Having served with Sussex Police for almost 30 years and more than 20 as a dog handler, I would like to register my absolute disgust at the decision to put down police dog Bruce.

A few years ago, this would have gone down as a "good dog job". It would have been regretted that the youth's ear was damaged. The age of the youth should be immaterial to the incident.

The full facts are still not known. The youth may well have reacted to the dog and the dog just missed his target of the arm quite accidentally.

It has happened before and it will happen again. The only difference this time was the dog was liable to be put down.

Dog handling is a vocation, not a job. You have to be a special type of person to dedicate your life to this type of work.

The phrase used by Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Yeo that the dog was a piece of equipment just goes to highlight my point of a total lack of understanding.

This whole episode is a total public-relations disaster.

I am aware there are handlers now really considering whether they will ever let their dog go after someone again for fear the dog might not get it quite right and finish up at the vet's.

It should also be made clear it is not policy to execute a dog if it fails a safety check.

My thoughts are also with the dog examiner who had to test Bruce after the incident.

-Peter Kenward, Wellington Road, Denton, Newhaven