Canine Trainer Dogged by Lawsuits (Press Enterprise) An attorney files his 13th case against a man who prepares animals for police use..

Well if the Courts keep hearing these cases, and the departments and the like keep loosing then they will be a thing of the past. The San Bernardino Sheriff Department has done away with their Dog Program, however that doesn't stop them from calling another agency like Rialto Police Department every time they need a building searched where they don't know if the Suspect inside is armed or not. Or if they have found some place that is so good to hide that we cannot locate them without light, so the dogs go in and they are always found!! Not sometimes, But ALWAYS!!

Unless this Police Sgt. has some Plastic Surgery that needs to be done say is nose is gone, or an ear was bitten off, and the department is against helping him unless he goes forward with a law suit, then I can see it, but just to go before the magistrate to go there is not the way to go there. I guess to bet that you are going to come up with the all mighty big dollar in on your wallet is the huge way to go. Well I pray that they loose.

The K-9 program is a Valuable program that some times saves lives of an Officer, or the lives of the people that are there, to serve the people. I have been on I don't know how many searches, and when you do it with a dog it saves so much time and effort. You allow the dog to do the search and you just watch him work. that is the best. when he is done you know if you have a bad guy or not. very seldom is there a chance that the dog misses.

There are dogs that get aggressive and bite police Officers, but we as Police Officers Don't Usually Sue our own!! it is a cold day in hell ladies and gentlemen if this is the case and the Sergeant is suing the K-9 Handler for the bite!!

BSRanch

Canine trainer dogged by lawsuits

COURT: An attorney files his 13th case against a man who prepares animals for police use.

12:14 AM PDT on Thursday, August 24, 2006

By SANDRA STOKLEY and JOHN ASBURY
The Press-Enterprise

A longtime Riverside-area police canine trainer said Wednesday that the attorney who has sued him 13 times in dog-bite related cases has a vendetta against him.

Terry Pierson / The Press-Enterprise Djengis trains with Romeo Ingreso at Adlerhorst International Inc. in Glen Avon. A one-eyed police dog named Ygor, who was trained at the 7-acre facility, is accused of biting a police sergeant.

"It has cost me a lot of money to defend myself against these cases. Close to half a million dollars," said David Reaver, the owner of Adlerhorst International Inc. "But, he has never won."

Los Angeles attorney Donald W. Cook denied that he has a personal problem with Reaver even though he has lost all 13 cases, including two that went to a jury.

"I file these lawsuits because there is a factual basis and there's a very good legal theory: negligence," Cook said. "The police have an obligation to properly train their officers in the use of force. If a police department fails to do that, you can sue them."

Reaver has been in the dog-training business since 1975. He has trained thousands of police dogs over the years at his 7-acre compound in the unincorporated community of Glen Avon northwest of Riverside.

Reaver has provided police dogs to agencies throughout the western U.S. including Riverside, Corona, Ontario and Fontana police departments. The dogs, which are imported from Europe, cost $7,850.

Most of the cases Cook has filed involve criminal suspects bitten by dogs. But, the latest case, filed Aug. 17 in U.S. District Court, involves a Santa Ana police sergeant bitten by a one-eyed police dog named Ygor.

In addition to Reaver, the lawsuit names the city of Santa Ana and the Santa Ana Police Department.

Sgt. Bruce Leamer, 48, alleges that he was attacked and bitten on the hand and leg by Ygor, a Belgian Malinois, in June 2005, while assisting another officer on a burglary call.

Ygor, who was wearing an electric collar, ignored the electric shocks and the dog's handler had to pull the canine off Leamer, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit refers to the dog as "an uncontrollable deadly and dangerous weapon." It alleges that, as the animal's trainer, Reaver should have known that the dog posed a risk of serious injury.

Reaver scoffed at the description of Ygor as "deadly" and "uncontrollable."

"Ygor is a super controllable dog. An excellent dog," he said.

Reaver said he plans to call Ygor as a witness if the case goes to trial.

He declined to comment on the circumstances that led to Leamer being bitten. Reaver said that in most cases where an officer is bitten it is due to a mistake by the dog handler or the police officer.

Other experts agreed.

"It's usually an officer not listening to the canine handler," said Glen Anderson, a Rialto police officer and president of the Inland Empire Police Canine Association.

Anderson said he did not know of any agency that kept statistics on the numbers of police dog bites but he said it happens from time to time and said he has been bitten himself.

California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Feaster was bitten by a canine officer on a training mission but said he never thought to hold his department responsible.

"The dogs are trained to protect the innocent, but they can take down the wrong people," Feaster said. "Going into the program, we know we're taking chances."

Reach Sandra Stokley at 951-368-9647 or sstokley@PE.com