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VoiceofReason wrote:As I stated in another post, I was bitten twice while working for Bell. I had to pepper two or three other dogs. It has been so long I can’t remember. A Sheppard bit me on the upper front part of the leg and another time a medium size dog came up behind me and bit me above the ankle. Both were quick one bite attacks. The Sheppard stood and confronted me after bighting me and the owner came to the door. Had the Sheppard tried for another bite, I would have stuck a large screwdriver in him a few times. I would have no problem suing the owner and Bell for firing me.

Edited to add:
I was dispatched to repair the phone at the address where the Sheppard bit me. The gate wasn’t locked, no signs, and I was halfway to the door when the dog came around the house.

I wasn’t even on private property when the medium size dog bit me. I was on common property, walking the easement looking for a terminal. He bit me then ran.

ROFL Not to totally hijack a pretty worn out thread, but you remind me of some of my bites. I was walking around a house that had been converted into multiple apartments, trying to find the one that was having a phone installed. On the front of the house was a "Beware of Dog" sign that had obviously been there for years, and behind the house almost buried in the snow was a dog house that showed no sign of recent habitation. I made it three quarters of the way around the house before the dog snuck up behind me and took a chunk out of my butt. He was chained up in the garage and there were no signs of him, that I noticed, as I passed between the house and the garage, and I escaped by leaping over the top of a snow berm, a jump I could not have accomplished without the impetus of the sudden attack.

The dog hooked the seam of my Levi's and tore the jeans right down to the ankle on each side, leaving me wearing essentially a skirt, with blood trickling down into my right boot. I immediately climbed into my truck and drove back to the garage and notified the garage secretary that I was going home (off the clock) to change my britches because they were torn. She pulled a little sewing kit out of her desk and offered to stitch them up for me, and I told her that they were beyond that kind of repair. At this point I did not realize how bad my injury was (it was tough to see) and didn't know how much blood was all over my legs and butt. When I turned to show her how bad the pants were torn, she saw all the blood and insisted on getting me transported to the hospital for treatment. Three stitches to sew up the gash.

I have also been "mauled" by an attack Chihuahua, which left horrible looking chew marks on the ankle of my boot. I count it as a bite, but it did not result in any personal physical damage, other than leaving permanent marks on my boot.

VoiceofReason wrote:Just for added safety (for the dog and people) the gate should have been locked and a sign posted.

I worked for a telephone company for fifteen years and was bitten twice. The first time a woman came to the front door telling me the dog wouldn’t bite me after it already had. No warning signs were posted.

In hindsight, I should have reported it and sued the owners of both dogs.

Utilities meter reader folks, postmen, package deliver folks, utility workers, and many others have contact on privet property with dogs in total more often then LEO's I would guess.. Yet, they seem to be able to walk to a front door without the need to shoot a dog.. and do so thousands of times a day, every day, all year long.

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of “meter reader folks, postmen, package deliver folks, utility workers, and many others” bitten every year and not reported because they fear retaliation by their employer.

I passed by that house a couple of weeks later and noticed a “beware of dog” sign on the front gate.

I did report the folks whose dogs bit me over the years, and at least one was taken and destroyed under NY State's "Bad Dog" law. That particular dog had bitten several people and was well beyond its three strike under the law, and yet the owners still threatened me and the phone company with a lawsuit. I assume the company made some sort of settlement with them because they suddenly stopped communicating with my lawyer and I never heard another word.

NY Telephone had specific rules against employees suing, just a whiff of a suit would lead to counseling and threats of termination and supporting documentation in the company's hands would not be available for such a suit if you did decide to go ahead with a suit as a newly minted non-Bell System employee.

The only time I failed to report a dog bite was when I was having a particularly bad run of bad luck and was placed on warning for having excessive accidents. In a very short period I had had two vehicle wrecks (neither my fault and both unavoidable according to police reports), had fallen off a pole, and had fallen through a ramp into a basement.

gigag04 wrote: To those questioning the hit ratio on the dog - I would offer that drawing from a level 2/3 retention holster and firing at a moving/advancing target is harder than most people would realize.

Actually my question, although it indeed included hit ratio, had more to do with why the officer chose to stop shooting at that time. I wonder if his tunnel vision suddenly opened up and he realized that there were potential shoot through victims, did the dogs turn tail and retreat, did they kowtow to him? Why did he stop?

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As an aside, although bitten a lot during my career, I never lost my love for dogs nor have I ever actually been afraid of one unless it was actually chewing on me. I got sent to a notorious house in my territory. Two Great Danes chained in such a way as to make it impossible to approach the front door. I offered them my usual dog treats, which I always carried a box of in my truck and one or two in my pockets, and moved to the door while they were busy, and then kept the dogs at bay simply by facing them and not allowing them to approach. Boy was the homeowner surprised when I rang the doorbell with the dogs standing placidly 15 feet away.

I have also run the length of a deck with two German Shepherds in hot pursuit and cleared the railing at the end and landed on top of my truck. I was glad I left my driver's side window open or I would have been trapped up there until the owner came home.

Cedar Park Dad wrote:2. why are they going to back yard in the first place? Its at best a minor warrant.

I wondered that myself. Is it possible that he heard sounds indicating habitation coming from the child playing with the dogs in the yard?

My dog will charge (gleefully, but it's hard to tell the difference) barking right to withing feet, and then she will hunker down and kowtow, soliciting petting and making a pest of herself. My wife's dogs will follow, making a racket, but most of them won't approach unless they are invited.

As a retired telephone man I have dealt with a LOT of dogs over mt career, and been bitten a few times too (13 lifetime), and except for one specific circumstance I can't imagine responding by shooting the dog.

It bothers me that the officer was 14 miles away from where he should have been serving the warrant.

It bothers me that the officer appears to me to not have spent an adequate amount of time at the front door.

And it bothers me that he shot three times, and only hit once, and yet the threat seems to have been reduced. Did the dogs turn and run and he stopped shooting? Did he realize his mistake and that's why he stopped shooting?

There is so much more that we don't know.

And yet I still feel that he should be held responsible, and his department.