Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

War on Drugs

Puppycide

Radley Balko | 9.23.2008 11:37 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Police serving a search warrant in Haltom City, Texas say an officer had no choice but to shoot and kill an "aggressive" Jack Russell terrier.

More on why "they always shoot the dog" here.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Is Georgia About to Execute an Innocent Man? (Update and Bump)

Radley Balko is a journalist at The Washington Post.

War on DrugsMilitarization of Police
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (32)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Not a jack russell   17 years ago

    but close

    (btw, don't let the snark hide the fact that Radley continues his magnificent batting average of leaving me pissed off after he posts.)

  2. ktc2   17 years ago

    So if they shoot a chihuahua puppy and say they were afraid for their life who will call bullshit? I mean whom that can actually do something about it. Nobody of course.

    Now as if we didn't have enough armed adrenalin junkies running amuck in our cities Radley has this:

    http://www.theagitator.com/2008/09/23/um-6/

    How convenient one month prior to election day!

  3. Meh   17 years ago

    Well the cop might have been bit, and that bite might get infected...so the cop really didn't have a choice but to shoot the dog.

    And lets not forget that Jack Russell Terriers are a favorite of drug dealers and other thugs. They are after all bred to be aggressive.

  4. Naga Sadow   17 years ago

    ktc2,

    To be fair, chihuahua's are quite possibly the most vicious animals I have ever met. And I've had a run in with a bear before!

  5. LarryA   17 years ago

    This should solve the cops' problem.

  6. Seer   17 years ago

    Jack Russels are highly, highly territorial animals. Small, but nasty.

  7. Jim Dangle   17 years ago

    Larry-
    Are they assless?

  8. The Wine Commonsewer   17 years ago

    Just four days earlier, police had arrested Dustin Keeble at the house on suspicion of stealing a car, evading arrest and possession of a controlled substance.

    Keeble, 20, has nine convictions ranging from theft to assault with bodily injury dating to February 2005, according to Tarrant County criminal court records. He was last sentenced to six years in prison in April 2007 for unlawful possession of a firearm, theft and burglary, records show.

    Here's your problem.

    Sentenced to six years in prison in 2007, arrested four days ago for car theft, yet, inexplicably, he's out of jail in 2008 and creating more mayhem.

  9. ktc2   17 years ago

    TWC,

    Well you know they got to make room in prison for all the potheads somehow!

  10. CodeMonkeySteve   17 years ago

    Another blow struck in the War on Terrier.

    (too obvious?)

  11. Jonas   17 years ago

    Has anyone ever seen that Mark Wahlberg movie "Shooter"? There's a part where the Wahlberg character insists he knows that the government officials chasing after him are wrong because "They SHOT my DOG!"

    It's crazy to think that just a year to two years ago people unquestioningly assumed that killing dogs in "the line of duty" was a laughable offence... now no one questions it at all! It's practically protocol!

  12. Jonas   17 years ago

    .

  13. mudride   17 years ago

    Just so you know, cops in Dallas and Ft. Worth are some of THE most aggressive I have ever seen. Even the Transit cops will frisk someone for not buying a train ticket. I actually witnessed that tonight.

  14. mudride   17 years ago

    Shooter was a really, REALLY bad movie all around.

  15. Ranilen   17 years ago

    As someone who has worked around dogs, I have a MUCH easier time buying a story about an aggressive Jack Russell than about an aggressive Labrador Retriever. The little dogs are always the nasty ones.

  16. ed   17 years ago

    They shot Eddie! Those bastards!

  17. Tulpa   17 years ago

    It would be cool if the cops busted someone keeping an endangered species as a pet, and they shot that one, thus violating federal law. Then we'd see some action on this front.

    Though there's probably much more reason to fear for your life from a Komodo Dragon than from a terrier...

  18. Episiarch   17 years ago

    Well, the cops want to shoot somebody, and if the humans present don't provide a target through armed resistance, the dog gets the lead. I mean, why do a raid if you aren't going to shoot something?

  19. wicker man   17 years ago

    This thread is just another example of 9/10/01 thinking. How did the officers know whether the dog was wearing a bomb belt under its cute little doggie sweater?

    "We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf." -- George Orwell

  20. R C Dean   17 years ago

    Sure, sure, the Jack Russell was aggressive.

    So what? That's a capital offense? For those who have never met a Jack Russell, they are about a foot at the shoulder and weigh about fifteen pounds.

    Any cop who can't handle a dog that size without gunning it down should be fired. On the spot.

  21. JMR   17 years ago

    Now I feel safe.

  22. emmajane   17 years ago

    Code Monkey Steve wins. But everybody knows that the cops get extra points for every dog they kill!

  23. sage   17 years ago

    What RC said. You don't need to shoot it; you could just wring it's neck!

  24. Abdul   17 years ago

    My mother once called me and the cops because she found a possum in her kitchen eating the cat food. By the time I arrived, the possum was doing what discovered possums do--being absolutely still. One of the cops was standing on a chair like the frightened maids in Tom & Jerry cartoons.

    Luckily, they didn't open fire, and I was able to wrangle the possum outside.

  25. DR   17 years ago

    I am not saying that the cop should have shot the dog, but did anyone else notice the article stated that the jack russell terrier was 40 punds? That's a HUGE jack. I'm calling bullshit on the size or breed of the dag.

  26. R C Dean   17 years ago

    I mean, c'mon. I've owned pit bulls for twenty years. In that time, I've had to sort out two dog fights (one pit was just a bad actor that my ex-wife wanted to adopt, the other was started by the neighbor's extremely stupid German Shepherd; I would have just let my dog just finish the Shepherd, but my wife and the neighbor were standing right there).

    If an out-of-shape lawyer can handle a fighting mad ninety pound pit bull, a cop should be able to handle a fucking fifteen pound Jack Russell.

  27. R C Dean   17 years ago

    Or a forty pound Jack Russell.

  28. A   17 years ago

    Police have responded 65 times to the house since March 2003, according to Haltom City police records.

  29. Eryk Boston, J.D.   17 years ago

    Assuming the cop carried common police ammo (.40S&W Hydroshok), how was there enough left of the dog to know the breed?

    Also, can we come right out and officially declare that a cop who fears for his safety from a yapping rat should have the phrase "complete pussy" added to their employment record?

  30. maria   16 years ago

    I was there when it happened. The cops used unnessasary force when handling all of us that were there. The dog they shot was a very sweet dog. He wasent aggressive, he was scared. Hell, even my pitbull was scared. The only reason she didnt get shot is because she ran away. Haltom city cops are the most crooked cops i have ever seen in my whole life. They will assult or shoot when ever they can get away with it. They need a whole new force.

  31. S R   16 years ago

    Would the cop also shoot a 2 year old child wielding a knife? Unless I'm stupidly mistaken, a 2 year old child weighs much more than a jack russell...

    Besides, although neither of my 2 jack russells have ever bitten anyone or anything, I'm sure they'd be well within their right to if some stranger came barging into their home waving a gun and screaming at them and me...even if they were a cop. Anyway, I'm sure his ankles are not a source of certain death, considering thats about as high up as a Jack could bite, I think the cop is fairly safe.
    PS...when it gets down to it, couldn't he have just kicked it away if it attacked rather than killing it?

  32. wizard of oz books   15 years ago

    With many new announcement about the wizard of oz movies in the news, you might want to consider starting to obtain Wizard of Oz book series either as collectible or investment at RareOzBooks.com.

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

What Frederick Douglass Can Still Teach Us About the Fourth of July

Damon Root | 7.3.2025 7:00 AM

Cincinnati's Beer-Loving Germans Endured Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Alcohol Resistance

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | From the August/September 2025 issue

Brickbat: Second Opinion

Charles Oliver | 7.3.2025 4:00 AM

How the NCAA Helped Trump Score Big on Transgender Issues

Billy Binion | 7.2.2025 5:34 PM

Under the 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' Car Companies Won't Be Fined for Failing To Hit Arbitrary Fuel Efficiency Goals

Joe Lancaster | 7.2.2025 5:15 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!