The Lower Mainland District Police Dog Service has suspended its urban training exercises and is reviewing its protocols in the wake of the fatal shooting of a family's pit bull during an exercise in Chilliwack, B.C.
On Tuesday, an Abbotsford police officer and Chilliwack RCMP officer were conducting a training exercise with a police dog through a residential area in the 46000-block of Fifth Avenue in Chilliwack.
Police say the pit bull, which was not leashed, charged across its yard and into a neighbour's yard and grabbed the police dog by the throat. Officers attempted to separate the two dogs but were unable to. Fearing for the police dog's life, the pit bull was shot once.
"Dog owners must ensure that their dogs are not running loose and must have their dogs under control at all times," RCMP spokesman Sgt. Peter Thiessen said Wednesday.
The owners of the six-year-old pit bull, Fendi, said they're angry police never notified residents that they were conducting training exercises that day.
They also want to know why non-lethal force, such as pepper spray, couldn't have been used.
"I feel like I'm grieving for one of my kids," owner Jennifer Gorcak told CTV News.
"Just because the fight ended up on that property, doesn't make it right."
The family's neighbours say they never had a problem with Fendi and say there's no fence separating the backyards because the area is shared.
Thiessen has acknowledged that officers didn't notify homeowners of the training on Tuesday. But homeowners had granted permission to previous exercises, he said.
He said an internal review will examine whether there were other options besides shooting the pit bull.
With files from CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro
