Three pitbulls - 6 rounds of .357 or .15 of 9mm?

[Konall]

I second the Bear Spray. With the highest concentration of OC you can find.

It is hearsay from over a dozen years ago, but a friend of mine got the no-????-there-I-was story from one of his classmates in the police academy. Apparently the wonder-9 did nothing to stop a dog pack, but the bear spray sent them all running.

 

[DigMe]

It wandered about 10 feet before it fell. My buddy shot the other with a Glock 17. He unloaded on it. Most of his rounds missed but he got 3 hits I know of. It ran off and probably died somewhere. We tried to find it but it had run off into the woods and we couldn't find it.

Sounds like conclusive evidence to me.

brad cook

 

[NikoFoxFire]

Now theres a whole lot of adiue about high technology weaponry, and subsonic bullets and a whole fare of acronyms I haven't the faintest idea of the meaning to. One quote I did understand...

"Why not 14 rounds of .45 in a double-stack 1911?"

I concur. Call me old fashion, but I don't care how many legs you walk on, to walk into 3 forty-five bullets is to walk into a brick wall of hurt. Go with whatever you can hit once with, dont bother with the big sticks. You don't need a sonic boom, a regular one will do just fine . As far as mad dogs go, dogs aren't like humans. They don't use cover, they don't understand the concept of firearms at all. They will sit there (probably bristling and snarling and such) and THEN they will run straight at you. All my experiences as a guy who works with animals make me think you're in no danger, armed or not... but hey, better safe than kibble?

 

[Cosmoline]

If three big dogs that are used to working together attack you--really attack, not just threaten--you're dead meat.

Yup. Thankfully most of the time dogs are bluffing. They look for sucker bites on the leg and buttocks.

But when they're NOT bluffing most people have NO IDEA what they're able to do. I've had the pleasure of getting hit in a bite suit many times, and it's quite an experience. There's no way I'd be able to move fast enough to get more than one shot off if I was lucky. To give an example, I had an experience a few weeks ago where I was marking trees for a new clearing on the far side of my property. I came back in through some overgrown area and the dog on patrol didn't recognize me right away. She's a 75 lb. GSD. I heard no barking or movement until I saw something flying out of the bushes about three feet to my left. I turned to see my dog at chest level, flying in for the kill. Thankfully she recognized me and I got kissed instead of killed But there's no way I would have been able to defend against that attack. I've seen these dogs take punishment that would cripple a man and keep on going. When their blood is up they don't seem to feel pain. I would not bet on any amount of firepower short of a magnum slug against a determined attack dog.

 

[Sharpdogs]

A few weeks ago my wife and I were walking our dogs (German Shepherd and a Boston Terrier/Pit mix). Both were on leashes. We rounded the corner and some idiot had tied a German Shepherd/Rottie to their front porch with a long lead. In a blink of an eye the GSD/Rottie charged us. It happened so fast that all we were able to do was pull our dogs back to avoid them from getting bit. Through the grace of God the GSD/Rottie missed biting any of use by a few inches. Even if I was carrying a firearm (no CCW in NJ) there never would have been time to use it, unless it was already in my hand. I recommend a simple walking stick that is in your hand and can be used within a moments notice. Check out Cold Steel's city stick, walk about or Newt Livesays WA-1 sticks. As for three dogs attacking, I would throw them some prime rib and slowly back away.

 

[DT Guy]

The only 'sure' instantaneous kill on a dog, like on most other animals, requires a CNS shot. This is complicated by the fact that a dog's head is heavily 'chined', or angled, and will often deflect a heavy caliber bullet at close range.

Body shots are iffy, simply because dogs (well, the dogs we're talking about here) have the enviable combination of natural tenacity derived from pack hunting and an athlete's physiology.

The best odds come from spinal cord shots (not easy) and inferior head shots-from the bottom up, in other words. If you can get the dog to jump for a raised arm, these are possible, although you'll have ~.10 of a second to do it right.

I have actually had success on two occasions with drawing and presenting my handgun and yelling 'stop.' If dogs can sense fear, they can also sense confidence, and although they didn't know what that thing in my hand was, I think they understood I was about to hurt them with it.

I agree-best bet is to report the dogs NOW, before someone (maybe a neighbor who won't be armed) gets attacked.


Larry