Fair warning, if you live in the Disney world of irrational levels of canine love both for and from dogs, this thread is not for you.
Today I experienced more fear than I have ever felt in my life.
My son and daughter are just about a year apart, she'll be 4 in October, and he'll be 3 soon after. Earlier this week my wife and I finally had our first real "kid injury". My son dove for a beanbag and missed, face planting on hardwood and all but knocking a front tooth out (its loose, but we're hoping it can recover). My wife is due in mid October with our third and probably final kid.
I have recently started to take my two kids for a walk around the neighborhood when I get home from work. I pull them around in one of those little plastic wagons with two seats facing each other and seatbelts to keep them from making a break for it.
They generally love these little walks, and we frequently run into other folks out walking their dogs, or taking a couples stroll etc. The kids love to see dogs, cats and squirrels, make a big deal of it if one of them spots one. They've gotten to pet some of the neighbor dogs and cats and think that's just awesome.
Today (well, yesterday now) things went differently. My wife came along with us on the walk since it wasn't quite as hot as its been. As we were nearing the end of the walk and my son started his normal protest when he realized the walk was nearly over I turned to my wife and said something about his short fuse when my daughter said one of her newer words, "Doggy!" (she says new words quite loud when she gets excited). I turned back around and found two dogs approaching us at a pace that was probably leisurely to them, but was still quite rapid. I don't want to call them pit bulls, because while one of them looked like the typical pit bull, the other looked a bit different, but was definitely a very muscular terrier of some kind.
Before I continue I should just mention. I like dogs, nothing against them in general. I see them the way some people see kids. Fun to play with, fun to toss a frisbee or stick, but I don't want one living at my house.
For a moment it looked like the dogs were just going to lope on past us. I bent down to get my son to look over so he could get a look at them. Then my daughter said "Doggy! Two Doggy!" again, and they veered toward us. I would be hard pressed to articulate what changed, but something in the body and movement language changed and they went from passing by, to in some way evaluating us.
I dropped the wagon handle and got between the dogs and the wagon. I didn't know this at the time by my wife picked the handle up and kept the wagon moving slowly along toward our house (we were two houses down from our place at this point). They stopped and looked at me, then past me at the kids. One of them growled. It's ears were laying flat against its head. It was very much a "do not **** with me" growl. I took a step back and drew my weapon. Both dogs looked past me at the kids again and this time I glanced back myself and saw that my wife was pulling the kids away.
I started backing up. As fast as a dog is, I felt like they were already way too close, but various doubts kept me thinking in terms of "if they come this much closer, thats a threat" I realize in retrospect this may have been stupid. The dog that had growled kept growling every few seconds. It kept trying to circle around me. When it did, I would back up faster and yell at it. The other one, the white muscular terrier was making a weird sound I don't know how to classify. Its ears kept flicking forward, then pressing back against its head again. I started yelling back at them. I don't recall what I said, but it seemed clear to me that they were simply seeing me as an obstacle to get past to get to the kids. I've never wished my pistol was a shotgun more than right then. I did not want to shoot either of them, and to be honest, I wasn't sure how much effect to expect even from a solid hit, which I wasn't sure I could achieve if either or both of them charged.
This sort of stand off persisted until I reached the edge of my yard. I realized at this point that pulling the kids out of the wagon was going to be a terribly vulnerable moment. I don't hate dogs but I sure wanted to kill those two every time they looked past me at my kids and growled. My wife had the presence of mind to just pull the wagon right into the house. When I heard the front door open the one that I think is a pit bull got really agitated. I'd been covering him/it more than the other, because they were both constantly in motion and I couldn't keep both in my sights. My wife let me know they were in and I told her to shut the door. I started backing up again and they stuck right with me until I went up the porch steps. I couldn't go any further without opening the door and I've seen how fast a dog can go through a door when its not opened very far I just stood there with my back to the door. After what seemed like a long time the brown dog in charge backed off a few feet followed by the white one. The dog in charge looked back at me a couple times, and then finally ran off.
When I came into the house I found my wife with her shotgun. I was happy she was ready to back me up, since her 380 ccw gun would have been even less effective than my pistol.
This encounter left me so afraid for the safety of my kids I ended up throwing up once I was inside. I barely made it to the sink. I realized that part of my fear was not knowing how the law works for this kind of situation. I felt like I might be damned if I did, double damned if I didn't. There was no question I was going to kill those dogs if they made a move that seemed like a solid enough threat. I just realized I had no idea what would constitute a threat I could articulate from an animal. Having the fear that I might do the right thing and then end up on the wrong side of the law definitely created a big mental issue and hesitation in those moments. I didn't want to wait until I had bite marks, and I was absolutely not willing to let those dogs within 10 feet of my kids.
I'd love it if anyone who both knows, and can reference applicable state law could let me know what my legal situation was.
Today I experienced more fear than I have ever felt in my life.
My son and daughter are just about a year apart, she'll be 4 in October, and he'll be 3 soon after. Earlier this week my wife and I finally had our first real "kid injury". My son dove for a beanbag and missed, face planting on hardwood and all but knocking a front tooth out (its loose, but we're hoping it can recover). My wife is due in mid October with our third and probably final kid.
I have recently started to take my two kids for a walk around the neighborhood when I get home from work. I pull them around in one of those little plastic wagons with two seats facing each other and seatbelts to keep them from making a break for it.
They generally love these little walks, and we frequently run into other folks out walking their dogs, or taking a couples stroll etc. The kids love to see dogs, cats and squirrels, make a big deal of it if one of them spots one. They've gotten to pet some of the neighbor dogs and cats and think that's just awesome.
Today (well, yesterday now) things went differently. My wife came along with us on the walk since it wasn't quite as hot as its been. As we were nearing the end of the walk and my son started his normal protest when he realized the walk was nearly over I turned to my wife and said something about his short fuse when my daughter said one of her newer words, "Doggy!" (she says new words quite loud when she gets excited). I turned back around and found two dogs approaching us at a pace that was probably leisurely to them, but was still quite rapid. I don't want to call them pit bulls, because while one of them looked like the typical pit bull, the other looked a bit different, but was definitely a very muscular terrier of some kind.
Before I continue I should just mention. I like dogs, nothing against them in general. I see them the way some people see kids. Fun to play with, fun to toss a frisbee or stick, but I don't want one living at my house.
For a moment it looked like the dogs were just going to lope on past us. I bent down to get my son to look over so he could get a look at them. Then my daughter said "Doggy! Two Doggy!" again, and they veered toward us. I would be hard pressed to articulate what changed, but something in the body and movement language changed and they went from passing by, to in some way evaluating us.
I dropped the wagon handle and got between the dogs and the wagon. I didn't know this at the time by my wife picked the handle up and kept the wagon moving slowly along toward our house (we were two houses down from our place at this point). They stopped and looked at me, then past me at the kids. One of them growled. It's ears were laying flat against its head. It was very much a "do not **** with me" growl. I took a step back and drew my weapon. Both dogs looked past me at the kids again and this time I glanced back myself and saw that my wife was pulling the kids away.
I started backing up. As fast as a dog is, I felt like they were already way too close, but various doubts kept me thinking in terms of "if they come this much closer, thats a threat" I realize in retrospect this may have been stupid. The dog that had growled kept growling every few seconds. It kept trying to circle around me. When it did, I would back up faster and yell at it. The other one, the white muscular terrier was making a weird sound I don't know how to classify. Its ears kept flicking forward, then pressing back against its head again. I started yelling back at them. I don't recall what I said, but it seemed clear to me that they were simply seeing me as an obstacle to get past to get to the kids. I've never wished my pistol was a shotgun more than right then. I did not want to shoot either of them, and to be honest, I wasn't sure how much effect to expect even from a solid hit, which I wasn't sure I could achieve if either or both of them charged.
This sort of stand off persisted until I reached the edge of my yard. I realized at this point that pulling the kids out of the wagon was going to be a terribly vulnerable moment. I don't hate dogs but I sure wanted to kill those two every time they looked past me at my kids and growled. My wife had the presence of mind to just pull the wagon right into the house. When I heard the front door open the one that I think is a pit bull got really agitated. I'd been covering him/it more than the other, because they were both constantly in motion and I couldn't keep both in my sights. My wife let me know they were in and I told her to shut the door. I started backing up again and they stuck right with me until I went up the porch steps. I couldn't go any further without opening the door and I've seen how fast a dog can go through a door when its not opened very far I just stood there with my back to the door. After what seemed like a long time the brown dog in charge backed off a few feet followed by the white one. The dog in charge looked back at me a couple times, and then finally ran off.
When I came into the house I found my wife with her shotgun. I was happy she was ready to back me up, since her 380 ccw gun would have been even less effective than my pistol.
This encounter left me so afraid for the safety of my kids I ended up throwing up once I was inside. I barely made it to the sink. I realized that part of my fear was not knowing how the law works for this kind of situation. I felt like I might be damned if I did, double damned if I didn't. There was no question I was going to kill those dogs if they made a move that seemed like a solid enough threat. I just realized I had no idea what would constitute a threat I could articulate from an animal. Having the fear that I might do the right thing and then end up on the wrong side of the law definitely created a big mental issue and hesitation in those moments. I didn't want to wait until I had bite marks, and I was absolutely not willing to let those dogs within 10 feet of my kids.
I'd love it if anyone who both knows, and can reference applicable state law could let me know what my legal situation was.
