Main reason I carry my 442.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

This evening on the 6:00 Baltimore news- Pit bull bites off woman's lips.
I lost my patience with this breed many years ago. And their owners. Just say'in.

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Dennis
He's got a gun!

In the past:
I came on duty and was immediately dispatched to a "Bad Dog" call.
Right before I came to the address, three Pit Bulls came out of a wooded area and went for a small black girl on her way from school. I turned on the siren and positioned my patrol car between the dogs and the little girl. The Pit Bulls ran back in the woods and I walked the child to her house a few doors down the street. The Girl's Mother told me that earlier the same three dogs had attacked her while she was hanging wash clothes. The Mother pointed to the Dogs Owner house and I walked over to ask the owner to pen up his dogs. As I reached the front of the house the three Pit Bulls charged from around the house and came for me. I drew and started firing. Each dog was double tapped in the chest with a Speer 180 grain Jacked Hollow Point. The dogs acted as if I had missed, but the sound of the gunfire turned them and they ran back around the house. I retreated to my patrol vehicle and retrived my issue 12 gauge. When Backup Units arrived we searched for the dogs and found them still alive (barely). A single 12 gauge #4 Buckshot round to each dog completed the task. A hard and fast rule for Jimmy that day was: When answering a "Bad Dog" call, exit your vehicle with a 12 gauge.

This thread really helps my guilty conscience. Two weeks ago l was driving to a gun show on a busy interstate bypass. All of a sudden a pit appears out of no where and begins to nonchalantly start to cross the interstate... immediately in front of me, like he owned the road. I tried to swerve but traffic wouldn't allow much variance out of my lane. I hit the pit with a sickening thud! As l looked in my rear view mirror l saw the dog shuddering in the road, with traffic right behind me. Now l'm not necessarily a pit bull dog hater, but l did feel bad about hitting the dog. Traffic didn't allow me to pull over to check on the dog. So... I did the only thing possible. I went on to the gun show. To ease my guilt, when l happened upon a Smith Model 65-1, P&R, 4" HB, SB with combat grips... I JUST had to buy it. Oh well....

Now l feel so much better... confession is good for the soul!

Hog

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Isaiah 55:8-9
Phil. 4:13

I worked for Pacific Telephone for 38 years as a Repair Tech. Have been bitten by all breeds form a Terrier to a German Sheppard at different times of course. The thing is that I love dogs & always have.But all breeds will bite if they don't understand that you are there on business. Finally the company understood that dog bites weren't part of the job. They gave us dog spray in a small can. I was going to a customer complaint in Angels Camp when a Sheppard came down the driveway snarling & showing his teeth. I gave him a spray in his mouth & he tried to plow the lawn with his nose. By the way, we were not able to have firearms while working, company policy.

Very low tech solution -- lemon juice -- dogs hate it --- I figured this out in teaching one of our setters to not nuisance bark -- get a professional spray bottle (squirt bottle) -- fill it with lemon juice --
couple squirts in face (it hits mouth, nose, eyes) -- dog will recoil instantly -- and lemon juice is very cheap. Works on aggressive dogs
very well and leaves no permanent damage.

OC and a good kick to the head does the job for me and kick i mean like a spartan kick lol like in the movie The 300

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Aim small miss small

I just git bit for the third time while on the job. Home owner wasn't too happy with me when a I rapped his german shepherd between the eyes with a cordless drill. He's lucky I didn't stick the 5 inch drill bit in the dog's eye!

During this single week, we had *TWO* fatal pit bull attacks locally!

Tuesday
Las Cruces toddler dies after pit bull attack | KOB.com

Last Wednesday
Pit bull put down after fatally mauling Santa Fe man | KOB.com

I usually pocket carry my Model 36, loaded with the Federal "FBI" load.

In Ohio it's a "Concealed Handgun License" (CHL). It doesn't authorize you to carry anything BUT a handgun. There's no preemption of laws governing self-defense tools besides firearms, so if you carry something else, you're subject to every local ordinance.

The truth is that with wallet, checkbook, phone, keys, change, mp3 player/voice recorder and firearm, I simply don't have room for anything else in my pockets. What I carry is pulling my pants down as it is. After a certain point, you end up looking like Batman with his utility belt.

I'm not a cop. I don't want to be a cop. I don't want people to think I'm a cop. I don't want to do what cops do. I don't have the SLIGHTEST desire to apprehend people or be the animal control man.

I avoid troublesome people and places, as they are overwhelmingly uninteresting to me.

Whether it's a feral dog or a feral person, my primary goal is to protect myself, not something or someone that's attacking me.

I don't trespass on other people's property or taunt their animals, on their property or on a public thoroughfare.

If you keep your dog on your property or under your physical control on a leash, there's --ZERO-- chance of me shooting it. If it attacks me, there's nearly a 100% chance that I'll shoot it. And in Ohio I do NOT need to let it bite me first. I just need a reasonable fear that I'm going to be bitten.

I'm sorry there is no way I am entrusting my well being to lemon spray!! With an effective range of maybe 24" I am not waiting to that point to discharge something that might or might not stop the threat!! Training a annoying barking pet and stopping a charging aggressive dog are just not the same thing. Plus, it won't fit in my holster.

I do not currently own a small revolver/pistol suitable to carry while running/biking. But I have found a small water pistol useful. I load it with ammonia and water. Dogs do not like it sprayed into their faces. In fact, simply spraying it at them is effective. I suppose they find the mist in the air offensive to their noses. At any rate it has so far worked. However I am looking to come up with a pistol. I figure it'll give me a little more range. :-)

One other thought. A family member was employed by the Census. He was working a very isolated area where some folks didn't want any contact with "govt." people. At one place the residents thought it was funny to give him trouble with their dog pack. He had to return to try to secure the necessary information. Repeat of same foolishness. He returned again accompanied by a deputy. As they exited the car, the dogs came out. The deputy shotgunned two immediately. Then he walked over and shotgunned two more of the dogs that were not chained. By that time the residents were on the front porch hollering. Apparently they were told to provide the information required and that any further problems would lead to more dead dogs. Apparently that was a less kinder less gentler era.

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<><

Census worker was trespassing, and in Washington any damage to the trespassing worker would have been immunized. Being left alone by everyone is why I have a padlocked 6' chain link fence.

Dog medicine for me, generally, is a 296 with Gold Dots. I use that almost exclusively when walking my dogs.

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NHI, 10-8.

I walked/rode my bike on a paper route for two years as a kid. The two most aggressive dogs on my route were a cocker and a standard poodle. The two biggest babies were a german shepard and a pomeranian. Since I was too young to carry a firearm, I carried a 6 foot bullwhip coiled up in my bag. I only had to use it once on the cocker and anytime he would come at me after that, just the sight of that whip would send him packing. The poodle, on the other hand, was sneaky. Didn't matter how many times I popped him with that whip, he would still come back for more. He managed to get me twice in two years, neither serious and neither time penetrated my jeans.
Plus working in a grocery store in high school, I carried out some groceries for a lady. We got to her car and her dachshund was walking on the top of the front seat. I hesitated and she said that he was a big baby and had never even offered to bite anybody. Of course the first bag of groceries I set in her back seat the little sucker bit me right on the nose.

All of this gave me a healthy respect for any type of dog no matter what. When I would ride my bike around the neighborhood in Jacksonville, I always kept a squirt gun with ammonia/water mixture in it. This was before shall issue CCW in Florida. I had to use that squirt gun almost every day because the lady on the corner let her dog run loose and he would attack anyone on foot or bike in front of the house. He had even bit a couple of children but every complaint that went into animal control seemed to disappear since her mother worked there. The dog was also shot by someone a couple of times at nighttime but always seemed to survive. Dog finally went bye-bye when my neighbor who had a knee replacement a few weeks before was walking by and the dog attacked. Neighbor applied about 3 hard blows to the head with his cane and the dog was no more problem. The owner called police but after interviewing the neighbor, the police told her she should have kept the dog locked up.

So those were my protection from aggressive dogs.

CW

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μολὼν λαβέ

No idea what is the law in washington. Not particularly concerned. The incident described did not occur in washington. It occurred in Georgia during the period of the 1990 census. The family member involved drove down a long partly washed out dirt road into the yard that was at the end of the road. There was no signage posted against trespassing. There was none when he returned. There was none when he and the deputy later returned. The dogs, dead and those left alive, were shot by the deputy. He shot them because they were a threat to him and the family member. The residents were invited to file a complaint. They choose to not complain.

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<><

Multi level defense.

#1. Dog biscuts. Doggy cannot chew, bark and/or or bite me at the same time. Works great! Up to now anyway, by the time they quit chewing I'm not the enemy anymore.

#2. Pepper spray.

#3. Heavy walking stick.

#4. Colt Cobra .38 Absolute last resort in my ultra lib urban area.

In a Word...Terpentine


Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Sounds to me like your town just plain sucks ! Any unwanteds that come face to face with my Rottie and are armed with a ".45acp with 200gr swc at 900fps" would never get it out of the holster!

Even the best dog owners can lose a dog once and a while. My big boy has escaped a couple of times. My biggest fear is someone would shoot him just because he's so big. I can't blame people that don't know dogs or dog body language so I try to take extra care not to let him escape. Plus there's other dangers like traffic and fighting breeds that are not so social.

They are like having a 3 year old for 10 or 15 years.

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Dum vivo cano

I'm sorry to hear of your son's bad experience. I will say that I have historically had better luck dealing with dogs than humans.

You don't make sense. Who said anything about "unwanteds"?

Kudo's DeathGrip. You beat me to it. The next Beer is on me. We'll sit and chat about how much we love our Dogs and how we Hate the people that don't.

Save the Dog, Shoot, club or stab the Owner.

I have a couple of friends who are not dog people. My dogs pretty much changed their tune. One loves them to death and the other likes them. I understand people that haven't been around dogs sometimes are fearful. I don't hate them. Nether do my dogs. BUT if they take a dislike for someone from the get go there's usually something not right about that person.

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Dum vivo cano

I hate to see threads like this one. I see both sides of this issue and as far as I'm concerned the dogs owner is to blame for these situations...but the dogs will come out on the short end and will be killed or maimed in the end.

I love dogs, but would not allow a dog running loose to attack me or one of my dogs. It's just unfortunate that the dogs owner cant' be dealt with in a way that they can understand and will cause them to change their policy of allowing their dogs to run free. By all means you should dispatch any attacking animal by any means available. I doubt that many sprays would stop a raging dog - once they see "red" - it usually takes a lot to get their attention and distract them from the attack.


Pete

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Don't tread on me

I'm with you on this Pete, it's absolutely the owners fault in these situations. Kind of like when you have screaming kids in a resturant . . . it ain't the kids fault.

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- Change it back -

So now your dog has LIKES too!

Probably 65% of the reason I feel compelled to carry a pistol
when I'm up at my place in OK is the doggies that run around there.
But they don't just prowl alone.. There will usually be more than one,
and often a pack of them. I've had a pack run through my place one
time. Made me nervous as heck. But I could hear them running through
the woods, and I ducked into my car before they got to me.
There is also one on the road over from me that likes to harass
anyone that dares walk by.. I've also seen coyotes, coy dogs running
around. Those are akin to having a German Shepard on you if one
were to attack. The ones I've seen seemed chicken though, and ran
off when they saw me.
Anyway I'm always carrying something.. Usually my .40, which I
load with 180 grain FMJ. I carry two mags for nearly 30 rounds..
That way, if I'm fighting a pack of dogs, plenty of rounds to go around
if I miss, or others decide to join in the mayhem.
I was reading the thread about the .22 camp pistols, and as much as
I like a good .22, I always pack a bit heavier as my camp gun..
These days my camp gun is my cheap S&W Sigma .40..
Yea, I know... Many hate em.. But I have no problems with it, and it
does make a good camp gun, being plastic and stainless.
And cheap, so if I booger it up, no biggie..
It's got enough horsepower to adjust the attitude of most mean dogs,
and holds plenty of rounds if I get flustered or sloppy while having my
legs chewed on. :/
I always use the hardball instead of hollow points.. I could get 200
grain woods loads, but I'm cheap and just use the 180 FMJ.
I feel it will probably do almost as well as the cast loads.
I'd hate to have to shoot a dog that was a pet, but I'm not going to
let one eat my legs if it attacks me.

I have no problem shooting a problem dog. If the owner will not be responsible then he does not need the dog. I generally carry a 3 inch 29 with 180 federals or 240 grain xtp's. I have yet to see a dog double tapped that got up from this.