Deputy forced to shoot Fishers K-9 after attack

The Indy Channel ^ | Apr 17, 2014 | TheIndyChannel.com Staff

[digger48]

INDIANAPOLIS - A Fishers Police K-9 was fatally shot Wednesday after it latched onto an off-duty officer's arm and would not let go.

Officials said Officer Tracy Saxhaug was caring for the K-9, named Arrack, at her Hamilton County home Wednesday afternoon when a car pulled into the driveway, sending the dog into a "defensive stance."

Police said the K-9 bit Saxhaug's arm and would not release her, so the officer's family member called for help.

A Hamilton County Sheriff's Department deputy also could not get Arrack to release Saxhaug's arm, and the decision was made to shoot the dog.

[PieterCasparzen]

The dog obviously did not think Tracy was in charge.

Here’s a gal that has control of her dog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5RjqgeVA0Q

[Titan Magroyne]

Very nice, amazing dog. Thought at first she was an extremely blocky black lab, having never seen an undocked rottie before.

Incidentally - you couldn’t pay me enough to take the badguy role for that test! (I notice he made a point of carrying the unprotected arm way high during the simulated detention perpwalk right next to the dog, LOL.) Not every dog’s gonna remain that under control during the entire exercise.

[KneelBeforeZod]

Ironical since you'll see "aggressive stance" in a lot of police reports where someone got dusted off a bit with a nightstick.

[rarestia]

While the heat of the moment probably didn’t permit for rational thought, one of the easiest tricks to get a dog, or even a human, to unlatch from a bite is to rub your finger back and forth under their nose. This triggers an autonomic response that causes the maxillary muscles to relax and the jaw to slacken.

We learned this technique when I was an orderly in a mental facility. They tell you to push into the bite and use your index finger to sweep back and forth under the nose to get them to release. This works with any mammal, as I understand it.

[metmom]

Awesome video.

What a good dog.

[PieterCasparzen]

Here’s a random link to an article on a Rottie breeder’s site...

http://www.4rottweilers.com/rottweiler_schutzhund.htm

IMHO, most Rottie breeders/active handlers seem to be very good dog people.

Another good link at the site, IMHO...

http://www.4rottweilers.com/rottweiler_forced_breed_extinction.htm

[nobamanomore]

This is a common misconception. The dogs are trained in whatever language the handler speaks. In many dog sports such as schutzhund, they are taught in German because.....it’s a German sport. Many of the malinois come from Holland, so guess what, they are taught in Dutch.

The dog was obviously not trained with a good ‘out’ or he would have let go after the command from the handler. They will however not obey commands from someone they don’t know, so another deputy giving the ‘out’ is pretty much worthless, just as it would if a bad guy commanded ‘out’. I have no doubt in my mind that I could have ‘hung’ the dog and choked him out. There was no reason to shoot him.

A distinct possibility is also that the handler was overly heavy handed. Malinois don’t respond well to being mistreated, but will sometimes take it till they’ve had enough, then a bad handler bite is the result. They respond to rewards, not coercion. He was likely a common bloodline from Arrack’s Home, a top malinois bloodline, which shares some ancestors with my dog.

[nobamanomore]

Wrong! That is so absolutely uninformed it isn’t worth mentioning. They are not trained to bite, they are trained to bite on command and out on command.

[dennisw]

OMG now they are shooting their own dogs too!!!!!