"Honoring animals as heroes diminishes human beings"

[AbbyK9]

An opinion piece from the Washington Times I came across today -
ORSI: Going to the dogs? - Washington Times

The author proposes that police dogs should not be honored as heroes or be honored with a service and a funeral because they are "simply trained animals" who don't have the reasoning or free will to choose to perform a heroic act, and that to honor them diminishes the service of human officers.

Opinions?

[Cassidy's Mom]

I think it's not the weirdest idea that the author has. Such as, early marriage is best, 18 to 25 - "there is no doubt in my mind that late marriage has wreaked havoc on people's souls" and: "Parents should let them see early marriage as good and desirable and not warehouse them at home or in college, which does no one any good in the long run." Yep, that pesky college: no good.

Why should we not wait until we are more mature and established before marrying? Because "Like anything else, we learn best by doing and any professional will tell you that to be good at anything you must begin when you are young". Plus, of course it squanders your ability to be fruitful and multiply, at least if you wait until marriage to procreate.

[Emoore]

The author considers it an "affront to humanity" that a K9 officer gets a full funeral and a "tragedy" that a thug who was trying to kill police officers was also killed? Give me a break.

[selzer]

Several years ago, in our town, a young man who went to school with my little sister and was good friends with my brother's step son, well I guess he dropped some bad acid -- too much rat poison, and became Schizophrenic. Well one day, he decided to kill himself, walked outside with a gun and shot the owner of a fast food joint, Mr. Olson, who was going for his morning walk.

The police came and Levi was shooting at them. They sent Cero after him, and he shot and killed the dog, a nice black and tan GSD, well known in the community.

The shot and killed him then.

I was glad that they killed him, kind of. I mean, he would have probably been on trial with the death penalty involved because he killed someone and killed the dog. Killing the dog wouldn't do it, but I think that maybe it would have been enough to make it capital murder in Ohio. No one wants to see a police dog die, except career criminals, but no one wants big publicity about the dog killing murderer getting death either.

I think the whole thing was tragic. I am sorry about the dog. But I think that the biggest tragedy was to the family of Mr. Oleson.

The dog was raised and trained for police work and handled by someone who knew all along that the dog might take a bullet for him someday. It does not make it any less bad, but police dog handlers are employed to risk their dogs' lives any day.

Mr. Oleson was just going for a walk.

The funeral for the dog was huge, parades with law enforcement from states away. A big memorial to the dog is in the center of town next to the courthouse. A picture of the dog is in the post office. The tribute to the dog is huge. No one even knows when or where Mr. Oleson was laid to rest.

The dog was ours though. He visited the schools and was used for demos. People would see the dog and the police officer. People liked the dog. People donated for the k9 program. There is ownership in that. And maybe that dog DID take a bullet that would have gone into a human officer. And maybe the dog's life was thrown away. But if Levi was my son, I think that I would rather they try to bring him down alive by sending in the dog, than just shooting him.

Do the dogs know that they are participating in something that might kill them? No. I do not know that they have a concept for death. Are they highly trained? Yes. Does it really matter if a dog is purchased and trained to do a job? Does it matter that they do not realise that they may die doing what they are supposed to?

I don't think that it matters that dogs do not understand everything about what they are doing, and whether it is training or heroics. I think in some ways it helps the officers/dog handlers to see their dogs honored. And it also helps the community. If any program really needs community support, it is the K9 program. I think that honoring dogs that die while performing their job, helps communities to understand how important these programs are.

[Hunther's Dad]

I remember when The Washington Times was a respectable publication.

[Jessiewessie99]

I disagree with the author in that article. There are just some dogs who will not do what those K9s do.

[Syaoransbear]

the author sounds like a big old crank to me

[Zoeys mom]

I don't think the Author gets your average dog would NEVER be able to make it as a canine cop, or that dogs can and will exert free will because they are animals of course. K9 dogs actually undergo more training than a cop does, and deserve recognition when they fall in the line of duty. After all they don't get a paycheck for their heroism or taken out for a beer.

[sagelfn]

really?!?

[DharmasMom]

I think the author of this article can kiss my right butt cheek.

First, he obviously has never had any real contact with dogs and certainly never with the highly intelligent german shepherd. He obviously has never experienced the love, loyalty and companionship of a dog.

Second, Time magazine had a cover article recently about how many animals (dogs included) certainly can problem solve. And obviously have a more complex thought process then humans ever gave them credit for.

Third, for him to call the death of the thug who was trying to kill the police officers a tragedy and then downplay the death of the animal that was most likely instrumental in saving those officers lives.

Now I am sure that dogs have no concept of their own mortality in situations like that but I feel it is certainly appropriate to honor him for saving those officers lives and ensuring that they got to go home to their families that night. And if he is more concerned with the death of a teenage criminal who was trying to kill the police officers, well, then I say he is full of horse poo.