Had to Pull My Gun Today!

[Archery1]

I too have experienced the objective and subjective fear of imminent serious bodily harm or death as three dogs charged me from the darkness. I mentally prepared to have my left arm bitten and pondered the wisdom of bringing a pocket knife to a dog fight. As the lead pit changed his gait from charge to lunge, I yelled as loud as I could "No!" The three dogs and I then enjoyed 15 incredibly slow seconds of silence, stillness, and contemplation. They then appointed me leader of the pack and joined me for the next three blocks of walking off sweet adrenaline.

What I find interesting is that every one of these dog stories was a justifiable shoot, but even the trigger happy police (or so the media tells me) showed creativity, bravery, force, and restraint. Perhaps if the only tool I have is a hammer, then I haven't completely inventoried everything. 2x4? Bike? Flashlight? Friend? Loud voice? Carrying a gun doesn't mean that every problem is solved with it.

Great discussion.

Acronym 10/18/2016 9:52 AM

Great post! We are the species with the higher brain function, that is, less a few irresponsible dog owners.

Update for me is that I got a citation issued. Find them out again or video them out again and the owner gets a municipal Court date. The county took this incident way serious today and went above and beyond to listen to me.

[C-dub]

That's great news. Now, if only we can get that bull off the other member's property.

[rotor]

That's great news. Now, if only we can get that bull off the other member's property.

Please. Come and get him.

[Dragonfighter]

Very admirable work Archery with clear cool thinking and reasoning, though I share the sentiment of many here. I would have stopped them en route.

I have fought dogs before the days of daily carry. I killed a Rott once and turned a Rhodesian Ridgeback around, didn't want to kill him as he belonged to the girl I was seeing at the time. But he made himself scarce after that. Then I made myself scarce.

I have had two incidents in the 30 years I have lived here where I had a hand on my gun as dogs charged. One an owner called back when he saw me reach for the weapon. The other I had pulled but he was so low to the ground, I couldn't resist the punt.

Animal control came out for the latter and said, "well he's on their property. We can't enter their property." I said, "I am filing a formal complaint and you can't go get the dog?" When she confirmed she wasn't going after the animal or even citing the neighbor I flat told her, "next time, it's dead." The idiot tried to tell me that "you can't do that." I said, "the dog is a threat, it presents a clear and present danger to me and my family, I WILL kill it."

All that dramatic dialog ended with the dog being removed two days later. I don't know if animal control acted or if they convinced the owner to remove the animal. It was gone and I didn't care which.

We have a decent, pretty chill and semi rural neighborhood. But there are one or two snow flakes who can't seem to get with the program or control their animals. We all use the Neighborhood app and they know the sentiments of the residents and it seems that the incursions and encounters have tapered off. For now, that's good enough.

Edited twice since spell check is not dumb check. Hear, Here! Was there shout....sheesh

[Dave09]

Gotta say you had a lot my restraint then i would have.

Ive been charged by a pitbull myself a couple years back and they are definitely not friendly.

[DEB]

This happened a while ago to me, due to a dog fight. First, when I was young and on the farm, two of our dogs got into a fight. I reached down and my Dad hollered at me to not stick my hand down there or I would pull back a nub. With that said, now to the story...I was walking with my dog and my neighbors dog attacked her. Although I thought I knew both of these dogs, I attempted to pull them apart, now read above again. Sure enough good old Dad was right, one of the dogs bit my finger off and I mean off. Don't even know which of the dogs did this. No pain, just the shock of the finger now missing and bubbling blood. The neighbor used dog pepper spray on both of the dogs and painted both of their faces yellow. They did not separate, although it left both of us gasping. We turned a water hose on them, still no separation. Finally I held my dog and he used a pick mattox handle and pried his dog's jaw open and we separated them. I went to the hospital and etc. So, pepper spray often will not work and don't stick your hand down there or you might pull back a nub... A firearm might be your only recourse, especially if you are by yourself. While involved in protecting itself, your dog might even seriously injure you. I didn't sue my neighbor, neither did I press charges, as our family's were friends. I don't know what I would have done if I was armed. I am retired military, former 1SG and all, so although friendship had a play, in the heat of the moment? Later I wasn't angry, just something that occurred and I probably should of stood off, until the neighbor came outside. We both had to take our dogs to the Vet and get them sewed up, but they weren't missing any body parts.

[Vincelopez23]

I too have experienced the objective and subjective fear of imminent serious bodily harm or death as three dogs charged me from the darkness. I mentally prepared to have my left arm bitten and pondered the wisdom of bringing a pocket knife to a dog fight. As the lead pit changed his gait from charge to lunge, I yelled as loud as I could "No!" The three dogs and I then enjoyed 15 incredibly slow seconds of silence, stillness, and contemplation. They then appointed me leader of the pack and joined me for the next three blocks of walking off sweet adrenaline.

What I find interesting is that every one of these dog stories was a justifiable shoot, but even the trigger happy police (or so the media tells me) showed creativity, bravery, force, and restraint. Perhaps if the only tool I have is a hammer, then I haven't completely inventoried everything. 2x4? Bike? Flashlight? Friend? Loud voice? Carrying a gun doesn't mean that every problem is solved with it.

Great discussion.

Acronym 10/18/2016 9:52 AM

That is one of the most intelligent things I've ever heard in regards to carrying.

[ajwakeboarder]

Gotta say you had a lot my restraint then i would have.

Ive been charged by a pitbull myself a couple years back and they are definitely not friendly.

It really depends on how the dogs are raised. I'm a meter reader and I love dogs. I read hundreds of houses with pit bulls. There is only one that i've ever had a problem with. Most are standoffish, and a few are friendly. I walked into a yard last week and there was one at the gate. She tried to lick me to death. Really, the only times i've ever been bitten were by small dogs.

[remington79]

I would go to Cabelas or online and get one of the small canisters of bear spray. UDAP is a good brand.

[RogueUSMC]

Gotta say you had a lot my restraint then i would have.

Ive been charged by a pitbull myself a couple years back and they are definitely not friendly.

It really depends on how the dogs are raised. I'm a meter reader and I love dogs. I read hundreds of houses with pit bulls. There is only one that i've ever had a problem with. Most are standoffish, and a few are friendly. I walked into a yard last week and there was one at the gate. She tried to lick me to death. Really, the only times i've ever been bitten were by small dogs.

Same here for the most part...they say dogs a re a good judge of character...lol...

I serviced oxygen concentrators for a living years ago. I went to a house that the little old lady greeted me from behind the screen door. She said, "you afraid of these dogs?" (she had a Doberman on one side and a Chihuahua on the other.) I said, "should I be afraid of those dogs?" She said, "no." I said, "good enough."

While I was doing my thing, that Doberman was really raising the roof but as soon as I looked at her she ran (if she'd have had a tail, it would have been tucked.) The Chihuahua just sat on the couch and watched me.

When I was done, I went to walk out the door and here come that Chihuahua and bit almost me on the back of the ankle...just goes to show that the dog type tends to mean nothing.

[mloamiller]

My wife had a similar issue several years ago, before we had our LTCs. We were at my folk's house, who live "out in the country" and she was walking down the road with my two girls - I think they were around 6 and 10 at the time. Three dogs ran at them and got extremely close, barking and snarling. My wife grabbed a nearby stick, pushed the girls behind her and fended them off. No one got bit, but my girls were definitely freaked out, including my wife. We knew the dogs belonged to my folk's neighbor; they had frequent issues with those dogs running near my folk's house and barn. When my wife got home and told us what happened, I was about to go directly to the neighbor and tell her if she didn't do something about those dogs, the next time they were on our property or came at my family would be the last time she saw them. Cooler heads prevailed and we called the sheriff instead. A deputy came out, asked us what happened, then went straight to the neighbor's house; my dad and I followed him. He told the neighbor that if they received another compliant, they would call animal control and she would probably lose the dogs. I then piped up and said if it happened to my family again, she would definitely lose the dogs, and it wouldn't be to animal control. The deputy looked at me, then looked at the neighbor and just shrugged.

[rotor]

Gotta say you had a lot my restraint then i would have.

Ive been charged by a pitbull myself a couple years back and they are definitely not friendly.

It really depends on how the dogs are raised. I'm a meter reader and I love dogs. I read hundreds of houses with pit bulls. There is only one that i've ever had a problem with. Most are standoffish, and a few are friendly. I walked into a yard last week and there was one at the gate. She tried to lick me to death. Really, the only times i've ever been bitten were by small dogs.

This is very true. I was a meter reader once too, 55 years ago, and each dog is different. On one of my routes I would drive my company car to one specific address, open the gate and put the dog in my car, drive to the start of the route and let the dog out. He would accompany me on the entire route, run interference on all of the bad dogs and at the end of the route I would drive him back to his home. This occured every month and the dog just lived for this event. In those days all of the reads were done in a paper book with a metal cover and if a dog tried to bite you just jammed the book in his mouth and beat him over the head with your flashlight. Each address had a code to let you know where the meter was and if there was a dog, XXRF meant meter at right front of house, bad dog. XLF meant meter at left front, dog. All of the meter readers knew how to pick up our guardian dog and drive him to the start of the route. Nobody in those days had pit bulls though but lots of Dobermans.

[TresHuevos]

My concern is not with me. I have always been able to handle myself around aggressive dogs (except one German Shepard who got me right when I got out of my car). My concern is with kids who should be able to ride their bikes, play and just run around being kids without having to worry about being a Scooby snack for an out of control dog. If that dog charges me at 6'2" 250lbs it will certainly charge a child who will instinctively turn tail and run aggravating the predator instinct of the dog. Not saying what I will do for sure since I intend to assess each situation individually but chances are that PD will be filling out some reports.

[OldCurlyWolf]

My concern is not with me. I have always been able to handle myself around aggressive dogs (except one German Shepard who got me right when I got out of my car). My concern is with kids who should be able to ride their bikes, play and just run around being kids without having to worry about being a Scooby snack for an out of control dog. If that dog charges me at 6'2" 250lbs it will certainly charge a child who will instinctively turn tail and run aggravating the predator instinct of the dog. Not saying what I will do for sure since I intend to assess each situation individually but chances are that PD will be filling out some reports.

I have been dealing with loose dogs for over 40 years and many years ago came to a similar conclusion.

At 6'2" and any where from 185 to 265 in that 40+ years I concluded that any dog that would attack me was a real danger to children and deserved to be DRT. Exception: A dog that is protecting his/her actual territory. Yard, House ect. Then I will try to find a different way to handle the situation.

[stever1950]

As Old Curly says, I am too old to fight and can't run, so any dog charging me will be 165 grains heavier than when he started.