Had to stab a dog today

[SnwMnkys]

Went to take my girlfriends dogs for a walk this afternoon. Made it out of the door and across the street and noticed a dog roaming around a yard. Immediately decided not to go down that street and take another route, crossed the street and started to head another direction and the dog spotted us and headed toward us. At first he wasnt aggressive, started sniffing my girlfriends small dog. But he didnt like something and immediately latched onto the neck of her dog. I kicked him half a dozen times trying to get him to release. My girlfriends poor dog is yelping in pain. Im trying not to kick her dog while doing this and hes getting tossed around like a rag doll. Im also trying to hold the leash of the 2 other dogs Im walking so they dont run away and get hit by a car, but at the same time Im stepping on them because theyre frightened and dont know what to do. I was shouting for help while kicking him but no one was around or didnt care. I remembered I was carrying my pocket knife with me. Felt like I didnt have any other choice so I was able to open it up and stabbed him in the ribs twice and he dropped the dog and ran off. Tough bastard didnt even let out a yelp.

Called 911 and they sent out animal control. Animal control searched the neighborhood but couldnt find the dog. Eventually the owners came home and saw animal control. Theysaid that their dog had escape their fenced yard and they had a big pool of blood in their garage but the dog wasnt there. Of course they also said he was "really gentle". I dont know what happened after that. Animal control came to her house and asked If I wanted to press charges and I chose not to. Dont know what good it would of done, especially if their dog died.

Her dog was pretty shaken up but didnt appear to be physically hurt, but he wasnt panting and drooling heavily. Animal control looked him over and suggested we take him to the vet just to make sure. Ran him over to a West Valley clinic and he checked out good physically but isnt quite acting himself yet. Have to see what happens in the next few days. He was wearing a pretty thick body harness and I think thats the only thing that protected him from getting puncture wounds.

Incase youre wondering what breed the aggressive dog was, its not really a surprise. This happened in Kearns if that helps you guess.

I was lucky I had my knife on me. I dont always carry it.

 

[rholbrook]

Wow, you did what you had to.

 

[Caleb]

Wow, it's good you were prepared. We had a similar thing happen to our dog, except our dog was locked up in our backyard and the neighbors dog got out and got in our backyard and attacked our dog. Our dog survived the attack but ended up dying a few days later. We didn't see it happen but the neighbor kid behind us did. Their dog too "wouldn't hurt anything".

 

[jeeper]

Oh yes, the always friendly dog that mysteriously has a bad rap. Must have been a poodle
I am glad you are ok, and that you were able to protect yourself and your pets. You did the right thing.

We had an aggressive dog that roamed at our last house. Very aggressive. Cornered me in my own yard one, and I had nothing to fight with. I cornered him in my yard once, pistol aimed at him... but he was next to the boat, and I didn't want to miss, or have a through and though hit the boat.

 

[ID Bronco]

Punish the deed, not the breed




Ok, just kidding, I saw that sticker on a redneck rig. Glad you and the small dog are alright. What a scary ordeal.

 

[mesha]

I am glad you are okay! What are the legal ramifications to this. I assume if the dog attacks you or your dog it is fine to kill it, but I wasn't sure.

There was a scary dog 2 houses down. It was always aggressive when my kids walked past. Of course, according to the owners, it would never hurt anything. One day it got off the chain and scared the crap out of my kids. My wife called the cops and they went over. The officer called my wife and asked her to describe the dog. While she was on the phone with him the dog attacked the cop. I don't know what all went down, but the dog is no longer around.

 

[zmotorsports]

I am glad you are okay! What are the legal ramifications to this. I assume if the dog attacks you or your dog it is fine to kill it, but I wasn't sure.

There was a scary dog 2 houses down. It was always aggressive when my kids walked past. Of course, according to the owners, it would never hurt anything. One day it got off the chain and scared the crap out of my kids. My wife called the cops and they went over. The officer called my wife and asked her to describe the dog. While she was on the phone with him the dog attacked the cop. I don't know what all went down, but the dog is no longer around.

I'm curious as well about what, if any, legal ramifications there were towards you?

About 30 years ago my brother had a similar situation where he had a dog charge at him, his kids and his dog while walking the kids to the bus stop. He had actually reached for his pistol and shot the dog just prior to it reaching him and his kids. At the time the county sheriff was called and he was exonerated of any blame or wrongdoing but I wonder if that would hold true today. I carry most of the time and my wife and I have been hiking on two separate occasions where a dog attack had just happened and I have found myself wondering if we were 15-minutes earlier and we were the ones that had been attacked if I had to pull my weapon and shoot if I would be in hand-cuffs. I hope to never have to find out but still I'm curious.

Mike

 

[Hickey]

In Utah, you have the right to defend yourself, your property (including your animals), and the lives of others. You did the right thing.

 

[Spork]

Oh yes, the always friendly dog that mysteriously has a bad rap. Must have been a poodle
...

I'm glad I'm not alone in my hatred of poodles. Those bastards get by way too many times with the "it's a little dog" excuse.


Glad you're ok, hope the dog recovers.

 

[SnwMnkys]

Thanks guys. Hes doing pretty good. But he must be feeling the soreness today. He normally snuggles his face up against my girlfriend when her alarm goes off in the morning. She went to scratch behind his ears and rub his head but he winced in pain.

The Animal control officer didnt hint that I did anything I shouldnt of. I also havent received any calls from anyone as of yet. So I dont think I did anything wrong. No idea what happened to the dog.

On top of all this yesterday, her Iguana ate something he shouldnt of while we were gone over the weekend. I guess when he tried to crap it out he couldnt and it pretty much turned his intenstines inside out and was obviously in a lot of pain. My friend came over with his supressed .22 and put him down.

Fun day yesterday.

 

[mesha]

I definitely don't think you did anything wrong. You did the right thing in my opinion. Sadly, what is right isn't always what is legal. It sounds like you are in the clear which I thought would be the case. I was just wondering.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I would have done the same. But I have cats, and we don't walk them, it would be too weird. LOL

 

[TRD270]

But I have cats, LOL

It all makes sense now

 

[YROC FAB.]

Still be cautious if you need to put one down with your firearm. Atleast say you feared for your life and not just your dogs or the media will start calling you a gunman>>https://www.ksl.com/?sid=45746881&n...ll-who-was-attacking-his-dog-logan-police-say

 

[muleskinner]

When I used to walk my dog in Beaver I had an aggressive dog tear into my dog once. He was alright, but I started carrying 2 bird shot loads in my .38 followed by 3 hollow points for the next attack. Never happened, thankfully. Glad her dog is OK.

 

[Coco]

There is several breeds that get a bad wrap, but I have family that owns several different kinds of these 'bad breeds' and they are some of the nicest dogs I have ever been in contact with. That being said however, if they ever caused harm to someone, or another dog by getting loose due to negligence, that person has every right to act accordingly to protect themselves. The things I am not a fan of is someone just seeing one of these breeds, and instantly casting judgment. Hell, we have a neighbor in our area that have a husky, and a shepard/husky mix that have got out several times in the neighborhood, and killed several surrounding neighbors chickens, and some geese. They actually ventured into the neighborhood a bit more, and killed our cat (I had the pleasure of dealing with this late one night after returning home from Tooele getting buggy parts, and watching my sisters dogs [one of them being a 'bad breed'] while the entire family but myself were out of the country on vacation) The dogs were chilling in our yard when I rolled up, and I could tell exactly what had happened. Do I blame the dogs in this instance? A little, but I blame the owners ten fold. If this has happened several times, the dogs do need to be removed from their possession, and either put down because of those cases, or separated, and given to new owners. An owner that doesn't care for their pets, shouldn't be a pet owner. Especially when I found out this has happened several times. Sounds like Lehi Animal Control want to catch the dogs out one night, so they can take the neighbors animal/pet rights away. I personally still love huskies, and will own one someday, but negligent or irresponsible owners do not give the animal(s) any help.

Of course in my emotion, I was really close to shooting both dogs, but instead, I shooed them away, and found out everything about the prior offenses after the fact, and wish I would have kenneled them for Animal Control, but in the moment it is hard to think this way.

All of that being said, you definitely did the right thing, and I am glad you are OK, and the pup is working through recovery. No matter the breed, any dog can go AWOL, and if that happens, you sometimes have to act. I have been there, I was just too late to save our cat, but I know the emotion I am sure you were feeling. I am an animal lover through and through, but sometimes you still have to act.

 

[mesha]

^ you are absolutely correct, however, if a toy poodle goes AWOL then things don't die. We laugh and send it on its way. When a XYZ of "bad" breed of dog goes AWOL things get hurt.


Nerf guns and real guns can both shoot people if mishandled. I don't let my kids play with real guns.

 

[Houndoc]

Sad situation, but I agree you did the right thing. Few months ago had my dog attacked while on a walk, would probably have shot it had I been armed. Fortunately the owners (good friends of ours) got their quickly and between us we broke things up.

If your dog isn't doing better, may want to get him back in with x-rays and blood work. Little dogs injuries are often not visible just on an exam.

And all I will add as far as the good/bad breed debate is never forget what a dog was originally bred to do. While some breeds have transitioned more to pets and I would say behavior has improved over the years, much of how they act are in the genes.

 

[N-Smooth]

And all I will add as far as the good/bad breed debate is never forget what a dog was originally bred to do. While some breeds have transitioned more to pets and I would say behavior has improved over the years, much of how they act are in the genes.

Yup. I prefer dogs that aren’t capable of killing any of my family members. If other people want to have sketchy breeds that’s their choice but I 100% reserve the right to be cautious when I see them around. If this comes off as being “judgy” so be it.

 

[ZUKEYPR]

Years ago I had my neighbor at that time purse dog decided that it was a good idea to come in my walled backyard and attack my Japanese Akida....Bad move. More powerful than a Pittbull. If it wasn't for my relationship and training with my Akida that dog would of been dead meat. The neighbor got charged and that was the only incident ever in 14 years with my Akida...it did like to follow closely behind one of my friends though when he was drunk. It also constantly liked to snap off my springer heads as they popped up. had to replace a few every dang month. lol