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Had a somewhat close call, had to draw my gun this weekend.

One of my neighbors in the apartment complex has some very aggressive corgi mutts (they favor Corgis but a little bigger and uglier). It's a 'pack' of 3 of them. They constantly seem to get off leash or get out of their control. Several times they've gotten out and been a problem - at this point, I've reported it to the apartment complex multiple times.

Several months ago - pretty close to about a year ago, they attacked my female mini-schnauzer and left about a 4-5 inch gash in her leg, left us with an almost 500 dollar vet bill for stitches, etc. It was a night, they came around a corner as the wife and I were walking them and mauled her before I even knew they were off-leash. Got my little girl free and had to punt one of them like a football to get them to back off. It wasn't till the next morning that we found the gash and piece of hanging skin on her back leg and had to take her to the vet. Anyways - that was the first incident, the apartment manager indicated there wasn't much he could do at that point, but the apartment in question was starting to becoming a problem and they weren't planning on renewing their lease (they are still there of course).

Since then, there have been several incidents with the dogs getting loose/out - but they haven't' involved us so I just became conscious that it was an ongoing issue, but let it go thinking they were about to be gone anyways(or that was the hope at least). Then Saturday night, as we were walking down the steps (we live in the 2nd story), I spotted something brown moving very quickly behind some cars coming towards our direction. It was just enough time to yank my little girl back and put my foot in between her and the 3 mutts charging up the stairs. They bit at her, bit at me and at that point about all I could do was kick at them. They bit at my shoe a few times, but thankfully no damage or injury to me or my mini. Not sure what made them withdraw, but as I was kicking I started to draw. Not sure that I would have used it on the dogs or not(I blame the owners more then I do the dogs), it just came out somewhat instinctively. But I might have had they kept biting... they for whatever reason made the choice for me, and withdrew. Not really sure why, maybe it was the kicks I landed, or maybe body language but about the time I had my pistol at my side they decided to withdraw at that moment.

Called the local PD and filed a report. The officer wasn't able to do much, gave them a warning and gave me his number so I can report them being off-leash again. This is our first time reporting it to the cops so they don't have a history, so it was mostly our word against theirs. The officer even said had we called the first time, he felt like he's have more authority to do something. Of course the first time, we gave them the benefit of the doubt that it was a one-time thing, they just accidentally got loose. But at least we have a police report now, and the apartment complex can't just ignore the incident like they did previously. Guess we'll see what happens...

oh, that is so sad. Corgis are smart and really typically good natured dogs, I've got two and I love the breed with a passion. But they have be treated with respect, they have to have jobs and a way to get their energy out. I'm with you, this is the owners fault, but you do what you have to do to protect yourself and your dog.

Add pepper spray and a cane to your daily carry stuff, and keep calling the cops and apartment management.

I would also file a complaint with animal control, they can issue fines and do more than the police. We had an experience with pitbulls and animal control gave them a warning. In fact the deputy sheriff told us to call animal control.

striker55 wrote:I would also file a complaint with animal control, they can issue fines and do more than the police. We had an experience with pitbulls and animal control gave them a warning. In fact the deputy sheriff told us to call animal control.

The officer said he would normally call out animal control for situations like this, but this was about 10pm on Saturday and I don't believe they work weekends or at least not that late. But I will keep them in mind next time.

Pariah3j wrote:

striker55 wrote:I would also file a complaint with animal control, they can issue fines and do more than the police. We had an experience with pitbulls and animal control gave them a warning. In fact the deputy sheriff told us to call animal control.

The officer said he would normally call out animal control for situations like this, but this was about 10pm on Saturday and I don't believe they work weekends or at least not that late. But I will keep them in mind next time.

Call animal control anyway. you have a police report. They can check vaccination records, and issue citations if they are not in compliance. I also would hate to shoot someone else's dog(s) but, I would to protect me or my dog. You might also check with other neighbors to see if they have had issues with the dogs. You can also report the apartment management to the actual ownership group, I'm sure there are lease regulations that require pets to be under the owners control.

Absolutely call animal control - I've found their special type of talent in dealing with these situations to be very helpful.

+1 on the pepper spray - I'm far more agreeable to using pepper spray on an animal than shooting the animal - and using the pepper spray would, I imagine, bring far fewer, if any, legal consequences than discharging your firearm. My threshold of responding is far, far lower with pepper spray than it is with a firearm - if an animal approaches me and I feel threatened, and \ or in fear of my life, using the pepper spray will likely deter the animal without you being accused of using deadly force. But the animal's owner is gonna get mad, so save some pepper spray for him, too !

In the situation you described (apartment complex stairs), either shooting an animal or using pepper spray are both gonna be difficult - it's a contained area and you'll probably get a significant amount of pepper spray blowback, and if you fire your gun, with the metal stairs you'll need to worry about ricochet and possible penetration into a neighbor's apartment.

This is what I carry when walking my dogs.
https://smile.amazon.com/SE-WS634-55P-3 ... king+stick

Notice in the pictures the spike tip that is normally covered with a rubber cover. Pepper spray will usually get on you and your dog.

"Pepper spray will usually get on you and your dog." - I've had much better results with the stream sprayers, versus the fog sprayers - the downside with the stream sprayers is if there are multiple animals attacking you, ya can only get one at a time - but yeah, if there's any wind, any of the delivery methods will likely end up with some pepper spray on you and your dog - that's why ya need to get animal control involved - a hefty fine for loose animals (X 3) will get your neighbor's attention.

texas yankee wrote:"Pepper spray will usually get on you and your dog." - I've had much better results with the stream sprayers, versus the fog sprayers - the downside with the stream sprayers is if there are multiple animals attacking you, ya can only get one at a time - but yeah, if there's any wind, any of the delivery methods will likely end up with some pepper spray on you and your dog - that's why ya need to get animal control involved - a hefty fine for loose animals (X 3) will get your neighbor's attention.

Our local find for loose dogs is $25 and even some our animal control people laugh at the consequences of it.

I carry pepper spray and have come close to using it several times on loose, unrestrained dogs. Even when I was pointing it at the dog and advising the owner that I planned to use it if they didn't quickly control their animal, several were unfazed. I bought a bigger can of pepper spray, assuming that if I did end up spraying a dog, I would likely end up spraying the owner, too. I carry those sealed packets of the anti-pepper spray wipe in case I'm on the wrong side of the wind. Being a sailor, I'm pretty aware of which direction the wind is coming from and will work to put myself in an upwind position of the dog that is attacking if that is at all possible. Most of the attacks on me have happened while I'm riding my bike and I use the bike as a shield. It is light enough that I can move it with one hand while I have the pepper spray can in the other. My bike rides take me across school areas and I'm not willing to risk being armed.