I was attacked by dog and shot

[Keltyke]

That

has to be some of the poorest advice I have ever heard.

Lighten up, MB. Get a sense of humor. I think that post was meant tongue-in-cheek. Face it, it's a funny picture - a dog with the muzzle of a Glock in his mouth (which is the best place for a Glock, BTW, getting chewed up).

So you've been attacked. Do you now live in fear of (and shoot) every dog you see running towards you?

We weren't there, but by the description of the incident, the dog showed NO aggressive behavior. "..running directly toward me." Is NOT aggressive. He might have simply been going home. I'm glad "jacob" isn't a better shot. Sorry, "jacob", bad shoot, IMO.

[Hornett]

There is a simple way to decide what a dogs intentions are if you have a pistol.
Squat down and extend the pistol out as far as you can reach. The dog will try to bite the nearest thing to him. If he bites the pistol,pull the trigger and you don't have to worry about missing or where the bullet went.
If the dog stops before that, No Harm Done.

I agree with Master Blaster
Sounds good....
Except if the dog leaps for your throat... Game over. You lose.
The reason dogs go for a trainers arm is because the man is standing, leaning over and extending his arm in such a way that the forearm is all that is available for the dog to bite.
I really don't believe that the dog will always go for what is nearest.
Sometimes dogs bite your leg, sometimes they leap up on you.

As an aside, my personal rule for dogs in my yard... Don't ask don't tell. People really love their dogs and will never speak to you again if you kill their dog. Mind you, I would only shoot an aggressive dog. I always try to make friends first. I have had a calf and one of the kids pet rabbits killed by neighbors dogs at different times. I finally decided enough is enough. Fortunately no agressive dogs have been in the yard since I made that decision But, if the neighbors would call and ask "Have you seen my dog?" and I was responsible for his demise,I would simply reply "Nope. haven't seen him"
I hope I don't burn for a lie like that.

[cohoskip]

When I was about 10 years old I was attacked from behind by a large Collie.
There was no sound or warning from him - he just ran up behind me and bit me in the back. I was on a public alleyway...

[Creature]

NO dog is naturally mean or prone to attack. The ones who do that are trained to or allowed to. It doesn't have to be a large dog to "mess you up quick". I've seen terrible injuries from something as small as a wiener dog.

Untrue. And, since you cant verbally "quiz" a rapidly approaching dog as to it's intentions, the benefit of the doubt does not apply to certain dogs.

Much as I love dogs, that simply isn't true.

Proven to be fact that some breeds are especially "less inhibited": http://www.dogbitelaw.com/Dog%20Atta...%20Clifton.pdf


(An excerpt from the referenced study):

Pit bulls seem to differ behaviorally from other dogs in having far less inhibition about attacking people who are larger than they are. They are also notorious for attacking seemingly without warning, a tendency exacerbated by the custom of docking pit bulls' tails so that warning signals are not easily recognized. Thus the adult victim of a pit bull attack may have had little or no opportunity to read the warning signals that would avert an attack from any other dog.

[JohnKSa]

In my experience once dog breed becomes a topic for discussion in a thread like this it takes very little time for it to degenerate to a close.

So... It's over.