My 30 pound dog was attacked by three unleashed pit bulls

[Xithras]

61. Yep. I was going to mention something similar.

I've been jumped on by other DUers before over the fact that I have a CCW, but this is one of the reasons why. I frequently walk my dogs on trails along nearby rivers and creeks, and I've run into aggressive strays and unleashed dogs more than once. I've never had to actually shoot one, but I did have an off leash pit mix charge us on the trail one day and try to attack my dogs (only the fact that it was 3 on 1 kept the pit from doing any damage...every time it would focus on one of my dogs, the my other two would charge in to defend it). Just about the time I pulled my gun, the owner came running up and collared it. She got really damned pale when she spotted that gun in my hand. Her dog was only seconds away from being shot, and I told her as much.

FWIW, the first round in my revolver is a .38 birdshot shell, which won't usually kill a dog but will injure it enough to stop any attack (same story for vicious humans). It's also useful for removing rattlesnakes. The biggest bonus is the spread...you have to be fairly accurate with a single bullet, but birdshot spreads, giving you a wider (and less lethal) damage area. The sound of the bang, combined with the pain of the birdshot, will cause almost any dog to flee. Had I shot that dog, it probably would have survived. If you carry a .22 with you when you're hiking, you might want to think about something similar. If you're worried about safety, just learn to fire faster...in my gun, every cartridge after the first is a hollowpoint (the way I see it, if an animal takes a birdshot hit and STILL keeps coming, it means business, so a lethal shot is justified).