Police dogs that bit bystanders just following their training, says Regina police

The Regina police say the canine unit dogs that bit two bystanders last week in separate incidents were just doing what they were trained to do.

Last week, there were two separate incidents where people were bitten by dogs while sitting on the steps of their homes. Neither victim was a suspect in an investigation.

"Anytime that happens, it's a concern for us," saidSupt.DarcyKoch.

If it was highly trained, why was I attacked while I was sitting down smoking?- LinusKaysaywaysemat, dog bite victim

He said the two dogs were involved, both of which are German shepherds, would not be taken off duty.

"The dogs are performing in the the way they are trained," he said, adding they met provincial standards for police dog training.

Tracking training

The first incident happened during a training/tracking exercise;the second while a police dog was tracking a suspect during an investigation.Both dogs were on-leash at the time.

On Monday, MartyMarin spoke to CBC News aboutbeing bitten in the leg and dragged off his steps.

LinusKaysaywaysemat, the other victim, attended a media conference at the police station Tuesday. He said he went outside to smoke and barely had time to notice and tell family there was a dog on the property before it was biting his arm.

"The dog chewed on my arm for a couple minutes," he said. "It locked on. It was quite theexperienceto go through and to have my children witness it."

Recent Regina police dog attack victim talks about his ordeal.

7 years ago

Duration 1:03

Linus Kaysaywaysemat is one of two people that were bitten by police dogs while sitting on the steps of their homes in the past week.

He said he tried to stay calm and notmove and didn't want to run because he thought it would make him look like thebad guy.

"I just sat there and took it."

Kaysaywaysematsaid he attended the media conference to find outwhat actions would be taken to prevent this from happening again, and whether the police officers know what it's like to be bitten.

"I know that they do training to run from dogs and have padding, but have they ever sat there and let a dog bite them from behind? It was an ugly feeling," he said.

"If it was highly trained, why was I attacked while I was sitting down smoking? Is that highly trained?"

Police defend dogs' actions

During the media conference, Kochsaid the bystanders were "contacted" by the dogs.

"The term 'attack' is not a term we would use," he said.

"The dogs are trained to apprehend suspects and make sure the suspects are apprehended in a safe manner. Now where they bite them and how hard they bite them, that's part of their training. I can't speak to that I'm not a canine trainer but I know in apprehension there's usually a bite."

He said Regina police would not be making changes to the training regime, but they may make more effort to communicate with neighbourhood residents when they are training.

Koch said since 2004, the Regina police canine unit has only logged four accidental bites. The unit has been involved in 100 arrests from January to the end of June, 13 of which involved use-of-force.

He said the police service is collecting information for use-of-force reviews to determine what led to the bites.