BRENTWOOD — The fatal mauling of a family pooch by an off-duty San Leandro police dog over the holidays is under investigation, and police say they are reviewing their animal-handling policies in light of the attack.
Brentwood resident Adam Lovell said he was walking Chloe, a 6-year-old Finnish Spitz, on the afternoon of Dec. 26 along a walking trail behind his home on Country Glen Lane when he came upon a group walking three dogs.
Without warning, Lovell said, one of the dogs — a German shepherd named Arago who serves as a police dog — charged at Chloe and sank his teeth into her back.
“The lady’s yelling out, ‘I can’t control him!’ and I’m yelling ‘Get your dog off my dog!’ ” Lovell said.
Lovell said he borrowed a cell phone to call his grandfather, who picked them up and took them to an emergency veterinarian in Antioch. He said the officer who served as the dog’s handler — who was not with the group walking Arago — apologized and paid for the treatment.
Chloe, who was bleeding and limping after the attack, was released the next morning, but a day later, she failed to wake up at Lovell’s home and was taken to an Oakley veterinarian, who determined she had died.
Lovell said he owned Chloe since she was 6 months old and, according to her breeder, she was sired from a father who competed in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.
San Leandro police Lt. Jeff Tudor said the department is taking a hard look at what might be done to prevent a repeat occurrence. Rules exist about caring for the dogs, but Tudor declined to detail those practices because an internal investigation is under way.
“There are guidelines,” Tudor said. “We will evaluate this and see where was the breakdown in this incident, if there was one.”
Still, he added, there is only so much that can be done to tame an animal’s instincts.
“This is a very tragic accident,” Tudor said. “But police dog or normal dog, they can be unpredictable around other dogs.”
Sometimes after an attack, the aggressor animal is quarantined while rabies risks are evaluated, but it was not necessary here because no people were injured and the incident involved two domesticated animals, said Dan Barrett, deputy director of Contra Costa County Animal Services.
San Leandro police have three K-9 unit dogs in all; Arago lived with his handler at his Brentwood home.
Arago has served as a police dog for three years with a veteran officer who has been the animal’s only handler. The dog remains on duty during the investigation.
“That doesn’t seem very fair,” said Lovell, who added that he was under the impression Arago was not to be handled by anyone but the officer who cares for him. “There needs to be some kind of change.”
Robert Salonga covers public safety. Reach at him at 925-943-8013. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.
