Letter: Don't blame the dog

Brian Ayotte, Abilene

Responding to “Time for this to stop” (letter to the editor, Jan 24), I’ll admit that I don’t know the facts or of the incident that compelled you to write this. I believe that you wrote this without thinking it through.

Do you really believe that a dog ruins a person’s life? Perhaps, the person ruined their own life. You act like the dog brought the illegal substance (possibly in his pouch) like a kangaroo and used it just to ruin their life. Silly? Not anymore silly than your letter to begin with.

Police around this country risk their lives. Occasionally, they are shot at by some bad people and maybe even some good people as well. Some are drunk, some on drugs and some who are just bad. Using dogs to protect themselves and innocents’ is part of the job.

I can’t remember hearing of any officer bringing the family poodle for a search. They use certain breeds such as a German shepherd, which are trained for police work to search for drugs or explosives. Blaming the dog, police and whoever else because a person was searched and was in possession of illegal items is out of line.

I don’t agree with all laws, nor believe decisions by officers are always good or correct, but they are the laws in which we are to obey and the laws that they’re paid to enforce. I applaud our police for all they do, knowing the risks they face each time they don those uniforms!