Camille0o0o0

Just wanted to check and see who all on the board has this breed of dog. I love this breed. They are so cool...my SAM is a black American Cocker Spaniel and he has a little white on his chest and neck and is spotted on the neck...so cute!!

This was brought up to me by some other people too...but would it be hard to get him from pawing DOWN to swiping ACROSS?

Recently there was a post about house breaking a dog using a bell and the dog rings the bell to let everyone know it has to use the bathroom..my question is what kind of bell..I tried this on SAM and just got a little ding bell like they use in offices and even though he has the concept down it is hard for him to hit the sensor since the bell is so little...what should I do?

Ha Ha I know...just feel I have to defend my fellow officers out there cause in most cases they LOVE animals...shoot we put our lives in the hands of animals. I have the upmost respect for them. It DID make me angry to see that happen to him...I almost cried actually. You won't make me angry by stating your opinion or asking questions on why I think the way I do...I LOVE to discuss things!!! But...I am just cool like that...I am what I guess you would call a "good cop" or "soon to be good cop" LMAO

Thank you so much....I registered there too...I will gain much knowledge from everyone...I can feel it now :wink:

Ha ha sorry about that...I didnt put my "HOWEVER" in there...this is where the whole "think before you shoot" comes in. If the cop were more experienced and thinking more clearly he would have realized that even IF this dog would have bitten him (which was HIGHLY unlikely) it wouldnt have done much damage...classic case of BAD JUDGEMENT and I am shocked the officer didnt get reprimanded for it...and even more shocked that the woman got fined for it.... Question though...I just scanned the article and didnt read all the details...was the dog in the womans yard when it was shot?? I have 3 cocker spaniels so don't think I am being heart less on this because this makes me very angry :angryy: All I am saying is that these instances 9 times out of 10 are made by officers who are 1. Too young and inexperienced and shouldnt be out on the road yet in the first place or 2. Scared of ANY dogs My main point on the subject was that everyone was so angry at policemen in general when it is just a few who actually use their gun needlessly. We aren't all trigger happY!! LOL

I wouldnt restrict it to just reading a dogs body language. A cop should be more knowledable of when and when not to pull a gun out. This comes with time and experience. Cops encounter all different kinds of calls daily and they need to be able to handle them all. I feel that "green" cops shouldnt be out on the road alone until they are more experienced and can handle the stressful situations. USING A GUN SHOULD BE THE LAST THING AN OFFICER SHOULD DO...NOT THE FIRST. But you also have to see that the dogs the cops deal with on a regular basis are not just Fido down the road. They are "guard dogs" that are used to protect drug houses and other illegal activity or they are "fighting dogs" (which is another matter ENTIRELY) so many officers are automatically defensive when a dog is running towards them.

I just wanted to comment on this topic. I stated before that I was interested in the K9 division so naturally I approached my superior and questioned him about the nature of the work and so forth and he brought up some very good points. The first thing the officer has to realize is that the dog is his "partner" it is the officers duty to protect his partner just as he would a human partner and vice versa...the dog will protect the officer. ( I don't know about all of you but I think I would rather have a dog protecting me than a human because a dog has so much more loyalty than a human does) Everything the officers partner does is the departments responsibility...for example...if the partner jumps on a car and scratches it while searching for drugs...it is the officers responsibility to make sure the dog knows what to do and what not to do. (I love this one) You can have 2 grown men with you and try to indimidate the bad guys and they won't budge...but bring a dog into the situation and they are SCARED...noone wants to get bitten. Anyway on the subject of the officer getting shot on the way from duty...did he not have on a vest? I believe that all police dogs should wear bulletproof vests. The department spends over 10 thousand dollars on these trained dogs yet they can't spend 1000 more to ensure these *expensive* dogs don't get hurt?? Where is the logic in that?

I am quite interested in this subject as well. I am hoping one day in my police endevors to work with the K9 division...it seems only natural to me. The ones I have heard of police officers using the MOST are... German Shepards Labs Dobermans Rottweilers This is the list I am choosing out of when I (hopefully) can get in the training area of the department. My problem comes in with...WHICH ONE?

I agree that in this case the force was unecessary. The most harm the dog could have done was leave a flesh wound. It couldnt have KILLED him, for heavens sake he was only a cocker spaniel. I work in the police deparment and hope to go on the road soon after training. I am a dog lover as well. Although I understand everyones feelings about police and the unecessary use of force I think that you are grouping all police in the same catagory. Not all of them are quick to draw their guns. It is easy to say that it shouldnt have been done or something should have been done different, but unless you are in the high stress situation you can't say for sure and you can't be sure of what YOU would have done. Having said that, there are instances that make me sick to my stomach and this was one of them. I mean if it was a rotty or a doberman running to him and growling then I would understand the officer to be wary. These large dogs can kill someone. Having said THAT...just because a dog is running to you does not mean it is going to bite you...big dog or not. Dogs are just curious of their surrondings and Sprite was just trying to investigate the stranger that walked into his yard.

I have a 4 month old cocker spaniel...I am having a hard time getting him to let me know when he needs to go outside....this bell thing sounds like the trick I need....is he too old to train to do this? What are the steps you need to take to get him to begin ringing the bell? :D what kind of bell...where should you put it?