[poohbearsmom]

Unfortunate incident.

However, let's not let our emotions get in the way of what an Officer of the Law goes through during a routine day.

Even *IF* the Officer was aware that a dog resided on premise... there is NO way you can tell me the owner of this dog can guarantee his dog would show no territorial behavior towards the Officer entering his yard, or behave aggressively if pressed.... Any large dog is a potentially dangerous dog.

I disagree that if the dog had been a lab, the Officer would not have shot him.

This is another very good reason not to leave a dog in your backyard unattended.

While I agree that the Officer's offering that he was not sure if the dog belonged to the homeowner, or the burglar is a very silly thing to say, one also needs to realize that a charging dog may or may not bark or growl a warning...and an Officer has every right to protect himself in the event that a dog is coming at him.

All this aside, I think that Police Departments should train their Officers in regards to dogs, and dog behavior, as well as teaching them skills which might give them a little more time to make a better assessment of the dog's true intentions, before firing off 2 or 3 rounds into the animal... Budgets are tight, though, so this will probably never happen, at least on a large scale.