Drug sniffing dog drama

[strollinruss]

Today I had to pick up my Jr High daughter for an orthodontist appt. While I was there the lady came in with the drug sniffing dog just as they started a fire drill ( seemed a little fishy right there). I talked to her about Fido and reached down to pet him and he was all excited to get petted. The handler freaked out as if I had a handful of poison or something. She said, 'Not before he works' and got all pissey with me. Dang, what did I do? Is it normal for them not to get touched before they 'work'. Did she think I was going to mess with him or What? I just thought the whole exchange was wierd.

 

[Bill Wooten]

Sounds like the handler could have "handled" that better. Used to live next to a LEO that had one of the dogs. He let us know up front that there would be times the dog would be working and shouldn't be petted, etc. But whenever he was out with him and we came in contact, he let us know right away if we could approach the dog or not.

Also, very interesting timing that the dog was at the school for the fire drill.

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Yep, made the mistake of petting a German Sheppard at Miami International. His handler actually bowed his chest up in my face and got nose to nose with me. He screamed in my face never to touch his dog. I screamed back then to never let his dog touch me with his ?#@*&%! nose then and it got ugly. I realize you shouldn't touch service dogs, but when a cold nose hit the back of my leg it was just like an impulse to reach down and scratch his ears. My entire family got pulled out of the immigration and customs line and questioned in a private room by a different agent. I was pissed and didn't back down a bit. Eventually the agent got tired of listening to me complaining and ushered us through customs with her apologies. So yeah, lesson learned...don't touch service dogs even if they touch you first.

 

[TheCount]

Today I had to pick up my Jr High daughter for an orthodontist appt. While I was there the lady came in with the drug sniffing dog just as they started a fire drill ( seemed a little fishy right there). I talked to her about Fido and reached down to pet him and he was all excited to get petted. The handler freaked out as if I had a handful of poison or something. She said, 'Not before he works' and got all pissey with me. Dang, what did I do? Is it normal for them not to get touched before they 'work'. Did she think I was going to mess with him or What? I just thought the whole exchange was wierd.

The dog is working, it's not a pet in that situation.

They've probably just primed the dog with the scent they want the dog to search for, and here you come introducing excitement, new smells and distractions. It can affect the dogs performance. That's even before the fact that drug smugglers do actually have spotters that do this on purpose to throw drug dogs off the scent.

People do this stuff all the time because they are used to dogs as pets, but a working dog is doing a job. It'd be like asking a cop for directions to the closest freeway as they're about to begin a drug raid.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

My great uncle used to make his living breeding and training dogs for the military and the police. As a kid, he would show me some videos of the training. I know that service dogs are not to be petted and they usually have a sign that says 'do not pet this dog.' If there was no sign, then the handler is an idiot.




YR

 

[YosemiteSam]

They don't want you to introduce anything that may influence or taint the dog's ability to perform it's job.

Tainting or masking evidence by disrupting or confusing the dog's facilities.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Getting the children used to being treated like criminals. Nice.

 

[nobody]

Getting the children used to being treated like criminals. Nice.

Typically, they only bring them in if they know there is someone dealing or there is a major drug problem in the school. If they don't suspect anything, they don't bring them in. It's usually a tip that causes them to be suspicious and bring one in, or a skunk-smelling haze in a bathroom.

It's a fact that it is a major problem in a lot of schools.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Typically, they only bring them in if they know there is someone dealing or there is a major drug problem in the school. If they don't suspect anything, they don't bring them in. It's usually a tip that causes them to be suspicious and bring one in, or a skunk-smelling haze in a bathroom.

It's a fact that it is a major problem in a lot of schools.

I remember them being brought into my middle school. They made a big deal of it--hiding a 'scented' item in a locker and showing us that the dog could find it. At the time I didn't know what was going on, just excited to see a dog in school, but now I realize it was a form of social conditioning. They want to condition student from a young age to accept government surveillance.

 

[strollinruss]

They don't want you to introduce anything that may influence or taint the dog's ability to perform it's job.

Tainting or masking evidence by disrupting or confusing the dog's facilities.

The dog is working, it's not a pet in that situation.

They've probably just primed the dog with the scent they want the dog to search for, and here you come introducing excitement, new smells and distractions. It can affect the dogs performance. That's even before the fact that drug smugglers do actually have spotters that do this on purpose to throw drug dogs off the scent.

People do this stuff all the time because they are used to dogs as pets, but a working dog is doing a job. It'd be like asking a cop for directions to the closest freeway as they're about to begin a drug raid.

I figured something like that. She acted like after the dog worked it would be no problem.

 

[strollinruss]

Sounds like the handler could have "handled" that better. Used to live next to a LEO that had one of the dogs. He let us know up front that there would be times the dog would be working and shouldn't be petted, etc. But whenever he was out with him and we came in contact, he let us know right away if we could approach the dog or not.

Also, very interesting timing that the dog was at the school for the fire drill.

That's what I thought. They probably were going to go straight to a certain class, locker, or backpack as soon as the kids were out. I bet they made all the kids leave their stuff for the fire drill.

 

[Bill Wooten]

Doubt it was a coincidence they were there at the time of the fire drill.

 

[Longboysfan]

Yep, made the mistake of petting a German Sheppard at Miami International. His handler actually bowed his chest up in my face and got nose to nose with me. He screamed in my face never to touch his dog. I screamed back then to never let his dog touch me with his ?#@*&%! nose then and it got ugly. I realize you shouldn't touch service dogs, but when a cold nose hit the back of my leg it was just like an impulse to reach down and scratch his ears. My entire family got pulled out of the immigration and customs line and questioned in a private room by a different agent. I was pissed and didn't back down a bit. Eventually the agent got tired of listening to me complaining and ushered us through customs with her apologies. So yeah, lesson learned...don't touch service dogs even if they touch you first.

Yes. The Dogs in the airport are working and as much as we like dogs - when we distract them from their job - not good.
I usually just say hello to the handler and leave it at that.

 

[cowboyeric8]

These dogs are truly amazing. There was a mythbusters episode to try and beat German shepherds and blood hounds, nothing they did worked at all, they tried everything and still the dogs won. The only thing that worked was having another dog show up who was in heat, lol, and they explained this would never happen in a real situation because they would remove other dogs from the equation.

 

[nobody]

These dogs are truly amazing. There was a mythbusters episode to try and beat German shepherds and blood hounds, nothing they did worked at all, they tried everything and still the dogs won. The only thing that worked was having another dog show up who was in heat, lol, and they explained this would never happen in a real situation because they would remove other dogs from the equation.

The mythbusters did not do things that would damage the dogs, however. (like concentrated, dehydrated, powdered ghost pepper being left everywhere for example.)

It's a good thing that they didn't, but when you're taking ethics into account, you can't fully prove or disprove something.

What I really like is stories of the lengths soldiers will go to when protecting or helping their K-9 squad members. They've called in medivac choppers for them. It shows that they aren't just "working animals" but valuable beings in their own right.

 

[Bill Wooten]

Back to the OP, these dogs are amazing, but obviously their handlers are not always up to the task. It shouldn't be up to us to know the boundaries. It is their job to make sure the dog does their job. They need to be proactive in letting those around the dog that the dog is working and do so in a non-threatening manner.