People have told me that as well. I disagree.
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I'll respond. I've taken my Corgi into Home Depot twice...when she was just a few months old. She sat quietly in a cart and she enjoyed the attention everyone gave her. Hard not to smile at a Corgi puppy. It's a good way to socialize a puppy without having them run around out of control. Even though she's now a well behaved young adult I don't take her into stores any more because I know not everyone appreciates dog. Especially grumpy old gunsmiths. :) I don't have a problem with people having their dogs in the stores. The problem really isn't the dogs...it's the people. As usual.
99% of the animals in stores are not licensed or trained service animals. They have no business inflicting their animals on others. This mindset that animals have the same rights as people is wrong. This includes charging people for killing a police dog. It is not an officer and does not deserve the same rights as one. If I were an officer I would be offended if people said that some stupid animal was as important as me.
My 18 year old dog is legally considered a "support animal" due to my ptsd and my therapist pretty much demanding it after an issue with a former landlord. That being said, he stays at home unless I'm going out of town for more than a couple of days.
I take my dog anywhere I'm allowed to ... I like my dog (which is not something I can say about most people) so I like having him with me.
We also sometimes take him to Lowes just to walk around in the winter time.
But we also don't pretend he's a service dog either ... hate those people.
Also ours is tremendously well behaved and probably the friendliest dog you'd ever meet (but yeah, you threaten to shoot my dog and you go to jail ... you're not doing gun owners any favor with that bullshit attitude).
You're right, of course. But despite an owner's innocent intentions, most any dog is capable of inflicting serious damage in an instant, faster than you can respond. A dog bite can cause infection and permanent tissue damage. I grew up with dogs and have loved several fine dogs that were not my own. But I don't wan to encounter strange, uncontrolled dogs in stores or on the trail. I could cite many examples like the Boulder chicklet whose two dogs jumped up on me, dirtied my clothes and damaged my camera lens in their exuberance. "Oh, they're friendly, they won't hurt you." Clueless, and careless.
Cite an example where a person was charged with First Degree Murder (of a police officer) for killing a police dog. Killing a police dog is not the same as killing a police officer. Sure...in an emotional context people may say that...but it's hyperbole and everyone (at least reasonable people) knows that.
Having said that, killing a police dog should carry a hefty punishment. A lot of time, effort and expense goes into acquiring, training and maintaining police dogs. You'd be punished for destroying another piece of high value police equipment (like a vehicle) so it should be no less for killing a police dog. You'd also be charged for killing your neighbor's dog while committing a crime (which is when most people kill police dogs) in most places.
And, BTW. My "stupid animal" is a member of my family. If someone attacked my dog or harmed my dog for an unprovoked reason my response would be quite swift. Not unlike if the same person attacked my wife.