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You have to hand it to officer Gary Carter. He stepped up and adopted Jeffery (now Chance) the pit bull before he could be euthanized in a local shelter. Why is this such a (you should excuse the expression) man bites dog story? Maybe because it so often seems to go the other way whenever canines interface with cops. Just ask Arfee. Or Candy. Or Lilly. Or an un-named Salt Lake City pooch. Anyone see a disturbing trend here? Of course, police have immunity from prosecution when they decide to apply ballistic obedience training to the family pet. That’s a privilege Ivins Rosier didn’t enjoy. As a yoot, Rosier was dumb enough to break into a Florida Highway Patrol officer’s home and shot his dog. Sentence: 23 years. Did the fact that the owner was a cop and the hound a retired police dog influence the severity of the sentence? We couldn’t possibly comment.

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50 COMMENTS

    • haha Sadly youre the first comment, Id give it 5 or so before someone takes a swing.

      As I have had a few encounters with the Arlington PD having gone to school there, this is definitely a good PR move imho.

  1. See! Some cops like dogs.

    If I ever saw a stray Weimaraner or Vizsla it would probably get a new home. The wife is saying that Emerson (my 17 month old son) “needs” a dog.

    • Most people like *their* dogs. Some just have no regard for other people’s pets, property, rights, etc.

  2. Cool. Now, if we can get, say, 1,000 more stories like this (and preferably about officers who don’t up and kill dogs just for shits n’ grins) perhaps public perception would actually start moving in the opposite direction.

    • Or he’ll be aiming at the knee of the kid across the street and shoot his own dog?

        • When our dog decided to drag @$$ on the carpet, she was never furtive about it. Silly thing liked to snack on grass, never seemed to figure out that was causing the problem.

  3. Remember the media mantra: “If it bleeds it leads.”

    I’m sure there are exceptions to “ballistic obedience” that never see the light of print regarding canine interaction with LEO’s. Saving a trapped dog on the the frozen pond, stuck in a gutter,. Etc,..

    Perhaps in the world of “instant news”, policy regarding just shooting Fido may change.

    Or not.

    • If the story of a cop helping a dog wasn’t news, how did you learn about this case?

      Or do you actually think that when a cops saves a dog it miraculously cancels out the unjustified killing of another dog? Based on that logic, a cop can kill you without justification as long as he saves somebody to make up for it. Hey, it all evens out. Right?

  4. How can you ask the aforementioned dead dogs questions? You could state the facts without being over dramatic. Otherwise a good article.

  5. 23 years for popping the cops dog, that’s heavy. I wonder how much time he would have got if he had shot the cop, instead of the dog?

    • As usual the article is not correct in the case. But look the case up and find out why the guy got so many years. Oh yeah, the guy broke into a house, (felony), with a gun, (aggravated burglary)-(another felony), used that gun during the commission of a crime, (felony)! So you really think the guy got all that time for merely shooting a police officers dog?? lol

      • “23 years for popping the cops dog, that’s heavy. I wonder how much time he would have got if he had shot the cop, instead of the dog?

        As usual the article is not correct in the case. But look the case up and find out why the guy got so many years. Oh yeah, the guy broke into a house, (felony), with a gun, (aggravated burglary)-(another felony), used that gun during the commission of a crime, (felony)! So you really think the guy got all that time for merely shooting a police officers dog?? lol”

        Not every person that comments here is going to be able to know all the particulars about a given case before they comment. Being able to look up a case depends on the person knowing where the case originated, a little latitude should be observed before ridiculing a post.

        Anyway, yes penalties for shooting police k9s can be rather stiff, it often depends on if the judge is sympathetic to the loss of the k9 or not. 1-7 years is about normal. Also, replacement of dog or costs thereof, as well as thousands of dollars in fines
        Too bad that the reverse is hardly ever true when a officer kills a dog in a house or yard. No I am not saying that this should apply in all cases, but it would make officers think more before just shooting a dog.

  6. Yilkes…23years for a freaking dog.
    Some dogs are more equal I guess. No prison bragging rights there. BTW why is a cop.doing good news?

  7. So what? So cops like THEIR dogs like they like THEIR firearms rights. Surprise, surprise.

    It was never a question of whether cops enjoyed things, too. It’s only been a matter of whether they should make living at our expense by violating their oath, the Constitution, and the rights of the public.

    • I’m thinking that this officer got the dog as a training aide in how to best shoot other dogs while on the job. But then again, I could be wrong.

    • “So… is this The Truth About Dogs now?”

      Hell, everyone knows The Truth About Dogs.

      Eating, sleeping, fetching stuff and nailing dogs of the opposite gender.

      And not necessarily in that order.

      *sigh*. I wish I was a dog…

  8. The story of how Sgt. Gary Carter first helped a dog named Jeffrey went viral last month.

    The Arlington Police Department said he was out on a call when some residents told him about an “aggressive” pit bull that was chasing them around. One lady yelled, “This dog is so vicious, please get him.”

    That’s what makes this newsworthy. It’s the polar opposite of the malfeasance we usually hear about. He could have killed this dog and nobody would have batted an eye. Instead he saw an opportunity to make peace, and thus not only helped the people who called him in, but saved the dog, too.

    The world needs more people like Gary Carter.

  9. Thought this was going to be an actual positive article on police, but it still has the continual negative view on police despite the initial two sentence feel good.

    • Maybe the attitude will change if we see a story like this every week for a couple of years.

        • or we could call it the TTFWAYATFABITOHYDS story of the day.

          The Truth about free will and your ability to find another blog if this one hurts your delicate sensibilities.

  10. “Of course, police have immunity from prosecution when they decide to apply ballistic obedience training to the family pet”

    That is completely untrue, the rains county (TX) DA is pressing charges on the deputy that shot the dog, stop speaking about things of which you know nothing about and posting complete lies.

    As far as the man being sentenced for shooting the cop’s dog, that’s because he broke into his residence, its called burglary of a habitation. open your gd eyes and use some common sense.

    knock off the anti-gunner tier smear campaign and falsehoods/generalizations, we are supposed to be better than them

    • Let’s see what happens to the cop involved in the Rains County case before you get too self righteous, okay?

      Here’s a statement by the cop’s attorney… I think he’s highly likely to be proven correct: “This is a political knee jerk reaction by the DA in Rains County and there’s no chance that this case will stand up in court,” said Pete Schulte, Dooleys’ attorney. “It’s a legal impossibility because he was acting within the scope of his employment as a public servant. We look forward to our day in court.”

      And the officer himself is now claiming that HE’s the actual victim here, ““I can’t go to the grocery store without being recognized, pointed at, laughed at,” Dooley said. “Can’t pay my water bill without hearing my name, saying ‘There’s the sorry cop that killed the dog.'”

      I’d be willing to guess that the union’s paying for his attorney & legal fees, and that Officer Dooley will be acquitted, reimbursed for lost wages, and (if he wishes) reinstated to continue “protecting and serving”.

      http://www.wfaa.com/news/entertainment/pets/Rains-County-deputy-indicted-on-animal-cruelty-after-shooting-of-dog-258648881.html

  11. Hope it’s one of those assault dogs that goes off on it’s own and bites the she it out of him.

  12. See now this is what I like to see, an officer concerned for safety, but using common sense, and realizing the dog is not a threat, gives him back to the owner. Kudos to you Sir.

  13. A couple years ago, I called 911 to dispatch animal control when two leashless pitpull mixes came running down my street one sunday morning, making a beeline for my wife and dog out front. She was taking lessons from a dog trainer, who told her to hustle the GSD inside, and distracted the two off-leash dogs as she did- and the trainer had to swat at the pitbulls, who lunged for him, too.

    Once she got inside, the two pitbulls continued on, and since we had to go somewhere, church or something- forget which- we could not follow them, as I normally would, to try to get them back to their owner (I’m a dog guy and figure I get good dog karma if I catch and return a stray, have done it too many times to count)

    but I did call later on the 911 call result. In my little town, when the animal control officers are out-of-area (they have to cover the whole county in addition to this town) the local cops cover for them.

    As it turns out, a cop responding came upon the two dogs a few minutes later, a few blocks up the hill, and talked one of them into the backseat, who knows how- probably A81’s cheeseburger technique. The other was too shy, and ran off. No shooting involved. Cop dropped the one at the shelter, and they contacted the owner id’d on micro-chip.

    Turns out it was a neighbor a mile away whose kids left the back yard gate open. Just a couple young canine knuckleheads…out for a romp.

    I suspect there are a couple thousand stories like that all over the country, every year, that never make it into the paper.

    Just like DGUs where just pulling the gun scares off the bad guy, and no one gets hurt, no report to file.

    • Same thing happened to my brother. He saw two loose pits coming down the street, put his kids and dog in the house, grabbed his Hi power, and called the village police.

      Though they were themselves scared of the dogs, the cops and an animal control officer did a fine job rounding up the two dogs, who turned out to be friendly after all.

  14. Put bulls can be some good dogs. I read a book where the author described pit bulls as being highly aware of animal prey naturally. Meaning their freindly with people, but they’ll take down any critter they view as prey faster than you can say, gee I should have kept the dog on a leash and now there’s coyote all over the living room

  15. See…sneaky sneaky! This looked like a good cop story from the title, but as usual…TTAG spins the bad cop no donut mantra again…:) Well done keyboard commandos…well done!

    • Seriously. Just because someone calls out a cop on a bad action… doesn’t mean everyone everywhere hates all cops.

  16. 23 years for shooting a dog.
    Florida has a “10-20-life” law.

    Use of a gun in the commission of a crime = 10 years.

    Discharge of a gun during commission of a crime = 20 years.

    Shooting a person with a gun during the commission of a crime = life.

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