn’t run, instincts wise. That was a classic fight-or-flight. Flight meant exposing the back of my neck.
I did not hang around to chat. That dog was well over one hundred pounds and I could barely speak. Now that I think about it, why did that dog just charge me?
I do live here. This area is frequented by walkers, albeit far fewer at night (when it’s actually cool–why I go late). It was up by the development’s pool, which I was not going to swim in. Seems like a lot of security for a swimming pool.
Just to further terrify you, one of my cousins is married to a policeman who used to work in the K-9 unit and he gave us an interesting tidbit. It seems that when they bring a K-9 unit out to a crime scene to help apprehend a suspected crimianl, the handler will deliberately rile the dog up for a few minutes before they set it loose. And when they do set it loose, all of the other law enforcement personnel give it a wide berth. A very wide berth.
Well, that’s what I’m talking about Beagle- why DID it rush you? Off leash or not, I wouldn’t think a trained police dog would do something like that without a command. I could be wrong, but that’s pretty freaky. Really, I would follow up on it if I were you.
I know exactly what you went through because I was attacked by a military police dog once. I was out jogging on an Air Force base (I was enlisted at the time) and the thing slipped its leash and just rushed at me. It circled me and growled while I held my left arm out in front of my body so that the dog would go for the arm instead of my neck (or other bits…dangly bits), and I cocked my right fist back so that I could get in few thumps while it ripped at me. Luckily the SP’s (security police) got there before it bit me.
I have no idea why it went for me. Scary moment. I was sure I was going to get a chunk taken out of my arm.
And all the SP’s said was “uhhhh, sorry about that”. Idiots.
Beagle, my best to you for your ability to keep this situation from becoming bloody. I’m sorry you had to go through this. I think the cop was completely in the wrong – I wish you had gotten his badge and/or the dog’s unit number.
A slightly different anecdote with a policeman’s personal rottweiler: I was living in Boulder when I first brought my new puppy home to our quiet housing development. A neighbor whose beautiful ermine rescue greyhound had just been mauled (and stitched back up like a front-wise Union Suit) had come to my house to introduce herself and warn me at the same time. Apparently the cops did nothing about her complaint. That very afternoon, The Blue Dog and I were out walking around the block, when he, all of 30 adolescent pounds, was suddenly subsumed by this fucking awful beast out of The Omen. I was hardly worried for myself, but I thought my little pal was a goner – I have never been more thankful for the Monks of New Skete, in whose honor Blue simply rolled onto his back and tinkled.
Funny how an adrenaline high seems like it will last forever, then you crash like a drunk on a bender. Wow, this morning I feel like I was run over by a car.
I’m not going to lie, that was a serious adrenaline rush. If I had some padding on my arms and a baseball bat that cop could send three or four of them at me.
In a situation like that you tend to judge your behavior very harshly after the event. In this case freezing in terror and preparing to defend yourself was just right. I get a gold star.
Thanks for the stories. I’d be interested if this seemingly out-of-control police dog phenomenon is the norm.
I’ve had this theory for a few years that some drug dogs have been trained to paw at whatever the cops want to look at. I’ve seen enough video evidence to suspect it anyway. The attack dogs are apparently one nerve away from total meltdown?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m sure there are instances of that occuring. But so what?
If you expect police officers and police dogs to be infallible in terms of being able to pick out the lawbreaker every fucking time then you are living in Candyland.
SO WHAT?! Maybe you don’t give a shit about a few innocent bystanders getting hurt, maimed, or killed in the process of police duty, you are in the very significant minority.
If a police dog mauls an innocent citizen, there is going to be major bad press, and possibly lawsuits, unless the police is immune.
When a police officer does wrong, there is an investigation, often putting the officer on desk duty or suspension until it is finished.
A police dog is a tool. If the tool is defective, you get another.
Btw, Muldoon’s Squishiness, police are not infallible, but that is no excuse for sloppy work or any innocent bystander being injured. If the officer is “unable to pick out the lawbreaker,” especially if there are other people around, then the police officer who released the dog needs to go on leave pending an investigation.
There’s many other stories. Here is another site with a list of police dog incidents for 2002, including a story of a police doggetting put on administrative leave.
Do you believe that if a police dog attacks an innocent person, that it should be just ignored, because these things happen? Bad police dogs do get retired
OUCH!! Although in this particular incident I may be tempted to say “good doggie!”
Incidents, even near misses, should be reported. I am not saying get real pissy and stuff, but it benefits police departments to know of these incidents in order to make adjustments. The biggest negative I could think of reporting it would be the potential to get the officer in trouble. Even if deserved, I am wary of getting others in trouble if no harm was done.
With that close of call though, there should be a record.
As much as I would like to make a record of this incident, I would like to do it under an assumed name without using my address. Reality: cops circle the wagons. Since I was not injured and the dog responded to a vocal call off – and I have my penis – I guess I’m wondering if it is worth the trouble.
