ongoing investigation
Cops + Dogs
What happens when dogs become instruments of police power?
It’s time to examine how dogs are used within policing, what that means for the communities they encounter, and why police in the USA shoot up to 250 pet dogs every single day.
Monthly support starts at $2 USD on Patreon. The main investigation will remain free to access.
Content note: This project discusses police violence, dog attacks, racism, incarceration, and harm to people and animals. Some linked material may be distressing. Please choose when and how you continue.
Why I’m making this series
I hope this series on police shooting dogs and using dogs to inflict violence on people has made something clear, both to the public and to my own profession:
Police institutions do NOT have dogs’ best interests at heart, ever.
Dogs do not belong in law enforcement custody or in roles where the state deploys them against people.
Dogs can do extraordinary, lifesaving search and rescue work with privately contracted teams. We can support search and rescue work without requiring their use in coercion and violence or police “ownership” of dogs.
And I want to be very clear with my fellow positive reinforcement and force free trainers. I expect us to stop celebrating police K9 programs simply because they use rewards in training practices.
Using dogs in law enforcement is exploitation regardless of the training methods.
We have to examine what we’re teaching a dog to do, who that behavior will be used against, and what the consequences are for everyone involved.
Reward based training does not resolve the ethical problem of teaching a dog to hurt a person or putting that dog in danger to enforce the state’s authority.
Weaponized Dogs
In Weaponized Dogs, I look at how dogs came to be used as weapons, what that costs people and dogs, and why I’m calling for these programs to end.
Nobody knows the true number.
A commonly cited estimate is roughly 10,000 dogs shot by police each year, about 25 to 30 every day. But, agencies do not reliably track or report these shootings, and a UNH Law Review analysis notes that the real total may be substantially higher and could reach six figures.
Start here
Watch thIS video TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WEAPONIZED DOGS. Then explore the evidence and case records.
Begin with this video. Then follow individual cases with the Incident Index.
how you can help
Help keep this investigation public.
Reviewing footage, checking sources and documenting these cases takes time. Monthly support helps Bree and me continue to investigate Cops + Dogs and keep everything we find free to read, watch and share.
Patreon is currently focused on this police-dog advocacy project. We will say clearly if that scope changes.
Cops + Dogs is one doorway into The Bigger Picture.
This site is a place to get practical dog training help. It is also a place to follow the evidence and ask what our relationships with dogs reveal about care, coercion, punishment, public safety, and power.
The Bigger Picture connects this investigation with the site’s wider work on ethics, research, intersectionality, advocacy, and accountability.