One deputy was bitten by another Deputy's K-9 in the process of serving a high risk warrant. The story involved the shooting and subsequent death of the suspect and firing of tear gas into the home. I have never heard of this happening before. What likely went wrong??

Such incidents get reported on the LE web sites relatively frequently.

I don’t know why it happens; that’s not usually stated, and perhaps it’s not known, other than the fact that despite common beliefs to the contrary, dogs are not furry people. When they’re in the “Bite!” mode, it may not be too different from being down range when the shooting starts: Don’t be in the wrong place.

We don't have our own working Dogs. We have Cadaver, Drug, Arson Dogs but no working dogs. We rely on Other agencies for that. Had the local city come in and brief how to work with their dogs. The one rule they reinforced was do not break the 180 Degree plane of the dog once he goes to work. You will get bit.

Yup, I got chewed on by my shift K9 during a foot pursuit. I was within arms reach of the bad guy when Fido got me ....and I’m here to tell you that a 45 pound maligator will knock you down and but quick, fortunately he was also a good listener, and his human called him off me before he got my arm.

He did ruin my uniform.

It happens all the time, the dog is trained to chase the guy running, I didn’t know a dog had been deployed and I got him due to my not listening to the radio.

I’ve been present when this happened before.

The dogs don’t always discriminate. You have to keep that in mind when they are in working mode.

It has happened to me too. I was ahead when the handler released the dog. Luckily the dog was tired and didn't get me too bad

Very common.

I remember vividly one night during a vehicle pursuit, my partner got on the radio and advised all units if the suspect bailed and ran for no one to pursue. He advised that he would release his dog or I would release mine. Dispatch reminded everyone of our traffic. About five minutes later, the suspect wrecked out and took off running. He gave the warning (Basically yelled stop or I ll release the dog) and the released K9 Kilo, a seven year old Mal. As the suspect ran up the hillside, I observed another officer running toward the suspect. Kilo locked into the officer and it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The suspect turned away from the dog biting the officer. I released my dog and made the apprehension.

It happens.

Eglin had a "working dog" program when I was in 33rd TAC back in the 70s, and I had a friend that was a handler.

I got to hang out on a couple weekend training sessions and saw some things that made it clear that when fur missiles are fired, they are typically "guided" but sometimes go into "self tracking mode".

And I have seen handlers yell at other skycops when they are not paying attention.
The training was to familiarize non-handler LE and SP folks about the "presence" of the dogs so they would realize that the dog was going to "dog", and "Friendly Fur" incidents will happen.

Love them doggies.

Happens. Usually chaotic situations to begin with and the dogs don't necessarily know who to grab onto. I remember one guy I used to work with got bit by another officer's dog one night during a foot chase. The handler kept yelling at the officer to stop, but was calling him by the wrong name and never got the point across. Of course he was calling the blond hair, blue eyed really fit guy by the name of an overweight native American officer, so the confusion was no big surprise.

I have also been bitten by one of our K9s. I was at the front of a stack, holding (covering) a door and called for the K9 to come up and clear the room with the open door. as the handler came up beside me, before he released the dog, doggie turned and nailed my right hip, Bit and hung on for a second. I told the handler- Dukes biting me. I couldn't take my eyes off the door, and before I could really process pain, the dog was off and in the room. A few band-aids covered the wounds. Its all play to the dog, and shit happens when you work in close like that. Everyone on our team works with the dogs learning how to take them off the bite. Most of us have been bitten a little.

The handler at my last agency was robbed of at least two bites because he had to pull the dog back because another cop got in the way, when they knew ahead of time that the dog would be released. He was not happy.

I was usually the one helping the handler do demos and sleeve work and got chomped on the bare arm one time because the pup just got a little excited. It was just dirty biting, so no real effect other than a little soreness.

Before we moved out to the ranch, we got Lex, a Witmer-Tyson K9. Mrs. slosig had never lived anywhere but in town and the idea of being out in the country had her a little nervous at first. Lex helped a lot. We went through the class with about 14 other handlers and we were the only ones not with an agency. At the end of class we went through POST just like everyone else. One of the important things that had to be demonstrated was the call off. It was explained that the purpose of the call off was in case another officer got in front of the dog. The perp had his chance when you gave the warning, you aren't going to call the dog off and rob him of his bite if the perp wants to surrender later.

Another interesting thing that came up in the monthly refresher training. If you go to the ground fighting the perp, you are about as likely to get bit as he is. Fortunately, this exercise was done with muzzles, but it was eye-opening.

Lex was a great dog. I sure do miss him.

While enjoying a Italian vacation at Aviano AFB, I went into a small secured area between the Weapons Storage Area exterior ECP man gate and the main ECP door to drop off my gear before shift change.
Problem: The small space was already occupied by a snoozing sentry dog. Who woke up and promptly chomped on my left hand. Biting down just hard enough to trap my hand. I knew better than to try to yank my hand loose so with my free hand I drew my trusty S&W Model 15 and prepared to plink the pooch. This caused great excitement in the ECP and the handler soon joined us. He was able to talk us both down and we parted as friends. If I would have shot, both the handler and I would have been court martialed. Maybe the dog, too! The most interesting thing about this episode was the expression on the dogs face. It was joy. Biting me was his happy place.
As a cop I got chomped a couple of times. My fault. I chalked it up as par for the course when working with dogs.

In addition to flat out mis-identifying a friend as a foe, even non-police/military dogs can bite pack mates and human masters in the heat of the moment, a.k.a. redirected aggression. When a dog goes into fight mode, sometimes they just strike at whatever is closest, even if they have a years-long relationship with that person/other dog.

I would imagine that a few handlers get bit also when retrieving the dog off of the bite.

Dumb rookie gets in front of the dog.... dumb rookie runs after teh bad guy despite being told not to when the bad guy runs and dog gets released...

Dumb rookie.....

WEll, maybe. I'm partially joking. Most places DON"T teach anyone but the dog and handler. Not once in teh academy did we get ANY instruction on what to do around police K9's. None. Those of us lucky enough got to know a handler and listened to them.

I'll tell ya my first experience with a k9 and nearly getting my face eaten...

I got a call for a burglary in progress and it was actually legit (most arent)

As I pull up, the two suspects are exiting the front door of the house. I draw down and radio in as they turn tail and run back in the door. Holy shit i think, they are gonna run out the back. So I run around back and see them trying to go out the back sliding glass door they broke out to get entry into the house and draw down on them and they run back in.

Well just then my assist officer has pulled up front and covered the front again so they see this and run downstairs deeper into the basement.

We hold containment and luckily the K9 is working that fine evening.

Well at this point I'm eager and since I've been a cop for about 10 months so this is all pretty effing cool and exciting.

I"m in the backyard now holding the place ready to get to business if they try to run out as the dog and handler go in. and this was a MEAN effing dog... like Cujo mean.

So he lets the dog off leash inside the residence to search after giving multiple warnings and opportunities for the suspects to give up (they refused and kept hiding).

All of a sudden I realized something. I was standing outside of a broken sliding glass door, with no glass in it. There was nothing between me, and that angry, angry asshole teeth filled snout. And about that time I heard the dog heading for the back entry I was guarding.

Well, dogs don't understand uniforms folks.... They aren't THAT smart to do so. That dog knows "find bad guy, bite bad guy."

SO the dog comes out the door trying to get a bit of my ass and I have to dive over the fence as the handler yells at the dog to come back inside.

As I get up, dusting myself off and probably white with fear, I realize the Sgt has joined me in the backyard and is laughing at me.

"Idiot, always stay on the other side of the fence from those motherfuckers" was his advice.

I learned something that day.

My agency handlers spend a lot of time working with our officers on staying behind the teeth. That being said Alpha males don't always listen well. It is super easy to teach a pooch to bite. Teaching what a good and bad bite is very difficult.

Dogs have differing personalities, too. Security Forces guys I talk to at the USAF Academy tell how they would get their daily briefs: "Today, you will be working with [working dog] Goro. Do not approach the dog. Do not look at the dog. Do not think about the dog.". .

I got bit good by a German Shepherd. I was playing with another dog, and the GSD came up behind me and nailed me on the arm (it was all my fault - GSD thought I was threatening his packmate). Thank God I had on a quilted flannel shirt. Even then, it was abraded and really bruised.

He was a good boy - that is what they are supposed to do when there is a threat. Needless to say, I won't play around like that when the GSD is around. . .

Some fur missiles lock on to the bad guy and ignore everything else in their way. Others can lose missile lock and then lock onto someone else, usually an officer who is between dog and suspect. It happens. Sometimes while in the scrum; bad guy on ground, dog biting, officers grabbing suspect, the dog will accidentally bite an officer or even the handler. They do call it prey drive for a reason.

Malingators are well known for this, but German Shepherds (GSD) and Dutchies can do it too, depends on how high their drive is. Seen some videos on GSD/Malinois mix working dogs and I have been really really impressed. The drive of the Malinois with the focus of a GSD.

Being Sgt. of patrol, I had “fun” being chased and taken down by our four legged beast many times even with a bite suit on you end up getting bruises. You learn quickly what parts of your body is better to give the k9 access to while running and hiding. Even though you are preparing for the bite you hope he takes the part of the body your feeding him.