Today I feared for my safety and pulled my gun - lessons learned

Status
Not open for further replies.
If a $75 fine or the fact you'd annoy the neighbors factored into your decision to shoot or not, then this wasn't a situation where you should have pulled your gun.
Agreed. Although the standard for having a gun in my hand at night alone facing a dog is significantly lower than that when facing a human. But I'd have to chime in that I think you overreacted. Nothing against being cautious, stray animals can certainly be a danger and you should be cautious around unfamiliar animals. But that said, your story gives zero indication of any threatening behavior on the part of the dog. Certainly not anything that would warrant calling 911 and getting the police involved...but then again I wasn't there.

- Gabe
 
3 words. ... over re action. Ok, maybe that's two words...or is it one. Whatever it is there was certainly no need to write a book about it.

brad cook
 
Most phobias can be treated successfully by a good psychologist.

Find one and get help before you do something really stupid as a result of your excessive fear and over reaction.
 
Amazing how the monday morning quarterbacks come out.

For the record, I get along great with pets over at friends houses - but wandering dog at 5AM makes me think twice about reaching out and patting lassie on the head.

Sorry about how I 'Overreacted" - that seems to be a term used by a lot of sheeple nowadays.

I dont have health insurance, so a visit to the ER from a possible bite could very well bankrupt my gun budget.

Why is it after something happens you are judged to either have overreacted or not reacted enough? Cant please anyone nowadays....

At any rate I'm glad I didnt have to shoot anything. The moral of the story is being ready, willing, and able. A lot of people can learn from my lack of preparedness.
 
Duke, I can completely empathize with being scared... it isn't fun, no matter the reason.

A question: Why didn't you just use your cellphone to call whomever was in the house, tell them to turn on the lights, and stand near the door w/ the aforementioned shotgun in case something happened?

I know, hindsight is 20/20; just wondering if you thought of that.

Wes
 
Amazing how the monday morning quarterbacks come out.
Not amazing at all. :D

You asked. We responded.

Don't want people's opinions then don't post. :uhoh:

Pretty simple concept actually... :rolleyes:
 
Duke, if you didn't want Monday morning quarterbacking, you picked the wrong group of sports fans to share your story with! :D

Seems to me that a flashlight could have gone a very long way in solving this problem. How does it happen that you have a gun, but not a flashlight, in your glove compartment? The flashlight is ever so much more useful!

Anyway, glad that you had a painless lesson -- you'll do better next time!
 
dukeofearl,

I'd like to echo a question that was stated before: was there anything you didn't already state that made the dog appear dangerous?

From what I read, you were in fear for your life because:

- It was a dog.
- It was in your vicinity, and remained there for several minutes. From what you could tell, it was also circling the vehicle.
- You couldn't see the dog's actions very well, or track where it was located.
- It was 5 AM.
- You really, really had to use the bathroom.


So far, all I see is a nearby animal. I don't think that anyone's faulting you for not wanting to get bit. Nor do I believe that anyone's faulting your lessons learned.

Is there anything else that the dog was doing? Was it growling? Barking? Bearing its teeth? Chewing on a fresh corpse?

I look forward to your reply.

--
atk
 
From your description it doesn't appear that you were in danger at any time, so it looks like over-reaction.
Morning quarterbacking aside, the reason I (and a few others) see it this way because there was no indication that there was a threat. What would you have done without a gun? That's when the suggestions like hit the horn, call your house, roll down the window and yell, etc. come in.

The hammer and nail analogy hit it right on the head... :banghead:

Cacique500, I hope that was a typo..........."Jiggler" would be my wife :D :evil:
 
if a dog attacks, it has been trained.

when an untrained dog operates on instinct alone, and they approach you, they are not in 'defense' mode. about the only time they would follow through with an attack is if your back is turned to them.

dogs that get aggressive outside their territory are cowards. they will bluff, charge, and try to be the Alpha. your response to them determines how much more aggressive they will be. they can sense your fear, and will feed off that. but if you match their aggressiveness by taking a firm stand, and yelling at them in your meanest voice, they will most often back down.

i've told about my encounters with dogs before, but i can tell it again.

couple years back i was walking home from work, around midnight, its during the winter. normally i walk with headphones on but that night my cd player batteries died. thats the only way i head the dogs paws hitting the asphalt. no growling, no barking, just a pitbull charging towards me from behind. soon as i faced him he veered off sharply. the pit circled me while i kept my front towards him and reached for my industrial size bottle of pepper spray. when he was within 4 feet, i blasted him in the face.
he sneezed it off and came back for seconds. then i started running to put some distance between us.
at that time, i wasnt carrying and didnt even own a gun.

a few months ago, i was heading out, still on my doorstep and a couple kids were walking two dogs, unleashed. one charged towards me and had me cornered. vicious barker, and kept inching closer. the dumb kids didnt even try to restrain the dog, they kept calling it from the street.

the dog eventually gave up but i was very close to dropping that dog right on my doorstep. i couldnt get back in without turning around to unlock the door, and i couldnt get anywhere else.

usually a gruff word or two will dissuade a dog that tries to be aggressive.
 
hi, i'm not dukeofurl

^^^You (i mean ATK) obviously have a problem with reading "between my [brother's] legs"

Anyways, as the family member who was lying in bed trying to sleep when i hear what sounds like a home invasion, my brother telling me to go and get our "homeland security" gun, and leaving me for the bathroom with several firearms cocked and locked, i feel like i'm the most qualified to say that he grossly overreacted, but I wouldn't say that it wasn't completely unwarranted. I'd probably do the same if I was afraid of getting attacked/bitten/whatnot, it's not like we're dealing with crappy theoretical CCW questions where we're considering factors like if we can run away, or if it's a clean shoot, etc. I'm of the "it's just an animal" camp, so maybe i'm just biased. Or maybe I just don't care, #1 comes first anyways. But I digress.

I'm mainly just mad because if I had known originally that Charlie wasn't trying to knock down my door and take my precious college student possessions (read: laptop, umm...yeah, i think that's about it), I probably would have gone back to sleep. But if I was in the same situation, i'd probably carry my car gun outside. Better safe than sorry; not saying i'm going to be like a trigger happy cop in New York, but i'd rather have it for peace of mind. And isn't that one of the warm fuzzy feelings that comes along with owning a gun?

Sometimes I wonder where my life went wrong. At least I got a good story out of it. It was rated "a million", on a 1-10 scale by one of my friends!
 
Alright, he overreacted.

I have a Doberman, 9 months young. He does not bark at people, he does not growl. He just jumps for the throat. I always have him on a leash when outside of the yard, or when anybody comes.

I have seen a few others like that. I would have reacted differently from Dukeofurl but I am kind of a dog person*.

Bash him, go ahead. Boost your tough self image.






*Ich bin kein Mensch, ich bin kein Tier, ich bin ein Panzergrenadier
 
Nobody is bashing anybody. Relax. The guy posted his experience on a discussion board and his reaction is being discussed. That's what we do here...we discuss.

- Gabe
 
Try some short term therapy,specifically for your dog phobia.Your reaction is classic of this condition.Yes,some dogs are dangerous.This clearly was not.Yet you were unable to discern the difference,than engaged in some illogical behavior due to your phobic condition.Please put up the gun until you get some help.Good that you didn't shoot as this type of crap reflects badly on all gun owners.I can see the newspaper headline now: Deranged gun owner guns down beloved family dog.
 
The funny thing to me is that people are coming to the "overreaction" conclusion from simply reading the info in duke's post- 100% his perception of the situation, filtered through his own eyes and words, and it seems like his own account of the story just isn't showing "justifiable" circumstances to many of the folks here.

Seems like it's not a case of mob "quarterbacking" bashing, but fair assessments based off of given information to me.

(Although if he had ended up mauled and rabid instead, he could froth, "I told you so" at us from his ICU bed...)



Having said that:

Night sights. HAVE THEM.
Flashlights. HAVE THEM TOO!
Cell phones are great.
Have a plan.
Have a backup plan.
Keep the damn gun loaded.



Solid points, duke.
 
I am relaxed. Some of the comments get kind of personal, don't they? Maybe the story was not narrated too well, but maybe there was something in the dogs behaviour?

Just give him some slack.
 
I'd recommend reading up on dog behavior and communication (body language, vocalizations) on the Web or in books for pet owners. With knowledge and practice, you can learn to read their behavior pretty well.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From what you could tell, it was also circling the vehicle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


No doubt peeing on the tires

Dogs and cats often love to sniff tires and bumpers, picking up all those foreign smells on them.
 
Some of the comments get kind of personal, don't they?
I know what you mean. It seems that once someone opens the floodgates, the pile-on starts until someone crosses the line, then it kind of backs off a bit. :)

I'm sure Duke knows it's all friendly ribbing. If you can't take a couple low blows every now and then, internet boards aren't going to be all that much fun. :D

But you have to admit, given the information Duke gave us, the reaction is a bit on the 'uber-tactical' side ;)

- Gabe
 
I'm sure they don't get to them.

They get to me though, because people don't read the thread and try and come up with original attempts at humor, like the lol therapy option. The Ayoob files was a good one, though.

I'm going to stop posting now k thx bye
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top