Rat shot question.

I see a lot of legal issues about blasting other peoples mutts. I'd say buy a pressure washer or get some bear mace to discourage them. Maybe even invest in a high powered electric or gas powered airsoft rifle (not the cheap Wal-Mart/Big 5 crap) if you insist on using them for target practice.
Do you not have a fence?

I see too many legal ramifications to consider shooting someone else's dog unless it is attacking you. If it is killing your dog, you need some CCI stingers to actually kill the attacking dog and not rat shot (that chances hurting your own dog).

I would suggest a fence, or something less lethal than rat shot (and even less than a pellet gun) to keep those dogs away. FWIW, dogs are very sensitive to pepper spray

Actually the laws depend on where you live. He may very well be in his rights.

Here in my city you are very well in your rights to shoot an animal if it is to protect your animals/family.

We have had a very bad issue with vicious dogs running wild too. Our neighbors dog was killed by anothers down the street. Well I called the cops because the neighbor was away(returned as the cops were here). It was very grusome, the dog basically just wanted to shred the other one to pieces.

Well while the leo was doing the report and what not I was talking to him and asked this question(explained to him i was afraid to use my firearm because I wasnt sure of the law). He told me I was very well in my right to use deadly force against the animal next time if it was being aggressive and dangerous to us and our animals. I think this also had to do with the fact that the city has a leash law.

The dogs owners received a citation for some thing I was unable to get that out of the officer.

Now like I said this was out of the mouth of an officer so I cant say I have this in writing. I would check with your local LEOs. And maybe I should double check with the police chief too....just thought of that. I am just taking a patrol officers word.

get youself a good sling shot. Ammo is cheap! and I guarantee the dogs won't forget it

Actually the laws depend on where you live. He may very well be in his rights.

Click to expand...

I am actually more concerned with a ricochet or stray round hitting someone's house, or even worse someone, than with the legal problems of killing the dog.

And I agree with the slingshot idea

My somewhat limited tests with "rat shot" in .22lr proved to me that the backside of an aluminum can may not be in danger at distances of more than a few feet.
I'm not at all for injuring other peoples' pets, unless there is absolutely no other option.

Get a better pellet rifle. I have a 1000FPS pellet gun that will penetrate both sides of a steel can at 25 M It will definitely make an impression on a feral dog. I had a problem with my nieghbor's pittbull getting into my yard and killing my chickens. It stopped when I lit him up in the hind quarters with a pellet from my rifle. I don't know whether that was from the dog learning a lesson through negative reinforcement or his owner keeping him chained up to avoid him getting another minor but probaly painful wound. Whatever the cause, I didn't lose another chicken or have to worry about my tethered dog getting attacked again (I lost one like that while I was at work a couple years earlier)

Rat shot comes in a plastic shell, and a pistol may not be enough to cut that shell and release the shot. I've used rat shot from a .22 rifle on feral cats that were tearing up my flex duct under my house. At 20 ft it just scared the cats.

The pellets did a good job on them, and so did CBs out of a .22 revolver.

I've probably upset a few animal lovers by being as frank as I have been

I'd bet $100 that rat shot wouldn't even hit an object 100 yds away much less hurt it.

It stopped when I lit him up in the hind quarters with a pellet from my rifle

Click to expand...

Well that dog should consider himself lucky...the last pitbull I ran into got his negative reinforcement from a 9mm....no need for second lessons.

However, that is a completely different scenario and the dog attacked me. I don't recommend you use lethal force on the dog unless it attacks you or is seriously injuring your dog.

I'd bet $100 that rat shot wouldn't even hit an object 100 yds away much less hurt it.

Click to expand...

Neither the CCI ( "plastic shell") or the crimped brass ones will penetrate the front side of an aluminum can at much more than 5 yards,
If you have much of a wind in your face, I'm doubting any pellets would even make it 100yards?

A grown man could end up in jail shooting the neighbor's dog with a bb gun.

The covenants in my neighborhood specifically state that any stray dogs may be shot. Never had to act on it. I moved from the last place I lived in years ago partly because the Sheriff asked me to stop using my 7 mm STW for shooting dogs as too many homes had been built in the area and he was afraid of a stray round or ricochet hitting a home. Prior to things beginning to get built out, the neighboring rancher would give me 1/2 a cow every year for helping him control the stray dogs.

I guess it all depends on where you live. If you have close neighbors and not a good shooting lane or can't use a rifle I would go with the sling shot and marbles.

+1 to matrem. We used to hunt bugs with .22 shotshells when I was a kid. The tiny #12 shot is like dust in the wind. It won't injure a grasshopper much beyond 15 feet.

Rifling in a barrel ruins the pattern. In my experience the shot pattern is better from a short barrel handgun than from a rifle.

A slingshot sounds like a good idea. Stale gum balls at close range will sting without much injury.

Sounds like heck of a deal Backcountry and I bet he much appreciated it. lol

People really dont realize sometime how vicious a stray dog can be at first glance. Just because some one feeds it doesnt mean its tame. They really are a menace and can be very dangerous depending on the circumstances. A pack of dogs can ruin a calf easily. Just one can become angry for no reason and do very serious damage, even lethal, to a adult and even worse to a child. Really irresponsible people are to blame, and its very sad for the animal it turns out this way.

One must remember, just because these dogs are loose does not mean they are simply a pet off a leash. They do and can reproduce, survive, and become feral.

But keeping it on topic. As others said, caliber choice, safe shooting lanes, and the limitation of the law are most important.

While a sling shot or pellet gun could be very effective against one animal, I would be very Leary of going up against more than one. They arent always alone. I have witnessed a pack of 3 or more attack a rabbit cage to get to them. I dare not go at those with a sling shot.

While a sling shot or pellet gun could be very effective against one animal, I would be very Leary of going up against more than one. They arent always alone. I have witnessed a pack of 3 or more attack a rabbit cage to get to them. I dare not go at those with a sling shot.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't either now.......but when I was ten or twelve years old I was good with a sling shot.

Many years ago, I had a German shepherd that got out of my fenced-in back yard and was missing for the better part of two days, despite the efforts of the family to find him.
He came back one his own, but we noticed we all would choke and gag when we got too close to him. Obviously, someone had sprayed him with pepper spray.
A good wash was in order before we could allow him in the house.
It also prompted me to install an electric wire at the base of the fence to prevent future break-out attempts.

Pepper spray serves a couple functions: it drives the dog away (that now hopefully associates pain with your yard/dog) and it also passes the message along to the owner that the dog was causing enough of a problem with neighbors to be sprayed.

Certainly I wouldn't suggest we all start zapping every unleashed dog in view with pepper spray, but it's an excellent option for a pesky dog intruding on one's property and threatening a family pet.

I would pursue other options then going right to a firearm. That said. If I had to use a sidearm it would not be loaded with rat shot. If you need to shoot a dog you should try and put it down as fast and humanly as possible. Last thing you want is a wounded dog making it back to his home and dying in a pool of blood on the porch.

A grown man could end up in jail shooting the neighbor's dog with a bb gun.

Click to expand...

+1. Happened locally here. Neighbor shot medium dog with a pellet gun. Fluke shot I guess, but the dog died. He was prosecuted.

Small shot slows down very quickly. I think most skeet ranges consider 300 yds safe for shot 7.5 or smaller. For that small #12 shot, it won't take long at all before it is nothing. Even with a larger caliber gun using the CCI shotshells with #9 shot, I think it is about done by 100yds (less than 400 ft/sec and a lot of drop). Using a handgun, it will be even slower than these numbers.

The larger caliber #9 shells make get the dogs attention. Could blind them though it you hit their eyes. Probably good for a shot in the butt at 10 to 20 yds. Drawback with these is the shot pattern spreads quickly. Too close and it will penetrate, but shallowly. At mid range, only a few pellets will hit but they should get the message. Too far, and it won't penetrate or may not even hit them.

If you want to put them down, you could try 38 to 45 round ball loads. Either of these could maybe penetrate a house at 100 yds (will be around 500-600 fps at that range). Would definitely leave a mark...

"+1. Happened locally here. Neighbor shot medium dog with a pellet gun. Fluke shot I guess, but the dog died. He was prosecuted."


doesn't really matter if the dog dies or not. The animal rights quacks will call it cruelty to animals and demand you go to jail. There are laws regarding cruelty to animals and they will use them if someone complains loud enough.

Rat shot from a .22 is great for wasps, mice and sparrows at close range and not much else. I doubt even rats are in much danger unless you're really close.

I grew up in rural MI. The law there was totally jacked up. You could legally shoot a dog that disturbed your chickens enough to cause them to stop laying eggs (it doesn't take squat to disturb chickens), but not one that was chasing your terrified children into the house (in your own front yard). We came home from church one day and found our cats literally spread out all over the front yard, eviscerated. The cops wouldn't do squat since they were "barn" cats and had no "resale value". Soon after we got some chickens and suddenly the cops were our best friends. So, chickens rated higher than kids - wow - that just made us kids feel great, you know?

I agree with the pepper spray. Having a noxious dog should give them a clue.

I have to say, my respect for the law dropped several notches when a pack of dogs chased my siblings and myself into the hose and left us afraid to leave the house for weeks and the cops didn't give a crap basically because we hadn't been bitten, maimed or killed.

Liquid Fence

This is a sugestion for you. Liquid Fence! It is available at Home Depot and the like and will give some decent results.

My grandfather used to keep them off the porch and out of the garden with this or similar product.

I agree as stated ther are too many legal issues with popping one of them with rat shot! I would inform the owner and inform the dog catcher that they are attacking your animals. They will cite the owner of the rampant animals and probably inform you that if they are attacking your tied up dog to skip the rat shot and terminate the intruder!

Talk to them and I would do it soon! it will give you the upper hand in a bad situation. If you wound them with Rat shot and they make it home you could be responsible for medical bills and charged with animal cruelty even though you are the responsible owner.

Good Luck!

Shooting a pellet gun or other related type weapon (slingshot) at a dog can bring on a cruelty against animal charge because people will say that you did not feel that the animal was enough of a threat to deserve lethal force, and you therefore shot it for "fun". No, it might not be the truth, and you might have had the best intentions by trying to just scare off the animal, but that is the world we live in....

If you use pepper spray, it shows that the dog was close to you, and that it was not a "for fun" type of thing.

suemarkp said:

Small shot slows down very quickly. I think most skeet ranges consider 300 yds safe for shot 7.5 or smaller. For that small #12 shot, it won't take long at all before it is nothing. Even with a larger caliber gun using the CCI shotshells with #9 shot, I think it is about done by 100yds (less than 400 ft/sec and a lot of drop). Using a handgun, it will be even slower than these numbers.

The larger caliber #9 shells make get the dogs attention. Could blind them though it you hit their eyes. Probably good for a shot in the butt at 10 to 20 yds. Drawback with these is the shot pattern spreads quickly. Too close and it will penetrate, but shallowly. At mid range, only a few pellets will hit but they should get the message. Too far, and it won't penetrate or may not even hit them.

If you want to put them down, you could try 38 to 45 round ball loads. Either of these could maybe penetrate a house at 100 yds (will be around 500-600 fps at that range). Would definitely leave a mark...

Click to expand...

I doubt 7.5 shot could even do harm at 100 yards.

You need a new pellet gun sir.

Or, if you feel like being nice, a super soaker of urine. Dogs don't like being peed on. Go figure.

rat shot will not give you the results you're looking for here beyond a few yards.