Police training for dog encounters is inadequate, say experts — but owners also bear responsibility

Police need more training on how to deal with dogs, according to those who have studied the issue — and are reacting to the recent fatal shooting of a pet pit bull by Windsor police.

"(The training) is actually pretty poor," said Jim Crosby, a former police officer and professional dog trainer who founded the U.S.-based agency Canine Aggression Consulting LLC.

"It needs to be mandated. All of the provinces in Canada and all of the states in the U.S. should be requiring dog encounter training for their police officers. Specifically, how to avoid using needless force, and especially unnecessary deadly force, in those encounters."

Michele Croft, the west end resident in whose apartment the dog was shot, is still shocked by how Windsor police dealt with Zeus — an adult pit bull mix belonging to her nephew.

"It's an absolute disgrace," Croft told CBC Windsor.

Croft's account of what happened on the afternoon of June 19 differs from what Windsor police have disclosed about it.

According to police, officers responded to a report of an adult male having a mental health crisis. When they arrived at the apartment, the man resisted them, fought with them and threatened them.

Police said that during the incident, the man directed his dog to bite the officers. Police described the dog as "aggressive," and said it attacked officers.

An officer fatally shot the dog after non-lethal efforts were ineffective, police said.

Croft said the man in crisis was her nephew, who moved in with her six months ago due to his lack of housing. The dog came with him. "(My nephew) has had him since he was a baby," Croft said.

According to Croft, it's an "absolute lie" that her nephew instructed Zeus to attack police, and she is adamant that no attack occurred.

While Croft acknowledges that Zeus was "jumping up and down" and barking, she feels that wasn't unusual.

"He jumps on me when I come through the door because he's so excited to see me," Croft said. "He was just jumping on them. He was not nipping at them."

"He was just scared, as any dog would have been... I had toys in my hand, trying to coax him into the other room."

According to Croft, her unit was crowded with police officers, and after her nephew was brought under control and handcuffed in a prone position — Zeus was shot multiple times by an officer.

"I've never heard of anything like that in my life," Croft said.

Asked why her nephew strenuously resisted police to begin with, Croft said she didn't know. "I think he doesn't handle things well."

Croft is uncertain if Zeus was being owned legally: Pit bull breeds have been restricted in Ontario since 2005 under the province's Dog Owners' Liability Act. Pit bulls are also restricted in Windsor by municipal bylaw.

When CBC Windsor asked the Windsor Police Service about Croft's allegations, a spokesperson only referred to the police news release on the incident. It's unclear what training officers receive to handle dog encounters.

Jim Crosby believes that, from what he's read about the incident and Croft's account of it, there were things that could have been done to avoid the dog's death.

For example: Stronger planning by the officers once they knew a dog was present; better recognition of opportunities to de-escalate; and better use of conducted energy weapons, which Crosby considers "very successful and effective against dogs."

While Crosby acknowledges that scenes can be "chaotic," he believes that "even in a quickly emerging situation, you have the opportunity to plan. Especially if earlier training has introduced you to the skills and tools you may want to use."

Camille Labchuk, executive director of the Canadian advocacy group Animal Justice, believes that policing training for dog encounters has been inadequate for decades.

"It's absolutely unaddressed in police training and often considered at the very bottom of the list when it comes to police oversight mechanisms as well," Labchuk argued.

Labchuk noted that this isn't the first time experts have questioned the shooting of a pet dog by Windsor police: In March 2021, a Windsor police officer fatally shot a Rottweiler-Doberman in the backyard of its owner in Forest Glade.

Police said officers attended the address to arrest a wanted individual. They described the dog as "aggressive," and said it tried to bite an officer "multiple times." The dog was shot due to an officer's belief that "their safety was in jeopardy."

But according to Forest Glade resident Diane Scott, her 10-year-old dog Chloe was "always friendly," and if the dog approached the officers, it was only because she was excited to meet people.

"Police interactions with dogs result too frequently in fatalities," Labchuk said. "And the police always say the same thing: They say it was necessary for safety."

"I suspect, in many cases, there were better options, and that if the police had better training and better policies... we wouldn't see this type of carnage."

In 2015, New Brunswick resident Christine Grift was so alarmed by the number of news stories she read about police shooting dogs in Canada that she started a Facebook page entitled Dogs Shot by Canadian Police.

The page still collects news stories of this nature — including the recent Windsor one.

"One is too many," Grift told CBC Windsor. "There is no real canine encounter training in Canada right now. The fate of the dog is based on if the officer is animal lover or not, if they are afraid of dogs or not."

Although Crosby, Labchuk, and Grift all believe police should be better equipped in their training for dog encounters, they also believe dog owners can take steps to protect their pets when police are attending.

"The best way to deal with a dog is to separate oneself from the dog," Crosby said. "Have people put them in a different room. Use gates. Use the physical layout of a situation to avoid contact with the dog."

"There are options that go back before the officer ever pulled his weapon... It seems to me there would be windows of time where, even in the chaos, some sort of aggressive management of the dog to keep the dog safe, could have been in place."

Croft said that when the police officers were in her apartment, she did try to put Zeus in the unit's bedroom.

"I had him in the bedroom at one point, but he got out somehow," Croft said. "I think I didn't close the door tight enough because of the commotion and he was just jumping around all over the place."

Croft said she's been trying to file a formal complaint about Windsor police. She has also retained a lawyer and is considering a civil suit.