Had to draw yesterday...

[brerrabbit]

Lee Lapin

And I sincerely hope that your assumptions in regard to aggressive dogs as well as your legal flexibility to deal with them by discharging your firearm, are always borne out by events. Experential education in both regards is frequently painful and/or expensive.

I would just as soon see a dog laying dead in the street than I would getting possibly seriously injured by a demonstratably vicous dog. A dog is not a person. Your shooting a dog will not warrant the same level of scrutiny as would your shooting a person would. Especially, as is highly likely, the police have been called on that particular dog before.

While you would probably get into a bit of grief if the dog you drew down on or shot was a weenie dog/toy poodle/chiwawa (sp) etc, you would not get into trouble over a larger dog threatening you.

The laws in Oklahoma regarding dogs running free were changed last year. This was mainly in response to irresponsible dog owners allowing their dogs to run free and cause problems with people or livestock. The biggest push for the laws were various state agencies. Oklahoma is a very unfreindly state to allow your dogs to run free in.

If you wish I could pull up the applicable state statutes that have been on the books for a very long time where I can force you under court order to shoot or otherwise destroy your own dog to show you Oklahoma's attittude about free running dogs . This one is livestock based, but I have used it before because of other peoples dogs causing problems.

The same rules apply when the deputy comes to take your report ,ie What the heck was the dog doing running free in the first place? The dog's owner is already in the wrong. The burden is on him to show why you had no cause to shoot the dog, not on you.

When I was much younger I can remember my father getting challenged at our home by the neighbor's pit bulls. My father killed both of them with his shotgun and dropped them off on the neighbors porch while still carrying the shotgun. The dogs' owner called the sheriff. The deputy came and took his statement, then came over and talked to my father, took his statement, then proceeded back to the dog's owner and read him the riot act.

 

[nwilliams]

I would have handled the situation differently, but that's just me.

There are ways to deal with aggressive and attacking dogs, but it can be pretty scary so sometimes your instincts take over and self-preservation is all that goes through your mind. So I wouldn't rush to judge your actions, learn from what happened and be better prepared next time is really all you can do.

There are some great resources out there that can teach you some great techniques to dealing with these kinds of situations. Remember that mail carriers have been dealing with this problem for a long time and there are some pretty solid strategies out there on how to handle dog attacks in a non-lethal and perfectly legal ways. IMO the best course of action is to turn on your heels and walk the opposite way, or cross the street. Don't make eye contact and don't give the animal reason to become more defensive. Again there are plenty of websites, books and articles out there that can be very helpful on this subject.

I would be a little nervous about pulling my ccw on a dog if the owner is right there watching. Who's to say the owner isn't armed and willing to protect their pet. Worst case scenario you go from defending yourself from an aggressive dog, to defending yourself from and an aggressive dog and owner.

On a final note, beware of pulling your gun in defense if you don't plan on pulling the trigger. The whole brandishing thing has been discussed by others already so I'm not going to say more.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Looks like the question has been answered, and there's nowhere else to go but downhill.

Closed.