SquirrelNuts
Member
I get asked a lot about my signature line. Here it goes.
I have always been a dog fan. My parents had a little dog when I was a kid, but she was mean, nasty, and did not want anything to do with me. My grandparents had a big dog that I loved a lot, and I spent a lot of time with her. My parents got me my first dog when I was seven. We went to the mall to the Doctor’s Pet Center. I picked out a Samoyed puppy, and named him Alex. He was my first of five Sammy’s. I grew up with them, took care of them, and they all lived between eight and nine years longer than they should have. I still remember them all very well.
I bought a house in 2004, and my ex-wife surprised me with a male German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd puppy on November 22nd, 2004, named Bear. At first, we kept him in the laundry room, but he destroyed it, so we moved him in to the backyard. He had a nice enclosed area to run in, and all was well. I was working in the garage one evening in May of 2005, my ex-wife was in the kitchen, and Bear was in the backyard. I heard her scream, which was very unusual. She is not the type to get freaked out over something small, so I knew it was serious. I bolted up the stairs from the garage to find the sliding glass door partially open, with Bear pressing himself into it trying to get inside, and my ex leaning out trying to grab his collar. Bear was being cornered by two brindle pit bulls that had jumped my fence. I ran up behind her and yelled, which scared them off. They took off running, jumped the railroad tie retaining wall, and left. We pulled Bear inside and closed the door. I called animal control and waited. I saw the animal control truck pull up, but it went to my next-door neighbor’s house instead…and I figured it was by mistake.
I went to talk to the officer and found my neighbor was waiting for animal control as well. The two pit bulls had charged her right before they came to my house and chased her in her house. I started asking around and found out that the dogs, Gator and Lady of Rage, belonged to a problem neighbor of mine. It turns out he is a convicted felon and street pharmaceutical salesman. That was the first I had learned of him or his dogs. That night was the start of a lot of problems from him, and the dogs.
I am going to skip the filler here and summarize it by saying that on average, his dogs would get out once every two weeks and cause problems. This was either charging other people, or attacking and killing neighborhood animals. He was also causing several problems. We kept Bear inside, and he did not step one paw outside unless we were with him. I kept my Mossberg 500 handy from all the incidents we were having. The problems died down for a bit, and he told the neighbors that he got rid of the pit bulls. There had not been any problems, so I believed it too. We felt confident that Gator and Lady of Rage no longer lived in our neighborhood. We got another dog, a blonde Chihuahua we named Gizmo. He was a rescue and was severely abused.
On the morning of Saturday, August 20th, 2005, we put Bear and Gizmo in the backyard to play while we cleaned the house. We opened up all the blinds and windows to air out the house. I was cleaning the dining room and my ex left to clean on her own. At 10:55 AM, I heard her scream just like I had heard back in May. I did not know exactly where she was and it sounded like it came from outside. I grabbed my shotgun and ran out the front door. I ran down my stoop to the sidewalk and turned the corner towards the driveway at the edge of the house. I saw Gator and Lady of Rage running down the sidewalk towards me. They were growling, showing their teeth, and running towards me.
I did not have any time to think. I did not even have time to mount the shotgun. I got a huge rush of adrenaline, and my body took over. I pulled the shotgun to my hip, pushed forward the safety and fired two rounds from the hip at Gator, the male. I got tunnel vision and I also could not hear a single thing. I could only see what was directly in front of me and I did not hear any of the shots. I located Lady of Rage, the female, and fired two shots from the hip at her. Gator tried to circle around to my left and I fired two more shots at him. I did not hear a single shot and I do not remember squeezing the trigger or pumping the shotgun. Lady of Rage took off out of my yard towards the street as I fired the last two shots at Gator. I started to reload from the speed feed stock and noticed that Gator was running away too. I stood there for a few seconds and went inside to call 911 to report it. I later found out that either shot five or six, intended for Gator, actually hit Lady of Rage literally in her butt hole. I saw the pictures from the emergency vet when they took out the 00 buckshot from her. She went to be with Jesus a few days after that. Also, while I was on my sidewalk reloading, my neighbor came outside and was yelling to me, “did you get them?” and I did not hear a single word she said, still deaf from the adrenaline rush.
I feel bad for the dogs because their owner would not keep them under control and take responsibility for them. It bothered me for a long time that I shot a dog, but I made it out without a scratch.
There was an investigation after that because the owner complained so much. It instantly went in my favor from the mountains of complaints these dogs had against them from previous incidents, but was still a hassle. They had also attacked another neighbor before they came to my house, and he had to defend himself with a machete. There is a lot more to this entire story, but this is the short version that covers the shooting.
I was using a reduced recoil 00 buckshot load in the Mossberg, and I was not impressed with its performance. I now carry 2 ¾” 1 ounce slugs in it.
I attached a picture of the wad that hit Lady of Rage. You can see her fur on it.
I have always been a dog fan. My parents had a little dog when I was a kid, but she was mean, nasty, and did not want anything to do with me. My grandparents had a big dog that I loved a lot, and I spent a lot of time with her. My parents got me my first dog when I was seven. We went to the mall to the Doctor’s Pet Center. I picked out a Samoyed puppy, and named him Alex. He was my first of five Sammy’s. I grew up with them, took care of them, and they all lived between eight and nine years longer than they should have. I still remember them all very well.
I bought a house in 2004, and my ex-wife surprised me with a male German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd puppy on November 22nd, 2004, named Bear. At first, we kept him in the laundry room, but he destroyed it, so we moved him in to the backyard. He had a nice enclosed area to run in, and all was well. I was working in the garage one evening in May of 2005, my ex-wife was in the kitchen, and Bear was in the backyard. I heard her scream, which was very unusual. She is not the type to get freaked out over something small, so I knew it was serious. I bolted up the stairs from the garage to find the sliding glass door partially open, with Bear pressing himself into it trying to get inside, and my ex leaning out trying to grab his collar. Bear was being cornered by two brindle pit bulls that had jumped my fence. I ran up behind her and yelled, which scared them off. They took off running, jumped the railroad tie retaining wall, and left. We pulled Bear inside and closed the door. I called animal control and waited. I saw the animal control truck pull up, but it went to my next-door neighbor’s house instead…and I figured it was by mistake.
I went to talk to the officer and found my neighbor was waiting for animal control as well. The two pit bulls had charged her right before they came to my house and chased her in her house. I started asking around and found out that the dogs, Gator and Lady of Rage, belonged to a problem neighbor of mine. It turns out he is a convicted felon and street pharmaceutical salesman. That was the first I had learned of him or his dogs. That night was the start of a lot of problems from him, and the dogs.
I am going to skip the filler here and summarize it by saying that on average, his dogs would get out once every two weeks and cause problems. This was either charging other people, or attacking and killing neighborhood animals. He was also causing several problems. We kept Bear inside, and he did not step one paw outside unless we were with him. I kept my Mossberg 500 handy from all the incidents we were having. The problems died down for a bit, and he told the neighbors that he got rid of the pit bulls. There had not been any problems, so I believed it too. We felt confident that Gator and Lady of Rage no longer lived in our neighborhood. We got another dog, a blonde Chihuahua we named Gizmo. He was a rescue and was severely abused.
On the morning of Saturday, August 20th, 2005, we put Bear and Gizmo in the backyard to play while we cleaned the house. We opened up all the blinds and windows to air out the house. I was cleaning the dining room and my ex left to clean on her own. At 10:55 AM, I heard her scream just like I had heard back in May. I did not know exactly where she was and it sounded like it came from outside. I grabbed my shotgun and ran out the front door. I ran down my stoop to the sidewalk and turned the corner towards the driveway at the edge of the house. I saw Gator and Lady of Rage running down the sidewalk towards me. They were growling, showing their teeth, and running towards me.
I did not have any time to think. I did not even have time to mount the shotgun. I got a huge rush of adrenaline, and my body took over. I pulled the shotgun to my hip, pushed forward the safety and fired two rounds from the hip at Gator, the male. I got tunnel vision and I also could not hear a single thing. I could only see what was directly in front of me and I did not hear any of the shots. I located Lady of Rage, the female, and fired two shots from the hip at her. Gator tried to circle around to my left and I fired two more shots at him. I did not hear a single shot and I do not remember squeezing the trigger or pumping the shotgun. Lady of Rage took off out of my yard towards the street as I fired the last two shots at Gator. I started to reload from the speed feed stock and noticed that Gator was running away too. I stood there for a few seconds and went inside to call 911 to report it. I later found out that either shot five or six, intended for Gator, actually hit Lady of Rage literally in her butt hole. I saw the pictures from the emergency vet when they took out the 00 buckshot from her. She went to be with Jesus a few days after that. Also, while I was on my sidewalk reloading, my neighbor came outside and was yelling to me, “did you get them?” and I did not hear a single word she said, still deaf from the adrenaline rush.
I feel bad for the dogs because their owner would not keep them under control and take responsibility for them. It bothered me for a long time that I shot a dog, but I made it out without a scratch.
There was an investigation after that because the owner complained so much. It instantly went in my favor from the mountains of complaints these dogs had against them from previous incidents, but was still a hassle. They had also attacked another neighbor before they came to my house, and he had to defend himself with a machete. There is a lot more to this entire story, but this is the short version that covers the shooting.
I was using a reduced recoil 00 buckshot load in the Mossberg, and I was not impressed with its performance. I now carry 2 ¾” 1 ounce slugs in it.
I attached a picture of the wad that hit Lady of Rage. You can see her fur on it.
