Dogs...

I shot a pit bull in the 'hood after it started chewing on me on the street without provocation. It let go and was attempting to get behind me to attack my back when I shot it with a .40/180 gr. Gold Dot middle of the body. It ceased the attack immediately, and its blood shot high into the air with each beat of its heart as it staggered on to a porch and died there.

Another time I attempted non-lethal methods to grab a Rottweiler that had been abandoned at the bottom of an outside stairwell. The dog was somewhat aggressive and came charging up the stairwell. Another officer beside me shot it almost point blank with Remington Reduced Recoil 00 buckshot. The dog ran off like nothing had ever happened. There was not a drop of blood and no evidence of a miss. A few minutes later it was found on somebody's porch, finally bleeding out. But it did take the full charge of buckshot without apparent effect.

Another time a full grown pit bull that had been purchased on the internet sight unseen went nuts at a domestic disturbance and attacked everybody in the residence, sending four people to the hospital. Another officer and I went to make sure the dog was contained and it charged the other officer from the back alley. He got the gun out in time and killed it with a few shots with the same Gold Dot ammo.

My former FTO was sent to a call of pit bulls at large from a known problem house. They attacked him in the street, and he killed both of them, again with .40 Gold Dot. I found two of the bloodied and expanded bullets on the sidewalk. Those Gold Dots expanded very quickly and didn't penetrate a whole lot but they worked well against dogs.