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What if families and/or neighbors brought their guns out and shot the officers shooting their dogs? How long do you think that kind of abuse of power would happen?

Some thoughts on this, Jack. First, when a citizen discharges a firearm in a residential neighborhood, they are often on the hook for unlawful or reckless discharge of a firearm. We won't see that with this cop. When a citizen defends his or her life with a firearm, the burden of proof must be shown that person's life was in danger. Oftentimes, like the Trayvon case, the shooter was being brutally beaten or had "proof" of being harmed.

In this case, the officer just assumed that the dog was going to attack and killed it.

Now, my line of questioning comes into play: if a law enforcement animal is considered a cop, then animals have been anthropomorphized into free-will creatures, an assessment that is ludicrous on its face. However, if that standard of humanism is applied to a canine, then why can't a family consider their dog just as human with a life just as valuable as that of a child and defend that animal with force?

In essence, I agree with you. If cops can shoot and kill a human to defend a law enforcement canine, then families should be able to defend their pets in the same manner and with the same amount of force, even if that person is a law enforcement officer.

This cop reacted poorly and maliciously, in my opinion, and the family should sue on the grounds that a member of their family was killed much the way a perp can be charged for murder of a law enforcement officer for killing a cop dog.