The Pierce County (WA) Sheriff's Department says its deputies recently used a K-9 to capture a domestic violence suspect and despite being "contacted" by the dog, he said he had "love and respect" for the animal.

Reporting on Facebook, the Pierce County SD says:

"At 1:19 a.m. on Feb. 8, a 911 call was placed from a residence in South Hill. The dispatcher could only hear the sound of a male and a female arguing in the background and could not get any information from the caller on what type of emergency was occurring before the caller hung up. Dispatchers called back to the house and a woman answered the phone; she reported that her intoxicated brother was assaulting his family members. Then the call ended.

"When deputies arrived at the duplex, they were invited inside by a woman who told them that her son was the suspect and he had fled the residence. The suspect had reportedly pushed his mother during an argument and was heavily intoxicated. The victim said that she and her daughter had attempted to call 911 to report the assault, but her son tried to grab the phone to prevent her from calling 911. During a struggle for the phone, the suspect punched his sister, then took her phone and hung up on the dispatcher. The suspect reportedly did not want the police to come to the house, so he fled out the back door prior to the deputies' arrival. The suspect was described as 'highly aggressive' and was believed to still be in the area, as he reportedly had nowhere else to go.

"K-9 Ammo and his handler/deputy responded to the scene in an attempt to track and locate the suspect. The K-9 handler shouted the suspect’s name several times and yelled that he was going to search the area with a police dog, and if found, the suspect could be bit. The suspect did not respond, so Ammo was deployed to begin searching. Ammo immediately went to the victim’s backyard then headed east into a very dark and heavily vegetated greenbelt. It took Ammo less than one minute to find and contact the suspect.

"Deputies handcuffed the suspect and walked him out of the woods. The suspect told the deputies that he heard the K-9 handler's warning and ignored it. 'Yeah I heard him, and I was stupid because I thought if I just hid real well the dog would not find me. Let me make this clear, I never hit the K-9. I love and respect that dog.' The suspect then looked toward the K-9 handler direction and yelled out, 'Sir, you have a good dog sir.'"

The 38 year old male suspect was treated for dog bites and then booked into the Pierce County Jail on two counts of domestic Violence Assault in the 4th degree, two counts of interfering with the reporting of domestic violence, and resisting arrest.