Oakland Police: We Killed Your Dog. Here's a Note!

A big shout-out to the Oakland Police! The humans aren't dangerous enough, now the bedraggled police force has to worry about dogs. But not just any dog, ancient, arthritic, barking Labrador Retrievers!

That's right, while responding to an alarm call at the dog guardian's home (Gloria, the dog, probably regrets tripping that alarm. Oh wait, she's dead), officers were faced with the danger! danger! of an 11-yr-old barking dog. Not a charging dog. Not a biting dog. Not a "I want to rip your face off" dog. A barking dog.

If I had to shoot every barking dog I've met, I would leave a trail of canine corpses.

After the officer shot the dog with hip dysplasia three times, once in the head, Oakland police took her body to the shelter...and left a nice note on the door of the homeowner.

Nice way to return home from errands, amirite?!?


Gee, taxpaying citizen of Oakland, I'm super sorry, but your dog totally barked at us and we were super afraid, so we just had to shoot her multiple times. Have a nice day!

I still can't get past PD spokesperson Jeff Thomason's comment, "It was a very unfortunate but necessary action."

Oh, really? This police officer's life was in such imminent danger, so threatened by a slow-moving Retriever, that he had to discharge his weapon three times? By all accounts, the dog barked. BARKED. That was apparently so dangerous, so frightful a behavior, that only a lethal weapon could solve the problem.

The family has since cremated Gloria. She lived a good, long life with this family, and she deserved to live the rest of it in peace and tranquility. Instead she died in fear and pain. For barking.

Way to make that happen, Oakland Police.


-Marji Beach