Replies

Two personal experiences here...

About two months ago I was in North Carolina on business. My service dog, a longcoat German Shepherd, was with me as usual. My wife and son were also in the room with me.

Just before 1:00am he started barking. Aggressively. His danger danger bark, not his hey man check this out bark. There's a difference. I suspect most dog owners would tell you they recognize the difference. On goes the hearing aid, I look at my wife's half-awake and scared face and I realize there's a bangbangbangbangbang on the door and that it's not a fist. Concussive resonance indicates the butt of something hard. Flashlight, perhaps. Clearly not room service. So I restrain the dog, I check the peephole, and it's a young lady in a dark blue polo shirt with a stitched badge. Hotel security, I assume. I crack the door and ask, "What is it?"

"Do you have a dog in your room?"

First stupid question of the night, I think to myself. No, that's the cat I brought with me.

But I bite my tongue and say, "Yes, clearly. What is the issue?"

"We don't have a form on file. You need to come down now and sign the form."

I'm still half asleep here, and thus I don't happen to notice that there's a gun on her waist next to a radio and that the badge says XYZ County Sheriff. Of course shortly after I was to realize that. "He's a service dog. No form is necessary. The hotel management is well aware he's accompanying me."

Remarkably, this made no dent in her position - which was that the form could NOT be filled out tomorrow - and that I needed to come down immediately. At this point, in my just awakened state I'm still thinking she's hotel staff, not law enforcement. I was tempted to say, "No. Stop disturbing my sleep and I will discuss with hotel management in the morning" and close the door on her. Not quite sure why, but I said "I'll be downstairs in a few moments after I've dressed."

I closed the door, told my wife I apparently had to go downstairs, and put on a shirt. Leashed the dog and vested him. Headed downstairs with my wife - now very unhappy - getting dressed behind me.

Downstairs, to make a long story short - the hotel staff didn't bother to page down on the record to see that the service dog was with me. Sent the sheriff's department upstairs, because hotel security WAS the sheriff's department. (It's a very upscale hotel, which I won't name.)

After much discussion - including the joyous-to-observe input from my wife, AND suddenly bringing the dog around the counter face to face with the senior deputy on duty - several points had been made crystal clear:

1. Hotel staff really needs to scroll down and read the manager notes on guests prior to sending law enforcement to a guest's room.

2. Sheriff's department was really lucky.

As I saw it, the situation could have turned out quite differently.

"I did not realize your deputy was in fact a sworn officer. Had I shut the door in her face as was my first inclination, we all know that keyed entry by both your deputy and you would have been next. At that point, you would have been face to face with THIS animal who would quite reasonably and with unqualified aggression, have defended his family from intruders."

I walked right around the desk with my dog; she was startled and put her hand near her service weapon and stepped back. I'll give her credit for not touching the weapon and saying, "Please go back around the desk!"

I immediately said "Certainly," and and she visibly relaxed as the animal and I retreated. "I think I just made my point, didn't I?"

"You'd have opened fire immediately on seeing him lunge and we all damn well know it."

She had the grace to immediately nod, I'll give her that.

"Furthermore, the deaf handler in the room would NOT hear POLICE yelled at him, but rather react as any man would when he's trapped in a sixth floor room; his family even more trapped behind him, his dog shot dead in front of him by screaming strangers and only a split second to react while half asleep."

She had the further grace to look a little ashamed, which was both unexpected and really satisfying (I'll admit it). The point really WAS clear. "I think we both know that cops shoot dogs all the time, and that it's nearly always avoidable. Handler error is one thing. Unreasonable entry into a hotel room over an unnecessary bloody piece of paperwork is another." I then turned to the night manager and said, "You realize you were this close to the sheriff's department breaking down the door and blowing a disabled person's service dog away in the middle of the night? Do you even want to think about how viral that would go, especially when they gunned down a disabled man in front of his screaming wife and child on top of it?"

I still shake my head at it. The sheriff's department apologized quite nicely. The hotel's response was... appropriate over the next days.

What's the point?

If a sheriff's deputy - even when clearly uncomfortable by proximity to a very pissed off handler with a less-than-pleased German Shepherd three feet away from her - can maintain sufficient composure to request I back away, so can other law enforcement officers.

Second... I remember seeing a lone female cop on the beach in North Carolina ordering a family to leave the area - they had two Rottweilers that were clearly terrorizing everyone. No question they should be removed, and no question that they were a threat to everyone on the beach. The owner was leaving; the cop was between the boardwalk and the owner - who had both Rottweilers leashed on one hand (idiot) - and both dogs were furiously barking and lunging at the cop. What did she do?

Simply pulled her baton, whipped it open, and ordered him back. No sudden gunfire on the beach.

The point?

A law enforcement officer that shoots a twelve-pound Jack Russell is a clear and present danger to the entire community, and should in NO way be carrying a weapon and a badge.

Disgusting. Someday there will be a Black-Clad Super-Tactical High-Power (Get Home Alive) Ninja-Masked MRAP-Riding Seen-the-Elephant Bad-Boy Trained-Professional "Operator" who is a) shot by the dog's owner; b) topples over from the weight of his own gear; or c) gets actually killed by a dog and I think what we'll hear from the citizenry, at this point, is primarily applause.

Sad. But it will, unfortunately, be unsurprising.