WARNING! The following video clearly shows a dog being shot and killed by a police officer. Do not watch this video if you would prefer not to see this graphic content.
For those of you who do not want to watch the video, police in La Grange, Missouri, were called because the dog was supposedly acting aggressively toward a man and his daughter. At the time the video was filmed (by a police camera), the dog appears to be chained, not running loose.
A police officer eventually uses a catch pole to secure the dog. The dog becomes agitated once she has been captured by the catch pole, but is clearly just trying to get loose from the noose around her neck. At no time does she show any aggression towards either officer, even the one holding the catch pole. AFTER the police officer has the dog on the catch pole, he fires his gun once at the dog from a distance of the length of the catch pole (approximately five feet).
The dog falls down after being shot and starts wagging her tail. Eventually the dog lays her head down so that she is completely lying on her side. Her tail is wagging the whole time. The police officer then fires a second execution-style shot into the dog’s head, while the dog is still secured by the catch pole.
As a dog trainer, looking at the body language and behaviour of the dog in this video, I can pretty well guarantee that a kind voice and a couple of cookies would have solved this problem in a few minutes. This dog was slightly spooked, but not panicked and not aggressive. She only started to panic once the catch pole was around her neck.
The author of the video has identified the dog as a female American Bulldog.
Here’s the video. Again, this is provided with a warning that it contains graphic content.