What Happens To Police Dogs That Bite Someone They're Not Supposed To? It's Complicated

Trained police dogs play a key role in helping officers apprehend fleeing or aggressive suspects every day. One of the main problems with K-9 units, however, is that sometimes the dog attacks the wrong person. It's not a common occurrence, but it's happened enough times to raise the question: What is life like for police dogs that bite the wrong person? Retirement, retraining, and euthanasia are all possibilities. The aftermath for the dog typically depends on factors like injury severity and handler negligence.

When a police dog attacks someone who isn't the suspect, sometimes the fault lies with the handler, as in the 2024 case involving two Alaska state troopers. According to the Anchorage Daily News, one of the officers ordered his K-9 to attack a man who turned out to be the cousin of the man they were searching for. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported a similar event in Nevada, where a 17-month-old baby was bitten by an on-duty police dog in 2015. She was seated in an SUV at the time.

Sadly, some K-9 bites end in tragedies far worse than these. In August 2025, a retired German shepherd fatally mauled a 3-year-old child in Colorado, as reported by CBS News. The events that preceded the tragedy haven't been publicly shared. But, considering that some pet owners claim their German shepherds attack unexpectedly, it's possible that nothing provoked the dog. 

Biting is an instinctual behavior for dogs, even if they aren't trained K-9 officers, so it's unsurprising that wrongful attacks involving police dogs occur. Since not every case is the same, not every dog and handler receives the same consequences. In the Alaska incident, the victim required surgery on his arm and shoulder and more than 300 stitches on his torso and arm, primarily due to bite wounds. The dog, Olex, was taken out of service after the incident.

In the Nevada case, police officers responded to a suspected vehicle-linked robbery. The officers pulled over a man who didn't speak English well. Although they immediately realized that he wasn't their suspect, a sergeant had already arrived on the scene and released his K-9. Following orders, the police dog, a Belgian Malinois named Doerak, quickly entered the SUV and bit the man's baby in the backseat, leaving nine puncture wounds or abrasions. After the affair, Doerak was removed from street duty, retrained, and placed with another officer.

In the more recent Colorado K-9 bite involving the 3-year-old child, the outcome was much worse for both the victim and the dog. The dog, a former Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office K-9, served as a narcotics detection dog and was donated to the Burlington Police Department. He wasn't trained to bite, but that didn't stop him from attacking the girl, the daughter of the Burlington police chief. The dog was later euthanized at the Burlington Dog Pound.