Scooby, a beloved police dog, has landed in a nasty scuffle over whether he is fit to keep working for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department after he mauled a neighbor dog and injured his own deputy handler.
The issue has divided the department and unsettled the quiet Morgan Hill neighborhood where Scooby and deputy Julie Wilbanks live, and where the off-duty attack took place.
Sheriff's officials, who placed Scooby on leave from the K-9 unit after the January attack, still don't know what to do with the dog -- but they know one thing.
``The dog is not going back to work,'' said sheriff's Commander Dennis Bacon, who had no other comment on Scooby's fate.
But Wilbanks said the 5 1/2-year-old German shepherd can still do the job and wants him reinstated. Many of her deputy colleagues agree. So does the head of the sheriff's K-9 unit.
If Scooby isn't reinstated, Wilbanks wants to buy him from the department and continue caring for him at her home, where the dog has lived for 2 1/2 years as the two intensely trained for their specialized police work. As a search dog, Scooby has ferreted out burglars and sniffed out drugs that led to arrests.
But many of Wilbanks' neighbors want the dog out.
The owners of the black Labrador retriever that Scooby attacked are threatening to sue the county if Scooby is not removed.
``There's no place for a dog like that in a neighborhood where there are children,'' said Bob Long, owner of Jake, the black Lab that suffered several puncture wounds when Scooby jumped him. ``If it went after a dog like that, who says it won't go after a child?,'' he asked, referring to Scooby.
The Jan. 12 attack happened when Scooby, normally kept inside Wilbanks' house or yard, slipped out of a side door and ran for the street where Jake was walking on a leash with Bob's wife, Julie Long.
Scooby latched on to the black Lab's neck and refused to let go until a neighbor hit the shepherd over the head with a two-by-four, stunning him. During the scuffle, Wilbanks tried to separate the dogs and was bitten on the hand by Scooby. She required 12 stitches and took three months off work to recover. Julie Long sprained her hand in the scuffle.
Despite the harrowing incident, Wilbanks says the dog is not dangerous and was simply exhibiting his natural territorial aggression.
``What he was doing was just being a dog protecting his property,'' Wilbanks said. ``It is a natural instinct. There's no evidence that he is dangerous, or that I'm an incompetent handler.''
Experts who train police dogs agree.
``What this dog did was part of his normal territorial instinct,'' said Robert S. Eden, a police dog trainer from Vancouver, B.C. ``It's very natural. There's no reason why he shouldn't continue as a working dog. There's no change in his behavior or capability to do the work.''
Wilbanks said she tried giving Scooby a command to pull him off the other dog but was not surprised when he did not respond to it. K-9 dogs are trained to bite and release hostile humans on command, but not other dogs they engage. Still, it's rare for police dogs to attack other dogs, Eden said.
Wilbanks says it would be a shame to retire Scooby after the county has spent as much as $30,000 to purchase and train the dog. He has three to four good working years left, she said.
The deputy thinks officials don't want to reinstate the dog because of liability concerns. She and her supervisor have suggested that one way Scooby could return to service is if he were neutered, one method canine experts say can decrease a dog's aggression without affecting his police training.
Bacon said the department is looking into moving the dog to another location, but officials are not considering euthanizing the dog.
Wilbanks says she would have a hard time not having the dog by her side.
``You not only spend 40 hours a week working with this animal; life is a 24-7 thing,'' Wilbanks said. ``This dog is trained to be your protector. He can save your life. That's how close we are.''
She added, near tears, ``I don't have kids. He's all I have. If you take him away from me, it'll break my heart.''
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