Police dogs are (normally) one rank higher than their handlers. This means abuse or mistreatment is tantamount to harming a superior. On the low end he probably won't be allowed to be a K9 handler anymore, and might lose his job at this location. On the high end you could go all the way up to facing actual charges for neglect/abuse/ death of an animal he was charged with protecting. K9 dogs take forever to train and trainers time is expensive and laborious - this is one of those moments and officer more than likely won't walk away Scott free since he directly hurt his employer. Don't bite the hand that feeds type deal.

My wife told me about this story yesterday and I said damn near the same thing.

These dogs are taken as pups and forced into this life style. They're prisoners of the system. They may technically be cops but they can't really say no.

Easy, dogs aren't cops. You can tell because they actually fit their uniform, pass fitness tests and don't shoot innocents.

There should be no police dogs. It's been proven that they will bark at nothing because they think it makes their handler happy.