Disturbing footage showing a Trainee German shepherd in California being punched by its handling officer has been receiving a lot of attention on social media.

Roberto Palomino, who took the video, had just driven to work when he suddenly heard a dog barking behind a fire station, KTVU reported.

"I hear the crying and it caught my attention" said Roberto Palomino. "Disturbing to watch."

He then looked out the window and saw a veteran police officer pinning down and repeatedly punching his trainee German Shepherd.

Palomino said to KGO: "It was like 'ohhh!' the dog was crying like someone was running him over or something. It was bad.

"Unfortunately, I only recorded the one punch. But the reason I pulled my phone out is because of the hard beating the dog was taking from the officer,"

Palomino only filmed the anonymous officer punching the K-9 once, but he claims he saw him punching the dog multiple times and saying that it received a "hard beating."

"Before I pulled my phone, I saw the officer (punch the K-9) about 10 times and that's the reason why it made me pull my phone."

Although the footage has no sound, Palomino says that he recorded the video when he heard the dog cry.

Watch The Footage Here:

Vacaville Police Captain Matt Lydon has only supported the handler since. He said that the incident occurred when the dog was being trained to find drugs.

He said that the dog did well during the training and was rewarded with a toy after finding the drugs. But when the K-9 refused to release the toy, the handler took it away, which made the dog attack him out of anger.

"The K-9 handler placed the dog in a position of dominance, which is common in police K-9 training," Lydon said to KGO. "To create that dominance and teach that dog who's in charge."

According to KGO reports, the officer involved is among the four K-9 handlers in the agency. He has not finished his K-9 training program though; he has three months remaining.

Lydon said the agency is looking into this matter. However, it would not further comment on the alleged actions of the officer.

"I'm not prepared to speak to anything that I did not observe myself," Lydon told KGO.