My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am
May 30, 2010 4:11 PM   Subscribe

Dog Surprises Officer After Being Freed From A Fence If you are feeling sad this will cheer you up, but it also may make you cry (SLYT Post).
posted by KokuRyu (85 comments total) 42 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pretty cool. How did the cop film this? Is it like a Flip Video cam stuck to his chest pocket or something just running all the time?
posted by mathowie at 4:17 PM on May 30, 2010


G'aww. The TAIL. That is some chocolate lab action. It reminds me of a certain family dog who decided to eat the contents of a tackle box, then held very carefully still as my dad pulled each hook out of her poor tongue, so that she could live to make more bad decisions.

It's good to see an officer caring about a dog.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:18 PM on May 30, 2010 [17 favorites]


Oh, oh, oh. That sound when he finally cuts the wire. That sound hurts me so.

Glad the doggy's okay.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 4:19 PM on May 30, 2010


Haha, dogs are the best
posted by ghharr at 4:20 PM on May 30, 2010


Dog was all "Dude, you took so damn long to free my leg because you were filming me hanging from a fence that you can damn well drive me home."
posted by meerkatty at 4:25 PM on May 30, 2010 [10 favorites]


Not only okay, it looks like he's the officer's new best friend.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:25 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


I love how the cop is like "I'm gonna go find the dog" and the old lady's like "Wait what's your name?" "Nick Shepard". "Nick what?" "Shepard." "Shepard?" "Shepard." and meanwhile you know he's thinking like "Lady I need to go run after the dog! Please!"
posted by amethysts at 4:28 PM on May 30, 2010 [12 favorites]


For some reason, I like the way he said "I'm a daaaawg lover". How endearing.
posted by chara at 4:30 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


Sadly, our canine friend was cited for having neither a dog or a drivers license.
posted by hal9k at 4:31 PM on May 30, 2010 [5 favorites]


I loved the part at the end where he's all "Guys, I know this probably isn't the best thing ever, but you gotta see this...."

He's all, man not good to let dog into cop car bosses might shit but play it up and maybe they won't yell too hard....
posted by lazaruslong at 4:33 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


Love the video, Made my day!, Thanks for sharing.
posted by VickyR at 4:34 PM on May 30, 2010


What was his name again?
posted by collywobbles at 4:37 PM on May 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Shepard
posted by Avenger at 4:38 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


Eberhard?
posted by Scattercat at 4:42 PM on May 30, 2010


That was cool.
posted by Flex1970 at 4:43 PM on May 30, 2010


-1 for the camera work, plus 1,000,000 for happy.

If I had a tail I'd be wagging it now.
posted by vapidave at 4:43 PM on May 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


This is so much better than the last cop/dog post here.
Best name ever, too.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 4:48 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


Hard to trust a dog that was wearing a wire.
posted by hal9k at 4:50 PM on May 30, 2010 [7 favorites]


Do you think the dog actually felt thankful, or are we doing the dog a disservice by projecting our human emotions onto it?
posted by kaibutsu at 4:53 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Man and dogs have been living together for a few, oh hundreds of thousands of years, in that time dogs (and maybe us to, who knows) have developed ways of communicating their emotional states to humans and under standing human emotional states across a big species divide (Dogs spend half the time looking at us, looking at our hands and faces - if I look at a dog on the street it'll acknowledge me - if I SMILE at the dog, it perks up and wants to meet me...dogs don't smile at each other, so they had to learn this entirely other commication set.)

So yes, I think dogs can be safely anthropomorphized cause it's already happened to them like literally.
posted by The Whelk at 4:57 PM on May 30, 2010 [66 favorites]


Yes and no, kaibutsu. The dog's thought process was probably something like this:
OWOWOW. OH MAN A GUY! AWESOME GUY! THIS GUY RULES! OW! OH MAN THIS GUY RULES. THIS IS WHERE HE CAME FROM ALL THE WAY AROUND THE YARD AND OVER TO THIS THING I WILL GET IN IT I SMELL THE GUY THIS IS WHERE THE GUY IS FROM HE WILL COME BACK HERE OH MAN HERE HE IS HI GUY

Is it what you and I would feel? No, and yes.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:57 PM on May 30, 2010 [216 favorites]


I mean that's how I feel half the time.
posted by The Whelk at 4:58 PM on May 30, 2010 [10 favorites]


Kaibutsu, one emotion/state of mind that humans and dogs share is trust. We're both social animals. The dog trusted the cop.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:59 PM on May 30, 2010 [4 favorites]


my God, I have been pulled from the contemplation of Gulf oil horror into the mind of a happy dog.

Happy Dog!
posted by angrycat at 5:04 PM on May 30, 2010 [5 favorites]


if I SMILE at the dog, it perks up and wants to meet me...dogs don't smile at each other, so they had to learn this entirely other commication set.)

Ah, this is totally one of those arguments that people either believe or disbelieve entirely on their own, and there's no scientific evidence. But I know my dog's smile, and she shines it on me on occasion and I'm very clear on the fact that she just smiled at me, often because instead of turning on our walk in the field to head toward home as I usually do, I turn and walk into the woods. It's a YES!!!WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! And it's often accompanied by her socking me in my stomach, which is her other way of showing that things are going really great.

So I think dogs' faces are actually pretty good communication devices. Cats, on the other hand, poor things, elation and disgust look nearly identical. They're actually the perfect embodiment of internet humor, so that makes a lot of sense.

There are few things that trip my danger signals, incidentally, then an expressionless, silent dog with an unmoving tail. Not like play stillness, sometimes dogs will do that and it's a joke, they pretend to be unmoving but it's only until they SURPRISE leap into action. This is different. For one thing, it lasts more than ten seconds.

I've only seen it a couple of times. Once our girl wound up with fourteen stitches. Being able to get a read on a dog is as important and tricky as it is to get a read on a person.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 5:10 PM on May 30, 2010 [20 favorites]


I mean that's how I feel half the time.

Explains a lot.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:11 PM on May 30, 2010


mathowie: "Pretty cool. How did the cop film this? Is it like a Flip Video cam stuck to his chest pocket or something just running all the time?"

Lots of police forces these days require officers to wear little cameras as part of their standard field uniform. Some run all the time, some only when the officer's on an active call.

You might remember an incident in Arkansas that made the national news, where a cop tasered a 10-year old, and got fired for it. The official reason for the firing was that the officer's supposed-to-be-always-recording camera wasn't recording.
posted by aerotive at 5:12 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


"A dog rescue was caught on video thanks to a tiny camera in an officer's hand held radio, but this is no ordinary rescue with no ordinary ending."
posted by gman at 5:16 PM on May 30, 2010


Man, I wish I could see the rest of their story. Part of me kind of hopes the dog was a stray and the cop ended up taking him home to be his bestest best pal forever.

Dogs are awesome.
posted by fight or flight at 5:17 PM on May 30, 2010


OWOWOW. OH MAN A GUY! AWESOME GUY! THIS GUY RULES! OW! OH MAN THIS GUY RULES. THIS IS WHERE HE CAME FROM ALL THE WAY AROUND THE YARD AND OVER TO THIS THING I WILL GET IN IT I SMELL THE GUY THIS IS WHERE THE GUY IS FROM HE WILL COME BACK HERE OH MAN HERE HE IS HI GUY

Let's face it, Pixar pretty much nailed it with Dug.

Russell: Can we keep him? Please! Please! Pleeeeease!
Mr F: No!
Russell: But it's a talking dog!
posted by jontyjago at 5:18 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


The dog had a date later that night, he just wanted the car because as much as they appreciate your character XX dogs would rather not go out on the bus, certainly not be seen with a hound and on the bus too. It's complicated, silly and mostly wrong. The dog came up with a typically convoluted cunning canine plan. I'll trap myself in the fence, look as though I'm helpless, wag a little, then sprint for the vehicle.
Not being aware of what he wasn't aware of, and being thumbless he made the classic plot driving mistake: He forgot the keys. Except for that one crucial error that his plan would have worked.
posted by vapidave at 5:23 PM on May 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Man, I wish I could see the rest of their story

It went something like this.
posted by chococat at 5:26 PM on May 30, 2010 [4 favorites]


Cats, on the other hand, poor things, elation and disgust look nearly identical. They're actually the perfect embodiment of internet humor, so that makes a lot of sense.

That's one of the best comments on cat <> internet humor connections I've ever read.
posted by suedehead at 5:27 PM on May 30, 2010 [8 favorites]


The camera was in the cop's radio (or so I read on reddit), so you can forgive the shakiness a little.
posted by dammitjim at 5:35 PM on May 30, 2010


Perhaps the dog was turning itself in for having eaten the cat that played the piano. Now if we could only find something to digest YouTube. Oh, wait...gulp.
posted by Sir BoBoMonkey Pooflinger Esquire III at 5:39 PM on May 30, 2010




if I SMILE at the dog, it perks up and wants to meet me...dogs don't smile at each other, so they had to learn this entirely other commication set.


A sincere smile registers some of the same microexpressions you see in mirrored in a friendly dog--raised eyebrows, bright, widened eyes, parted lips...possibly even the same pheromone signature. I just practiced fake-smiling at the dog here (just by showing teeth with upturned lips) and he totally wasn't buying it. :)

For some reason, I like the way he said "I'm a daaaawg lover". How endearing.

And dogs know. Dogs always know.
posted by availablelight at 5:39 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


This was cool.

The question is: did the dog leave him a present on the car seat?
posted by bwg at 5:42 PM on May 30, 2010


Not shown was the no-knock SWAT raid 15 minutes later in which this dog, a chihuahua, and pet hampster "Fluffy" were riddle by approximately thirty bullets.
posted by Justinian at 5:44 PM on May 30, 2010


I've seen this on a few sites already with similar descriptions dog SURPRISES officer but this is the first time I've clicked it.

I was fully expecting the dog to take a chunk out of the policeman's ass. Even when he's had a chat to the lady and he's walking around the house I'm thinking "when's the attack gonna happen?!" Great ending. +1 coz it wasn't what I was expecting.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:45 PM on May 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Cats, on the other hand, poor things, elation and disgust look nearly identical.

Not if you know your cat and some basic cat body language. For instance, I can always tell when my calico is really, really, excited to see me--she'll start shifting her weight from one front paw to another, and her tail will puff up like a frightened cat's, but only sideways. (It's honestly one of the strangest things I've ever seen a cat do. It makes her look like she's balancing a ferret on her butt.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:03 PM on May 30, 2010 [14 favorites]


Nick Shepherd.

How much do you want to bet that his colleagues have nicknamed him "German".
posted by bwg at 6:10 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


So yes, I think dogs can be safely anthropomorphized cause it's already happened to them like literally.

Yup. We made dogs what they are, and part of how we made them was as animals that could interact with us emotionally.

And I like that more police forces are going to 24/7 filming, because too much bad behavior (on all sides, not just the police's) was able to be hidden before. Videos like this are a total bonus.
posted by Forktine at 6:20 PM on May 30, 2010 [4 favorites]


This video was a great way to end the weekend. Thanks :D
posted by FuzzyLumpkins at 6:21 PM on May 30, 2010


This video made me dizzy with joy. ...Or was it just the camera work?
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:37 PM on May 30, 2010


I'm glad to see a video here that makes me feel good about police for a change.
posted by JHarris at 6:41 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


Awwwwwww!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:45 PM on May 30, 2010


this was just great...thanks... good dog, good cop, sweet little old lady... kindness in the world, smiles... perhaps there's hope?
posted by HuronBob at 7:08 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Grand Theft Auto: Dug
posted by dirigibleman at 7:12 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Here's a longer version of the video that the Plattsburg Police Department posted to their own Facebook page.
posted by Kattullus at 7:23 PM on May 30, 2010 [6 favorites]


Do you think the dog actually felt thankful, or are we doing the dog a disservice by projecting our human emotions onto it?

Well, you're projecting the human concept of having had a "disservice" done to oneself...
posted by Jaltcoh at 7:24 PM on May 30, 2010


Do you think the dog actually felt thankful, or are we doing the dog a disservice by projecting our human emotions onto it?

Oh FFS. Close the textbooks for awhile and go enjoy a walk outside with a big, happy dog.
posted by applemeat at 7:45 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


This is my favourite thread in weeks. Also insert The Wire joke (e.g. HEY MCMUTTY!)

lol@self
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:50 PM on May 30, 2010


Did the dog have his proper legal documentation for being in the U.S.?
posted by Malice at 7:50 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


... if I SMILE at the dog, it perks up and wants to meet me...dogs don't smile at each other, so they had to learn this entirely other commication set ...

You have to be careful with that, because flashing a big toothy smile to a dog can be a sign of aggression (they can see it as "bearing your teeth") and depending on their disposition, could take that as a challenge.

In any case, a very cool video and it looks like they both made a new friend.
posted by mstefan at 8:00 PM on May 30, 2010


Did the dog have his proper legal documentation for being in the U.S.?

No worries, that was Plattsburgh, not Phoenix.
posted by mstefan at 8:02 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


When your cat squints, it is smiling at you. (Of course, that's the contented version of cat smiling that you get when you're petting it just right. For the playful happy cat thing, you've got to watch the whole body.) That can look a bit like what a human might look like when they're quietly disgusted (which I don't think translates well into Cat or Dog, despite what the internet would have you believe.), and this is a good productive source of humor. When a cat's disgusted, it will be an active thing; its eyes will be wide open, and it will try to pull its head back from the source of the disgust. I've lived with cats my whole life, so cat smiles, grimaces, etc. are intuitive to me; I don't have to think about it to read most of my cats' emotions and moods. I've always had close family and friends with dogs (and I've had one for a few years now), so I can usually figure out the state of mind of dogs, but I still have to think about it, and I have trouble telling from the face alone. I don't doubt that someone more experienced than I can spot their dog's smile just by looking at their face, but I need to see the whole dog to tell, and even then I have to think about it.

However, it's very easy to read emotions and motivations into cats' and dogs' behaviors that just aren't there. When my dog is hot and panting, my subconscious keeps telling me that he's happy because it looks so much like a human smile. (Granted, my dog is hot usually because we're walking him or playing with him, so he often is happy when he's panting, but he's showing his teeth loosely because he's panting.) I have stop and think about it to properly assess his mental state.

My point? I'm not really sure anymore. Something about being careful about generalizing on the absence or presence of an emotional signal just because you can't read it yourself. Or that I like animals a lot and I spend a lot of time thinking about what I think they're thinking about.

Most of this is from the intuitions I've learned from lots of experience with cats and some experience with dogs, as opposed to the few things I've learned by actually reading what actual experts have said.

Also, my difficulties with my own dog's emotional expressions seems to have at least as much to do with him as it does me. He's so submissive that it took us a few months to train him to look at us when he wants to be pet.

posted by ErWenn at 8:13 PM on May 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


Well that's just super.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:22 PM on May 30, 2010


"Oh, oh, oh. That sound when he finally cuts the wire. That sound hurts me so."
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 10:19 AM on May 31

Yeah me too. I wonder why that is?

I mean, like, take Terminator 2, for example. One of my favorite films ever. I'll watch as the T-800 and the T-1000 shoot, kill and otherwise injure dozens of innocent bystanders and not bat an eyelid, but when I watch the extended cut where the T-1000 kills John's dog and the dog makes that yelping noise, it almost makes me want to stop watching every time.

Fucking T-1000.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:26 PM on May 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


I want to see a dog so happy that it'll make me cry. However, I really don't want to see anything even close to grizzly. Is the dog in physical pain at any point?
posted by Ms. Saint at 8:29 PM on May 30, 2010





I want to see a dog so happy that it'll make me cry. However, I really don't want to see anything even close to grizzly. Is the dog in physical pain at any point?


There's some anguished yelping. Mute it until the dog gets away and the cop takes after him.
posted by availablelight at 9:16 PM on May 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Part of me kind of hopes the dog was a stray and the cop ended up taking him home to be his bestest best pal forever.

According to a comment by the Plattsburg PD on Facebook, he was "reunited to his owner within hours of being rescued."

Honestly ... part of me is a little disappointed.
posted by SpringAquifer at 9:48 PM on May 30, 2010


The first line in my previous comment ought to be italicized; see fight or flight's comment.
posted by SpringAquifer at 9:50 PM on May 30, 2010


According to a comment by the Plattsburg PD on Facebook, he was "reunited to his owner within hours of being rescued."

So really the dog was thinking "Home now Jeeves."
posted by TooFewShoes at 11:20 PM on May 30, 2010 [4 favorites]


Ha! I didn't expect that!
posted by dabitch at 11:57 PM on May 30, 2010


Dogs rock.
posted by quietalittlewild at 3:55 AM on May 31, 2010


Agreed with what was said about Dug from "Up" - Pixar nailed it. I can watch this clip a thousand times and it always brings a smile to my face. Dug is my Golden Retriever.

Dug: "My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you."

God bless dogs.
posted by tgrundke at 6:12 AM on May 31, 2010 [3 favorites]


Facebook
posted by A189Nut at 6:33 AM on May 31, 2010 [2 favorites]


The best line is in the extended cut posted on Facebook, "At least get in the back seat"
posted by Mick at 6:44 AM on May 31, 2010


The Facebook version is even cuter (from a dog-lover's perspective) because at the end Officer Shepard is like, "Damn, you got the front seat all muddy and furry!"
posted by KokuRyu at 7:06 AM on May 31, 2010


In response to the success of Officer Sheppard's video and in answer to viewer questions:

The Plattsburg Police Department will accept donations for the Plattsburg Animal Shelter. Anyone who wishes to donate to the shelter may send checks, made payable to the City of Plattburg Animal Shelter, to 114 West Maple Street, Plattsburg, MO 64477.


Yay Plattsburg PD!
posted by stargell at 7:40 AM on May 31, 2010 [1 favorite]


JHarris: "I'm glad to see a video here that makes me feel good about police for a change."

Ditto. Not that scenes like this are rare or anything, just rare on MeFi.
posted by stbalbach at 9:11 AM on May 31, 2010


This video is all wonderful and stuff, but it just resolved something else for me. I'm from (near) Plattsburgh, NY. This happened in or near Plattsburg, MO. I've always been annoyed at how many people misspell Plattsburgh--but I just realized that they probably have the other one in mind.
posted by A dead Quaker at 10:11 AM on May 31, 2010


"Guys, I know this probably isn't the best thing ever"

That is where you are wrong, sir!
posted by Juicy Avenger at 10:14 AM on May 31, 2010


Great video, but I was also pleased by these bonus videos which showed up on the right side of the YT page: Strange Washed Up Sea Animal Surprises Tourists and To The Guy Who Farted In Queen Soopers.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:29 AM on May 31, 2010


I, for one, was rather displeased by the "Strange Washed Up Sea Animal Surprises Tourists" video. I wish I hadn't watched it. These punks basically needlessly torture the sea animal to the point of death. Yes, it does "puke" on them before it dies, but they were idiots and deserved that. The sea animal didn't deserve to die at the hands of immature imbeciles.
posted by Sir BoBoMonkey Pooflinger Esquire III at 12:59 PM on May 31, 2010 [2 favorites]


I have two and they roll with me wherever I go. DOGS RULE
posted by nj_subgenius at 3:28 PM on May 31, 2010


a dead quaker: For what it's worth, I grew up in Missouri and never thought once of Plattsburg. Or Plattsburgh, for that matter...
posted by kaibutsu at 3:57 PM on May 31, 2010


dogs are the best!
posted by DiG. at 7:37 PM on May 31, 2010


I'll watch as the T-800 and the T-1000 shoot, kill and otherwise injure dozens of innocent bystanders and not bat an eyelid, but when I watch the extended cut where the T-1000 kills John's dog and the dog makes that yelping noise, it almost makes me want to stop watching every time.

Isn't that one of those "rules of thumb for writers"? If you have a character you want to kill off and you don't want the readers/audience to be annoyed at you for doing it, have them be mean to an animal. Instant loss of sympathy.

I almost threw a book across a room once when the author had the main character come home to find his cat brutally murdered. THANK YOU MR. AUTHOR, I GET IT THAT HE'S DEALING WITH REALLY REALLY BAD GUYS BUT HELL NO I AM NOT GOING TO READ ANY MORE OF THIS DAMN KITTY SNUFF PORN YOU SICK EVIL BAD PERSON YOU. Gaaah. It was years ago that I read it and the damn image still comes to mind at inopportune times if I'm not careful.
posted by Lexica at 8:14 PM on May 31, 2010


When your cat squints, it is smiling at you.

I've always referred to this as the "slow blink" but squint works as a description as well. Of my four cats, one loves me unconditionally, two like me a lot, and the last tolerates me only insofar as I am the food-bringer. I see this facial expression with decreasing frequency the further away I get from the ones that like me, and I can typically figure out if a friends cat is going to like me or not depending on this, so I'd say it's a pretty good expression to use as a predictor of mood.

But they are definitely more subtle about letting people know how they feel. Dogs, on the other hand, seem built to show how they are feeling with every muscle in their bodies.

This is why, I've always said, you need to have both.
posted by quin at 9:54 AM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Heezagooboyyyy
posted by hellbient at 2:47 PM on June 1, 2010


Sir Bobo, I can't tell if you are being serious, but I am sure that video is fake.
posted by dhens at 4:44 PM on June 1, 2010


LOL!

"I'm gonna see if I can catch 'im!", the officer declared. "I'm a dog lover!" he said. But it was clear, he wasn't a dog whistler. Now where did that dog go?
posted by Goofyy at 6:37 AM on June 2, 2010


Cop vs. Dog

WTF? Why is the example of the officer in the main link of this post so hard to follow?
posted by homunculus at 6:25 PM on June 22, 2010


« Older awesome cosmos   |   The Far-Right in the UK Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments