Someone Shot My Dog Today

[Kythas]

Someone shot my dog today with a BB gun.

I have two Great Pyreneese dogs. They were in the back yard this afternoon barking at something, as Pyrs often do.

My male dog came inside through the dog door and laid down next to my chair. He was there for about 10 minutes then got up to get a drink of water from his bowl.

After he got up, I noticed two BBs on the floor at the exact spot where he had lain. I don't have a BB gun and haven't had any BBs since I was a child.

My dog is fine - he has a very thick coat and probably never even felt the BBs hit him.

However, it got me to thinking what I would have done had I glanced outside my window when this was happening and seen someone up over my fence (it's a 6 foot fence, too, which means whoever it was had to have climbed it) with a rifle, pointing the rifle at my dogs in my yard. I'm pretty sure I would have engaged them had I seen it.

[Zencyl]

Events like this just prove that humanity as a whole is in the toilet. I was out for a job this afternoon after getting home from work and some punk kid in a black truck drive by me 4 times, on the 4th time he slowed down and tried to hit me with his chik-fil-a cup. I know its not on the same level as shooting my dog (which would have really irritated me off) but it is just asinine.

[DocV]

That is plain sad. My first GP was a sweetheart. When she was older and had some hip problems the vet XRayed her and discovered a pellet embedded in her hip.

[bagman45]

Glad to hear that your dog is OK! At the same time, while I don't want to incite a riot here, and would never condone pelting a dog; have any of your neighbors dropped by to discuss your dog's barking? As you said "They were in the back yard this afternoon barking at something, as Pyrs often do". If so, have you done anything about it? Even if not, you may love your dogs and tolerate their barking, but they may well be driving some of your neighbors CRAZY. Many people are just not confident enough to "confront" a neighbor directly about barking dogs that are disturbing their work-at-home conference calls; young children sleeping; general right to peace and quiet, etc. Not an excuse to shoot a dog, but most folks wouldn't do something like this for no reason.

[jmra]

Once had a neighbor whose dog barked every time the wind moved a leaf on a tree day and night. Will drive anyone crazy.

[Ericstac]

Me too. I hated living in town, we had this neighbors dog that would bark ALL night long, and their house was like five feet from ours so the dog was right outside my bedroom. I would go out to command the dog but untrained dogs are clueless.
Even with all that I would have never shot the dog, it isn't their fault, it was my neighbors fault and I would have done anything to get a bb shot in his backside..

[C-dub]

I'm very glad your dogs are okay. If you have an idea of what time frame I would let them out again and watch closely from the house to try and catch them doing it again then call the police on the little monsters. Maybe a camera for a picture would be helpful for your evidence.

[Kythas]

Glad to hear that your dog is OK! At the same time, while I don't want to incite a riot here, and would never condone pelting a dog; have any of your neighbors dropped by to discuss your dog's barking? As you said "They were in the back yard this afternoon barking at something, as Pyrs often do". If so, have you done anything about it? Even if not, you may love your dogs and tolerate their barking, but they may well be driving some of your neighbors CRAZY. Many people are just not confident enough to "confront" a neighbor directly about barking dogs that are disturbing their work-at-home conference calls; young children sleeping; general right to peace and quiet, etc. Not an excuse to shoot a dog, but most folks wouldn't do something like this for no reason.

I live in a cul-de-sac with my back yard against a street intersection, so there are no houses behind mine. Across that street are businesses, and an empty field behind those businesses. The closest house behind mine is half a mile away.

My two neighbors on each side both tell me they can't hear my dogs barking from inside their house. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, but I've asked them numerous times and they tell me every time that they can't hear the dogs and not to worry about it. Our houses are not right next to each other, which is one reason I bought this one - there's a good 15-20 yards between our houses. Plus, they both know my dogs and love them. The lady on one side of me routinely brings her grandchildren over to play with the dogs.

Even so, my dogs are always inside by 9:30 pm and never outside before 6:30 am so they won't disturb my neighbors' sleep.

I'm fairly sure this was some random act.

[RottenApple]

Good to hear that they're both ok. Have you considered putting up motion activated security lights around your fence? Something like this or this? Depending on the size of your backyard, you shouldn't need too many of them and they will probably scare off anyone climbing the fence to shoot at your dogs.

[Kythas]

Good to hear that they're both ok. Have you considered putting up motion activated security lights around your fence? Something like this or this? Depending on the size of your backyard, you shouldn't need too many of them and they will probably scare off anyone climbing the fence to shoot at your dogs.

I have a huge back yard. Also, considering that anyone who did this would have been walking behind the house on the sidewalk, if I put up motion detector lights there they would constantly be on due to vehicle traffic.

[stevie_d_64]

I would first let the nieghbors up and down your street know of the incident...File a police report as well...

Obviously the person responsible for this crime is immature, and will try something like this again, maybe not to you, but to someone else...

Get it in the system, and let the nieghbors know to keep their eyes and ears peeled...Seeing anyone hiking around behind these houses would be cause for scrutiny by Law Enforcement...If they happen to be carrying any kind of firearm openly,like a BB gun or pellet gun, then you may very well have your culprit, but it'll be hard to prove, but at least the cage will be rattled...

I would not in any discussion bring up your firearms capability, or subtle intent to react in that manner with your nieghbors...They may already know who it may be in the nieghborhood who might have done this, and you may not know them, as yet...So no need to alarm anyone in that way...You have to live there, and so do they...

Just get everyone's radar up for a little while...I bet in short order, even the idea that this is a random incident, you'll bag the fart that did this...

Keep us posted...

[RPBrown]

I would first let the nieghbors up and down your street know of the incident...File a police report as well...

Obviously the person responsible for this crime is immature, and will try something like this again, maybe not to you, but to someone else...

Get it in the system, and let the nieghbors know to keep their eyes and ears peeled...Seeing anyone hiking around behind these houses would be cause for scrutiny by Law Enforcement...If they happen to be carrying any kind of firearm openly,like a BB gun or pellet gun, then you may very well have your culprit, but it'll be hard to prove, but at least the cage will be rattled...

I would not in any discussion bring up your firearms capability, or subtle intent to react in that manner with your nieghbors...They may already know who it may be in the nieghborhood who might have done this, and you may not know them, as yet...So no need to alarm anyone in that way...You have to live there, and so do they...

Just get everyone's radar up for a little while...I bet in short order, even the idea that this is a random incident, you'll bag the fart that did this...

Keep us posted...

I agree with stevie on this. Your neighbors may have pets that are shot at as well. They may not have the coat that your dogs have and could do some serious harm.

[stevie_d_64]

Isn't it a sad, I used to run around our developing nieghborhood, with all sorts of friends my age with BB/pellet guns, down residential streets to get down to the drainage ditch a couple blocks away and plink at turtles from the bridge overby our house...We were probably 7 or 8 years old when we did this back in the early 70's in S.E. Harris County...

And no one had a problem with it...We never shot at cars, buildings, or other property other than pieces of cardboard, cans, the occasional turtle that would pop up in the nasty water in that ditch...hehehe, lost my fair share of shoes, because I would forget to put them back on when I went home when it was too dark to see...

Today if we did that, we'd see it on the national news..."Neighborhood kids with BB guns roaming our streets!!!" story at 6...

[RottenApple]

"Neighborhood kids with high-powered rifles guns roaming our streets!!!" story at 6...

Sorry. I just had to fix that. You know what the media is like....

[C-dub]

"Neighborhood kids with high-powered assault rifles roaming our streets!!!" story at 6...

Sorry. I just had to fix that. You know what the media is like....

You caught me in a mood. Amended to another likely headline.