I had worked as a K9 handler with the Seattle Police Department for eight years, and my partner Titan had never ignored a direct command.<\/p>\n
Not once.<\/p>\n
Titan was a ninety-pound Belgian Malinois with a spotless service record. On duty, he was relentless. Off duty, he behaved like an oversized family dog who loved attention from children.<\/p>\n
That freezing Sunday afternoon at Centennial Park was supposed to be routine.<\/p>\n
Families filled the paths. Teenagers threw footballs across the grass. Parents pushed strollers while Titan walked perfectly beside my left leg.<\/p>\n
Everything was normal.<\/p>\n
Then his entire body changed.<\/p>\n
Titan froze.<\/p>\n
The fur along his back rose.<\/p>\n
A deep growl came from his chest.<\/p>\n
I tightened my grip on the leash.<\/p>\n
\u201cTitan, heel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ignored me.<\/p>\n
That had never happened before.<\/p>\n
Then I saw what he was staring at.<\/p>\n
A little girl, maybe seven years old, wearing a bright pink winter coat, was running across the grass after a yellow frisbee.<\/p>\n
She was heading toward the overgrown bushes at the edge of the park.<\/p>\n
Suddenly Titan exploded forward.<\/p>\n
The leash tore through my gloved hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cTitan! NO! STOP!\u201d<\/p>\n
He kept running.<\/p>\n
The girl bent down to pick up the frisbee.<\/p>\n
Then she heard the sound of Titan charging toward her.<\/p>\n
She turned.<\/p>\n
Her smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
And before I could reach them, Titan knocked her to the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had worked as a K9 handler with the Seattle Police Department for eight years, and my partner Titan had never ignored a direct command. Not once. Titan was a ninety-pound Belgian Malinois with a spotless service record. On duty, he was relentless. Off duty, he behaved like an oversized family dog who loved attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-631","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}