police dog suspended for potential racism - I kid you not.
 

Feb. 3, 2004 | MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) -- A police dog has been suspended while investigators try to determine whether the animal has something against black children.

The dog, a German shepherd named Dolpho, was cleared two years ago of attacking a child because he was black. But Dolpho was removed from duty on Monday after biting another black child.

Dolpho attacked a 14-year-old black girl on Jan. 28 during a crime-prevention demonstration at a school but did not break the youngster's skin. The girl's parents said a white student petted the dog without incident before he attacked their daughter.

In 2002, town officials ordered a two-month investigation to determine if Dolpho was singling out blacks while on patrol after the dog escaped from police vehicle and bit a 9-year-old black boy playing nearby. The dog was taken off duty, retrained for two months and returned to the force.

City Councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon, who is black, complained about the dog in 2002 and renewed her request that the animal be retired from the police force or put to sleep.



:321GFY

link?

Monday, February 02, 2004

Associated Press







A police dog cleared two years ago of racial profiling has been accused of biting a black teenager during a demonstration at a middle school.

A McKees Rocks councilwoman and the girl?s parents said a K-9 officer had to pry the dog?s jaws apart to free 14-year-old Angela Kirkland on Thursday. It was the second time in 19 months the dog has been accused of attacking a black child.

In 2002, town officials ordered a two-month investigation to determine if Dolpho, a German shepherd, was singling out blacks while on patrol.

In the previous incident, Dolpho escaped from a police vehicle when a quick-release button on the belt of K-9 officer Shawn Barger was depressed as he wrestled with a drug suspect. The dog bolted from the K-9 wagon when the door opened and bit a 9-year-old boy who was playing nearby.

Barger was also handling the dog Thursday at Sto-Rox Middle School.

Police would not comment on the most recent allegations.

Councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon once again asked that Dolpho be retired. She wants the dog euthanized or locked away, though she said race is not the issue this time.

?I?m an animal lover and I feel very bad for the dog,? Dixon said. ?But you can?t keep a dog out there that?s attacking children. For me, color doesn?t matter. He hurt a child.?

The girl?s parents, however, say Dolpho only attacks black people.

?I blame the training,? said Bobby Kirkland. ?I still say that that dog ... is a racist dog.?

The dog allowed a white girl to pet it, but attacked when his daughter got close, Kirkland said.

Kirkland said the dog tore his daughter?s pants and shirt. The dog?s teeth did not break the skin, but did leave marks, Kirkland said.

Mark Livingston, the father of the boy attacked two years ago, said he wasn?t surprised about the alleged attack.

?That police dog has struck again,? he said.

the funny thing is , arent dogs color blind. must be reacting to the smell heh

Thats what I thought.

I could believe it, friend of mine had a rot that didn't like black people or people who wore hats.

?I still say that that dog ... is a racist dog.?
:321GFY

to an extent yes, they are...











BACK

ARE DOGS COLORBLIND?

FROM "Ask Popular Science"
Edited by Cecilia Wessner
Research by Liz Cowley and Stacey Sutton

It is a mistaken notion that dogs see only in black and white. If, however, what you mean by colorblind is that dogs see only a portion of the visible spectrum as compared with what humans see, then yes, dogs are colorblind. And there are a couple of methods that scientists use to determine this. But first, it is important to understand how dogs see.

Dogs have two types of color photoreception, or cone cells, on their retinas that recognize short and medium-to-long wavelengths of light, corresponding to bluish hues (short wavelength) and red-yellow ones (long wavelengths). People, on the other hand, have three types of cone cells that enable us to see the full range of colors that make up the visible spectrum. Since dogs have only two types of cone cells, the colors they can distinguish are almost identical to the colors a human who has red-green color blindness would see. Of course, colorblind humans still see many different colors, and scientists think dogs see this range of colors as well.

How do scientists know? One way is to shine beams of colored lights into dogs' eyes and analyze the spectrum, or pattern, of light that is reflected back. The results are then compared with the pattern produced when the same lights are shined into human eyes.

Another way to study canine vision is to have the dogs "tell" scientists what they see. In one experiment, dogs are shown a series of three lights; in each case, two of the three lights are the same color. With a minimal amount of training, the dogs select with their noses the colored light that is different from the others. By varying the colors of the lights and repeating the process, scientists have determined that dogs see the world in black, white, and shades of gray, with long wavelength (red-yellow) and short wavelength (blue) colors thrown in.


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No self-respecting dog likes kids. They know kids are unpredictable, and therefore dangerous.

They see BLACK and white.

http://entimg.msn.com/i/75/tv/apr03/wanda_75x75.jpg Wanda Sykes says, "Shut the fuck up!"

now ive heard it all

I got 1 thing to say wow

Dogs react to negative experiences. Maybe it was sick of all the black people it has to chase down in the line of duty?

Just kidding...

They do get patterned early, so a black kid may have scared it when it was young and it just remembers that.

Racist... What a croc. I am soooo sick of hearing that term I am starting to become one...

I may be using too much logic here but..

If the dog was trained to racially profile, why do they suspend the dog and not the dog trainer? That's killing the messenger.

I'd be questioning the police officer whose responsible for the dog.

Lemme get this straight, the dog first bit a child after it broke free from it's trainers and a police car????

And they retrained it?

No fucking way. Police dogs are expensive. I know because I've trained enough of them as has my family for DECADES.

Some high end dogs cost $50k or more. It's not a genetic thing it's an individual personality of the animal.

You NEVER know what'll set a dog off. That's why finding the right trainer is like finding gold.

Dogs are just as bigotted as people but with dogs it's push-button. That's why some guard dogs you can train around children and some you can't or shouldn't.

Best guard dogs are dogs who grew up around children. They know the difference and are super protective. Sometimes the parents can't even spank the kid with the dog around nor get into arguments in the house. I've seen dogs turn a house upside down when parents were squabbling and back both their asses up against the wall til the cops got there.

This dog however has a 'malfunction'. Racist? Possibly, I've seen it. It happens two ways, they're either trained that way or find some common denominator during developement that just sets them off. Either way it's a liability and since this dog is from a municipality it should have been removed from active duty after the first incident.

I'm suprised the parents of the first victim didn't sue the city's ass off. Can you imagine being a little kid and a POLICE dog attacks you? That'll shatter your confidence in the law real quick.

Yet the final say is not if the dog is racist, it's whether it has been trained and discliplined properly ( obviously not )

Yeah, I'm sure he dressed up like a black guy and made the dog attack. Punish him!

My aunt's dog never liked black people. I dated a black guy for a while and we could never let him in the same room with the dog.

But you know, all they really have to do is give the dog to an Asian cop, eventually it'll end up in a pot of rice!

j/k i love you margaret cho!

racism happens. it is a natural instinct to fear what is different from ourselves. particularly in animals with lower "reasoning" capabilities...they do not differentiate so often between individuals within a group.

In any case, the dog should have been better controlled and since it is not, it really should be retired IMHO.

this is so true... i found my dog on the street in a bad part of town. he was all torn up. i've had him for almost 6 yrs and he still hates guys he doesn't know and dark skinned ppl. he doesn't bite or anything, just takes a stand and barks (has a pretty intimidating bark)

dogs can not be racist or gay for gods sake! they obviously trained the dog to attack and probally used a black model to train it with.the dog has learned to attack people of color and probally would bite a indian person or mexican. :2 cents:

the funny part about it, is its really true
i've seen shepherds and other dogs brought from europe bark at black people for no reason

its a case of a dog gone bad. period. i just can't understand why they would take that dog to a school house if he has a previous history of being unfriendly with children.

They see black and white, it's not like the people were different shades of green.

my dog does that

IF the dog is doing that its probly cause hes been traind to.. id be looking at thew owner or trainer....

they again maby the kid had fried chicked for lunch:Buck:

I may be about to make a racist comment (thought police come arrest me), but it has been MY EXPERIENCE that black people are overly frightened of dogs. Maybe the children are overly anxious and freaking out, the dog senses this and thinks to itself, "this kid must be up to no good." I think dogs understand that people who are overly fearful of them are the MOST dangerous. Irrational fear makes many people do stupid things. Dogs pick up easily on this fight/flight response in humans and have EVERY right (the laws of nature) and reason to be scared of these people. It is these people that harm dogs because of their IRRATIONAL fear.

as someone who used to raise shephards. if a big dog like that starts nipping at people it is time for it to be taken away.


It is just too dangerous to have teeth like that around young kids period.

if you can't control a police trained dog there are issues.


hate to say it, but it should be retired and or put down.

retired maybe, but put down? NO! I hope this dog finds a good home.

had it been a black lab, we would never be having this discussion.

lmao:1orglaugh

Good one :thumbsup

You are all missing the point, it bit a kid and went back into service. I would sue the arse off the police force.

Who cares the cost of training it, the cost of putting back a childs face is slightly more.

Racist behavour of the dog is a non starter, maybe the police force is racist. What would have been the outcome if it had bitten a white kid?

As someone who has trained dogs extensively for multiple high end real world working purpooses I would say that the dog is not Racist per say like a human would be but that it could have been conditioned to not like black children or anything for that matter based on his handlers reactions. He also could quite simply not like black children. Many dogs with extreme rank drive will not tolerate children especially after receiving extenseve muzzle training to bring out their fight drive.

Good doggie...

ARENT DOGS ARE COLOR BLIND?

A dog can't be racist, it doesn't know the difference between white black, fuck, just like somebody else said, it may have had a bad experience back down the line when it was being trained!

Who knows. I think they should retire it, but don't put it to sleep, it's not the dogs fault!

jDoG

The handler is 100% at fault for letting this happen whether through conditioning or poor handling. The dog may still be able to work with another handler and should or if there is no one that can recondition or handle the dog properly it needs to be put down or it will remain a liablity regardless of how it ended up in the situation.

But it is a working dog trainined to take down a 300 lb male on PCP, so anyone surprised this happened doesn't understand what an animal is or what this dog was conditioned to do.