If someone killed your dog...?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Pulling a gun in my presence is going to cause me to pull mine. Firing a gun in my presence is going to cause me to fire mine at the shooter. (not at a range or by an LEO of course)

OP, are you asking if I witnessed the killing right then, would I draw and fire right then as well? Or are you asking if the dog killing happened in the past(anywhere from 5 minutes- beyond), would I still feel my life is threatened and use my weapon?

 

[FLORIDA KEVIN]

my dog is a better person than i am ! and I care more for her than for most people ! i am afraid it would end in a temp insanity plea! As far as shooting probably not ! i want to have the satisfaction of hearing the bones break !Kevin

there is a big difference between someone shooting a dog that is engaged in chasing or attacking other people or animals,and shooting a dog for tresspassing ! I live in a city where there are leash laws also and my Jack Russel is only off the leash in our home ,backyard or at a dogpark ! while she is not usually aggresive she will chase anything that runs ! She even jumped off a seawall after a school of fish that swam by "her yard " i would hope i never have to find out what would happen but a 16 lb dog is a lot less of a threat than a 100 lb dog ! i f she were shot attacking a person that would be different ! But if someone killed or injured her maliciously !! It would not be pretty !

 

[Just Jim]

No to all questions without a much deeper explanation I do believe, and surely some of the responses are written in haste and not reality or we have some people that seriously need to rethink the value of human life on this board.

I am certian that I posted "it depends on the circumstances". The person who needs to determin the value of human life is the one who threatens me or my property.

jj

 

[wheelgunslinger]

I'm a big fan of sight hounds. You know, like whippets, greyhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, etc.

They see something they want to chase and they run after it. Most times you can't stop them.

However, if they were running someone's livestock, deer, or someone's expensive big stupid horse/pony, I'd accept that they had to kill my dog. It's my job to keep my pets on my own turf and keep them from bothering other people.

However, without a good reason or immediate threat, I'd be pretty sour about someone killing my dog.
But, I'd wait for my day in court before I started slinging lead.

People are generally pretty stupid and someone who would come to your home and kill your dog without any solid proof probably has plenty in their life I could find out and drag into the daylight. Compared to the trouble a dog caused them, dragging their personal issues into daylight would be pretty big. And, they would likely consider what they did to my dog one of their bigger mistakes in life before I was done with them in court. Or in the press (I'm a journalist), with their wife/lover, at their job, or in their private affairs.

Bullets? No need to be in a hurry to shoot someone. I never hit someone where it doesn't hurt, if I need to hit someone.

 

[DropOut]

How about turning the other cheek?

I love my animals and have had the misfortune of having to put some down - but as far as I see it a dog is a dog and is nowhere near equivalent to fragile human life. Granted, whoever would do such a thing is a total jerk, but my philosophy of dealing with things is pretty much biblical. Basically pray for him and hope God changes him.

I don't want to sound like I'm preaching at anybody, but that's how I would like to think I'd deal with the situation.

 

[mekender]

a person drawing and firing at a pet in my presence immediately shows me that they do not care about the normal social stigmas against killing pets... therefore i would have to assume that they were also willing to break other stigmas, like the ones against robbery, assault, and murder... so they would be an immediate, clear and present threat against my own life at that point

 

[SomeKid]

Anyone who would kill a person over a dog deserves what he gets, which will likely be a long stretch in the graybar hotel.

Maybe. But if the deceased was the trouble maker, and the defendant was the one whose dog had been maliciously killed? They would sleep at home that night if I were on the jury.

 

[SteyrAUG]

Let's just say I value the lives of my dogs over a lot of humans.

Human life is not automatically of value.

 

[SteyrAUG]

Anyone who would kill a person over a dog deserves what he gets, which will likely be a long stretch in the graybar hotel.

Anyone who would kill my dogs without justification deserves what I do to them.

There is a real easy way to not get shot by me, don't kill my dogs.

Isn't that simple enough?

 

[lysander]

Clipper,

And public parks are no place to run loose dogs either. There are lots of prople who don't care for dogs, and I can respect that. It's usually illegal anyway. I don't care how harmless you think your mutt is, it runs at me in anything I consider a threatening manner (and yes, I know the difference), and it comes within 10 feet of me, it's gone, and believe me, I'm gonna be PO'd enough to be ready and waiting for anything the owner tries to run on me...

The course of action I think you are suggesting as a possibility above (along with other facts) got Harold Fish 10 years.

Moving on,

To my understanding the OP's original hypothetical makes the presence of the dog irrelevant. Per the OP, we have a person on or near your property who has drawn a gun and opened fire, killing your dog. Would it be unreasonable for you to assume that the shooter might go after you next? Is a dog worth killing another person over? Would you have the time to debate these questions? Probably not.

It would appear that the legal question coming out of this hypothetical would be something akin to whether or not the actions of the shooter created an objectively reasonable fear of imminent deadly harm in the mind of the CCW holder. YMMV...I am not a lawyer.

That being said, I love my dog unconditionally...but I realize that she is 65 pounds of muscle and teeth...and though she is a galoot of the highest order...not everyone who meets her for the first time knows her like I do.

In short, control your animals if you care about them...don't put yourself in situations where your crazed neighbor is killing your dog on your front lawn.

Finally, given some of the other discussions that have appeared on THR recently about how your internet banter might be used against you in a court of law by aggressive prosecutors...I simply cannot understand why people continue to post emotional and/or pseudo-tough comments about how they would respond to such a scenario.

All life is valuable....human, dog or miscreant.

 

[average_shooter]

I think a see some misinterpretations here.

I took the original question to be what would I do if I were next to my dog, doing nothing illegal, when someone walks up, pulls a gun, and shoots my dog. Someone walks up to me and pulls a gun, I'll gladly return the gesture.

Strays and situations where the owner is not immediately present are obviously different.

 

[Noxx]

Well most of you know how I feel about my pups already, caught em snugglin' on their ma just the other morning...

As you can see, they're family to me, all I really say is +1 to a lot of what's been said before.

 

[Quaamik]

It has nothing what so ever to do with the fact it's a dog.

If I'm walking my dog and someone pulls a gun out and points it in my general direction ..... I'm not waiting to find out whether he wants to shoot me or the dog. It's a lethal threat to me and the response will be that expected to a lethal threat.

If the dog is off leash and on my property, then the dog is in my fenced backyard. The one my child plays in. The one where the dog happens to act as an early warning system for intruders. In short, the perpetrator is on my property activly engaged in disabeling my familys protection with a lethal weapon. The response would be appropriate for a lethal attack on my family.

If the dog is off leash and off my property, when I was within sight and (obviously) activly engaged in retreving said dog, I'd retreat if possible and the person didn't seem a threat to others (including me), call 911, likely sue the person, and be really sad.

If the dog was off leash and off property, and I was not within sight, I'd be sad and bury it. While I know that my dog is lovable and wouldn't hurt anyone not attacking my family, I cannot expect someone else to know that.

 

[lysander]

Noxx,

Given the yellow eyes..those two are obviously in league with some vile evil force. I would be careful around them.

 

[Pigspitter]

I'm not sure what I would do if someone shot my dog. However, there are some mornings where I would thank them if they shot my cat. JK

 

[M2 Carbine]

If someone killed your dog...?

If my pet gives someone a good reason to kill them, I wouldn't say a word.

But if someone killed one of my pets without justification?
Pay back would be hell.

 

[Noxx]

Noxx,

Given the yellow eyes..those two are obviously in league with some vile evil force. I would be careful around them.

Sadly the "red-eye" setting on the camera doesn't do much for alleviating the flash reflection with animals. If they're in league with anyone it's Milk-Bone

 

[Vern Humphrey]

We had a case like that here in Stone County, Arkansas. There was a couple calling themselves "Dewberry." They were the neighbors from Hell. They stole, quarreled with neighbors, shot near people to intimidate them, and so on. They kept big dogs and did nothing to control them.

A neighbor, a retired doctor, kept sheep (actually, they belonged to his daughter.) The dogs killed sheep -- a total of 62 of them.

Law enforcement would do nothing about it -- to complaints about shooting, they would say, "If we didn't see him do it, there's nothing we can do." To complaints about sheep killing, they would say, "That's a civil matter." And of course the Dewberrys, who had no property, were judgement-proof.

One day Dewberry's dogs were after Graves' daughter's sheep. Graves drove down the county road to a spot where he could get a clear shot at the dogs -- perfectly legal to shoot attacking dogs -- and opened fire.

Dewberry came out with his harridan of a wife behind him, egging him on, and fired at Graves with a .44 Magnum. Graves returned the favor with a .30-30. The bullet passed through Dewberry, killing him, and hit Dewberry's wife, crippling her.

Investigation turned up the fact that both "Dewberrys" were federal fugitives -- something that would have come to light if the very first complaints against them had been taken serously.

Graves has never been charged and never will be -- although he is out some serious legal expenses.

 

[1911Tuner]

those two are obviously in league with some vile evil force. I would be careful around them.

I agree! I can tell that them are a couple of vicious hombres right there. Yessir. A pair of killers if I ever did see any.

I can sympathize with Biker. He's become smitten. Kelie accuses me of havin' two blue-eyed blond girlfriends.

And...Since the thread has drifted a mite...and before we get told to get it back on track...here they are. Diamond and Roxy the Wolf lady in the order of appearance.





Okay! Back on topic!

Killing a human being in retaliation for killing a dog without a perceived threat toward the owner will very likely get you a long stretch in the pen...but men have died for less. Let's take a breath before we presume that there would be no consequences for killing somebody's dog unless it's in self-defense.

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I agree with Quaamik. I'll fire at someone who I honestly think is a threat to me or other humans. And watching someone discharge a firearm in public is a good reason to think they are a threat. BUT I will not do any sort of revenge killing over an animal. To me, it's entirely about the discharge of a firearm in public in my presence, and has really nothing to do with it being about a dog.

I use my weapon to protect people. Not dogs, and not for revenge.

 

[Hoppy590]

im gunna have to say shooting a dog in a public place is going to constitute irrational hostility in my eyes, and should i be standing there and you draw a gun i will assume you hold the same irrational hostility towards people.

 

[1911Tuner]

Another point worth mention is that...although the courts view a dog as a dog...property if you will, and will hear a civil case based on that...many people consider their dogs not as mere animals or property...but as bona-fide members of the family, much like their children, and conversations that center around somebody killing our dogs can evoke much the same emotional response as the of mention harming our kids.

 

[hexidismal]

What's with all the dog shooting threads on THR lately ?

 

[stevereno1]

I am not going to leave my family alone, and go to prison over ANY dog. Not for Lassie, or even scooby doo. I would draw my weapon and order them to drop their weapon. If they refused or started to point their weapon at me, then it's no longer about a dog.

 

[phaed]

depends on the circumstances. i.e. location, if dog was on a leash, what the dog was doing, etc.

anything on my property, and i'd be in fear of my own life from the attacker. on the other guy's property, he'd have the right, regardless. in neutral territory, on a leash, i'd be in fear of my own life from the guy with a gun. in neutral territory, no leash, it would depend on the dog's training and actions.

dogs are great, but they are also stupid. it's our job to protect them and not let them get into situations that could endanger them.