21 October 2005

TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (36)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of the Associated Press (from Monday, October 17; link good at time of posting):
Buster the German Shepherd could have had a great career as a British police dog had it not been for one flaw: his complete lack of interest in fighting crime.

The canine cop took early retirement after bosses at South Yorkshire Police noted his poor motivation - and a fondness for making friends with rowdy drunkards, his former handler said Monday.

. . . .

On one occasion, Buster walked straight past a suspected criminal hiding in the garden of a house late at night and went off to cock his leg.

"I searched the garden myself and found the bloke. The dog had walked past the spot where I found him," Stephenson said. "You would have expected him to use his nose to locate him."

During a separate tracking operation, also in the early hours of the morning, Buster gave up while in mid-chase across a golf course . "He just downed tools," Stephenson said. "He just lay down and there was nothing we could do. He has got a very low drive for finding people."

When patroling Rotherham at pub closing times - when the streets are often crowded with drunken revelers - Buster wagged his tail when people came up to him and ate their fries, instead of deterring potential trouble makers, his former handler said.

[Previous TGIS]

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