RIP K9 Jag - Page 1

RIP, Jag. You deserved a kinder death.

There really needs to be some better way to protect these dogs from this--there's no excuse for even ONE LE dog to have to suffer this type of death. I don't know what the solution is, but with all the freakin' technological advances we have in this world, there's got to be something that can be adapted to alert the officer that they've left their dog in a car under dangerous conditions...

Each new version of these tragedies sickens me anew...Jag, you and all the others who were let down by the person you thought you could count on definitely deserved better than this.  I'm so, so sorry.

Here is a link and sorry I misspelled his name. It is Jeg not Jag. Guess us Okies talk a little different.
 http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/19015976/emotionally-distressed-dps-officer-placed-on-leave-following-k-9s-death

I can't bear to read the press release, vonissk...while I'm sure the officer in question IS 'emotionally distressed', that's simply not good enough, IMO. Betcha he didn't forget to take his gun out of the car when he transferred vehicles, did he?  Yet the living, breathing, sentinent and loyal being, the one that would literally have laid it's life on the line to protect the officer...THAT he 'forgot' about.  Sorry, just can't muster up much sympathy for him. I've spent it all on the dog.

Yes, there could be an electronic device that beeps if the dog and Officer are not together on a shift, they might only need to use it during hot weather, but a reminder to save a partner's life should be worth this little bit of a buzzing annoyance???

Don't we all feel so safe that the same brain who forgot his dog in his car is the one we call in a life or death emergency?   I understand  about getting sidetracked by an emergency, but grabbing your dog should be one of those things you do on autopilot. I do lots of (dog) stuff on autopilot that I sometimes don't remember doing when I'm super distracted or in a major rush. You just have to adopt that mindset of making checking where your dogs are a habit so that when you ARE in that emergency and have to leave quickly, you can't "forget" because it's almost involuntary at this point. I have driven home many times on my way to work, panicked that I forgot to double-check a lock or a latch or turn off the garage heater or turn the a/c on in the kennel or whatever...only to find that it's always done...but I have NO recollection of doing it. THAT's how ingrained it is in my mind because it's THAT important. There are lives on the line. 

Don't we all feel so safe that the same brain who forgot his dog in his car is the one we call in a life or death emergency?

i think that rude statement needs a defense. A post was made on the OT board about a MOTHER who left her baby to overheat until death. It is a sad, awful, tragic, disgusting, fact that DISTRACTION IS A MODERN AGE PROBLEM. 

Let's not demonize cops any more than mothers.

Thank you.

bee, sorry, but I'll go on record as demonizing them BOTH, mother and officer, to the same degree.  There's literally a scant few excuses for leaving ANY vulnerable being (defined as any living thing that's unable to protect itself in this kind of situation) to bake--or freeze--to death in a vehicle: I'll give a pass if the driver is [a] unexpectedly dead before they can get the individual to safety,  [b] injured and unable to communicate, or [c] abducted directly from the vehicle by aliens or terrorists, before they get a chance to tell anyone there's a child, vulnerable adult or animal in the vehicle.

Otherwise, there's nothing in this world distracting enough to take precedence over protecting the life of that which is entirely dependant upon you.

None.

That said, I also consider culpable the police departments, ESPECIALLY those in locations where the climate dictates that this risk is virtually a daily one, for not making use of the tools that ARE available to help prevent this horrible outcome--it should be standard equipment on any LE vehicle in those places, right along with the sirens and spotlights and everything else, not an option or afterthought.

This particular fellow may well be an outstanding police officer, but he has no business being a K9 handler ever again.  K9 handlers need to believe their dogs are the very blood in their veins and breath in their lungs, not something that can be 'forgotten' in the back of a car.  You know darn well that the dog didn't just sit there silently while the handler was shifting gear--so how the hell do you forget he's there???  

Give the guy a desk job, give him a taser, give him a shotgun and a handgun, hell, give him a tank if you want, but for god's sake, please don't give him another K9.