Attacked by Pitbull.. What would you do?

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bigggbbruce

bigggbbruce

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I live on a 12 acre parcel. The property next door is inhabited by a mix of undesirables (tweakers). The actual renter is an alright guy, but some that stop by, not so much.

He's had a woman hanging around and she has a Pitbull. Yesterday I was walking my fence line with my Shepard mix. I saw the woman and her dog in the field adjacent to mine. The dog was going away from her and I tried to get her attention to contain her dog.
As I did, the dog spotted mine and I took control of my dog. The pitbull started across the field in my direction. I put my arm around my dogs neck as the pitbull came in. Ruger Mark II in my other hand.
The dog took one second and attacked. I had steel toed boots on and fended off two surges. He stepped back and I had him point blank with the safety off. He responded to the woman calling him off. I lowered my gun and let him live.

I know the owner of the property and called to report the problem. He came over immediately and told them the dog had to go.

If I see the dog again on my property I will drop it on the spot.

How would you react?
 
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I think you did good.

You took control of your dog and gave the other dog two chances (two kicks). At that point, shooting it would be the only option left.

I'd be careful about shooting it on the spot in the future though. If it's on your property but not a threat to you or your dog, you might end up giving yourself a lot of grief for killing it.
 
I live in a suburb of Detroit. In Detroit pit bulls are like rats running loose on the streets. The outcome most likely would have been different.
 
I would of shot it. There have been numerous pit-bull attacks here in metro Atlanta over the years and they all have the same results. The victims are severely mauled and a few children have died. The animals are destroyed. I would not run the risk of having the pit-bull turn on me. They are not all viscous, I have seven on my mail route that are friendly, lovable dogs. They do not act like the one you had contact with.
 
USAF385 said:
I'd be careful about shooting it on the spot in the future though. If it's on your property but not a threat to you or your dog, you might end up giving yourself a lot of grief for killing it.
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The dog came in the first time and did not hesitate to attack.

I know the dog will be looking for a second chance to attack without control if he can.

I went and talked with the woman right after it happened. She told me the dog went after a couple of skateboarders. I just wanted to 86th the dog right there. She thanked me for sparing the dog. I told her only once.
 
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bigggbbruce said:
If I see the dog again on my property I will drop it on the spot.
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I live in Oregon, too. After reading your story I googled and read some of Oregon laws pertaining to shooting a dog. It looks like it is not in your interest to shoot a non-threatening dog. You may want to review the laws in our state.

I think that you originally did the right thing and made the right decision.
 
bigggbbruce said:
The dog came in the first time and did not hesitate to attack.

I know the dog will be looking for a second chance to attack without control if he can.
Click to expand...

I understand your concern.

My point is that if you and your dog are inside, and through the window you spot the dog and decide to grab a rifle and shoot it, you might get grief.... especially if the owner of the dog sees you come out and take a shot.
 
bigggbbruce said:
I live on a 12 acre parcel. The property next door is inhabited by a mix of undesirables (tweakers). The actual renter is an alright guy, but some that stop by, not so much.

He's had a woman hanging around and she has a Pitbull. Yesterday I was walking my fence line with my Shepard mix. I saw the woman and her dog in the field adjacent to mine. The dog was going away from her and I tried to get her attention to contain her dog.
As I did, the dog spotted mine and I took control of my dog. The pitbull started across the field in my direction. I put my arm around my dogs neck as the pitbull came in. Ruger Mark II in my other hand.
The dog took one second and attacked. I had steel toed boots on and fended off two surges. He stepped back and I had him point blank with the safety off. He responded to the woman calling him off. I lowered my gun and let him live.

I know the owner of the property and called to report the problem. He came over immediately and told them the dog had to go.

If I see the dog again on my property I will drop it on the spot.

How would you react?
Click to expand...

I would not want to go “hands on’’ with a vicious dog. Doubly so on my own property and would have shot the dog. Yes I wore steel toes and know they are a good weapon, but against an animal that’s way to close unless that is all I had.

Years back I had a situation like that at our gun club. A business was right down at the edge of our property and they had two Dobie’s that they locked in the business at night. During the day the animals ran free and did come on to our property. Some member said they saw them chasing deer and acting rather aggressive to people on club property.

I was doing a little work about a 200 yards from the business and the dogs got aggressive with me I got into my car went to their lot and laid on the horn and told them what was going on and to please remember this a gun club that was here 50 years before they moved in. They kind of blew me off!

So to finish the job I strapped on my Ruger .357 and went back to work. They saw me armed and grabbed the dogs and chained then on their property.

As I was Secretary of the Board of Directors and with other board members approval I went to En Con (conservation department) and talked with them and they told they had reports about those dogs chasing deer and the only law we had to worry about was the discharge of firearms with 500 ft of an occupied building (their business) to do what was prudent. The charge would not hold in a defensive shooting)

I sent that business a registered letter on club stationary and that did the trick the dogs were secured and we had no more problems. A couple years later they went out of business!
 
USAF385 said:
I understand your concern.

My point is that if you and your dog are inside, and through the window you spot the dog and decide to grab a rifle and shoot it, you might get grief.... especially if the owner of the dog sees you come out and take a shot.
Click to expand...

My dog is always out and has worked the 12 acres for more than 8 years. He knows his boundaries. I have his back and it would be with a pistol close range.
 
I think you did very well. Minimum use of force, great restraint. Shooting would likely have been justified, but why would you want the trouble?

Pit bulls are what the antis always claim guns to be: They are usually fine like most dogs, but they are "loaded guns" that DO have a mind of their own and can decide to go off by themselves without their owner doing anything.
The people across the street from me, nice, helpful folks in general, have two pitbulls. The yard is fenced with large warning signs, the dogs do occasionally get out but have been well-behaved, but I've been keeping a can of bear spray stashed on my front porch just in case.
(The bear spray also serves other purposes; my place is located near a "migration route" between several brew pubs, and I don't want to ever find myself in a situation where I have to pull a gun on someone too drunk to remember what a gun is :) )
 
How about filing a police report? At least, to document the incident. This would indicate your show of restraint during this incident and may work in your favor should you be attacked again and have to use deadly force.

There was another pit-bull-incident here in the valley several weeks ago. Two folks were mauled, one severely. A neighbor shot and killed one of the dogs while the other 3/4 were taken into custody by the county. At last report, the Lexus Project was fighting in court to prevent these animals from being euthanized.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
aphelion said:
I'd say under the circumstances you did the right thing. Your life is less complicated today than it would have been because you didn't shoot the pooch.
Click to expand...

I agree with that.

But, if it comes to pass that you feel like you need to shoot that dog. Take care of business. Don't wound it. Finish the job, bury it right away. Keep your mouth shut about how right you were to do so, and don't post on the net about it.

My brother wound up in a unnecessary feud with some neighbors of the same ilk as yours over wounding a dog. It's way more trouble than it's worth.
 
I say it's a lucky dog to have not been shot dead, and hopefully the owners understand and appreciate that enough to keep it restrained from now on. It can be hard enough to protect yourself from a vicious dog without trying to protect your dog in the process also. I'm glad it turned out ok for everyone involved, but as mentioned there is always the possibility of another attack. Stay vigilant and and well armed.
 
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