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Acronym Esq wrote: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.

RoyGBiv wrote:Please call the Sheriff. The life you save may not be your own.

Yes, Sheriff report filed. That constituted documenting the nature of the dogs and loose animal condition - past tense. Now working through HOA this morning. It's a subdivision way out in the county (no city authority), large acreage properties, and everyone knows everyone it seems in this neighborhood. Although there has been no incident to date, so far, I'm being advised that I should have shot the dogs, HOA included who have seen the dogs out before. In hindsight, maybe taking care of the dogs' disposition then and there was the better solution. We have confirmed ownership and action will be taken, which again, is going to amount to letter, documentation, and notice. But as from me or others now, that was the notice. Next time is going to be way different.

nightmare69 wrote:Glad y'all made it out ok. I would not be held hostage by two animals. I would have given them lead poisoning when they charged me.

This is the interesting part about my decision. Maybe not as smart, but I played the very edge of the threat. Had I been in the woods, the incident would have ended very fast. Standing on a cement street surrounded by houses, and somehow, my first instinct was metered by all this. This isn't all over for sure, but dealing with my gun going off isn't in the equation this time. I do now know that having the gun when out and about is all the diference for anything like this happening.

As it says, though I would have hoped to never say my gun left my holster, but it did today. My wife and I were walking a new to us neighborhood this afternoon when we came in front of a house I have heard large dogs before. By the size of the bark, I always knew they were large dogs. The home is well fenced in wrought iron and gated, and frankly, so many folks walk daily with kids and dogs in front of this place, I had never even thought of their dogs. They never even run the yard. Matter fact, never seen them before, just heard them in the house.

Well, we topped the bridge in road and got just about the drive and there they were in the ditch. Two Pit bulls. They immediately saw us and came charging. I pulled out my carry 9mm and drawn, ready for them to jump us. They circled us, snapping and barking and had us pinned in the middle of the road. At this point my mind was working through this situation. I could easily have justified killing them, as they were not letting up and not letting us move. I could also hold off on killing them. My wife was hysterical, and after 10 minutes of this, a car came along and I was able to signal them to pull up to us. We got in the back seat, and they took us to our property.

Now, that ain't the end of this story by no means. We are way out in the county, so I know I could have dialed 911 and gotten a constable, but frankly I didn't have that kind of time management in this situation. From past animal experiences, though nothing ever this bad, the police refer you to animal control, and that's just a dadgum dogcatcher.

But, all in all, what I am more astonished about in this situation is how I was able to have enough restraint to not plug both these Pit bulls. Yes, it was very dangerous and just a wrong move from someone getting mauled on, but I guess the time to pull the trigger is a little more self determined than I had anticipated if I ever was to pull my gun on something.

Thanks for listening, mad as heck right now, and just need to vent on someone till some homeowner's can be brought to task. It's still not a safe situation for the everyone in this neighborhood.