It's interesting to read this. I just posted over on THR with a small experiment I did. I'll repost here because I think it's relevant to the topic.
The short summary is that you need a LOT more buffer distance between yourself and a canine than I previously thought.
Quote:
semi-realistic speed draw test
I wandered through the living room while the wife was channel surfing last night and caught part of some movie where a wolf charged a "sheriff" character, knocked him down and killed him. I was thinking to myself "now that's stupid, why didn't he draw and shoot".
Then I got to thinking about how fast my dog Donny runs around the yard when we're playing chase and fetch.
So I took my favorite CCW rig and an unloaded airsoft pistol and went out into the dark back yard with the dog. It was after dark but I had one of the back yard lights on so I figured it would give me plenty of illumination to see the "target".
Then the dog and I played "hide n' seek" a bit to get him warmed up (he sits on the porch and waits for me to call, then he comes to find me). The dog has learned that if he wants to "catch" me he has to alter his routes around the various backyard obstacles (outbuildings, trees, shrubs) and believe me he's gotten to be a sneaky cuss
So my pretend scenario was that I "didn't know" there was a threat and could only start my draw when I actually SAW the dog approaching.
I called Donny and waited. I spotted him (roughly 30 ft) as he snuck up from the side and bounded towards me at a flat out run. I swept my cover garment, pulled the airsoft gun, and he "tagged" me before I could raise and take aim.
Second try, He made it easy and beelined from the porch right to the bush I was standing near. Spotted him at about 40ft, swept the cover garment, drew and took aim. I estimate I would have had time for two, possibly three shots but aiming was VERY tough since my "target" was running straight at me, in the near dark, at top doggie speed.
Third try, He got sneaky again and came around an outbuilding. Spotted him at less than 20ft and had time enough to sweep and grab the grip (but not draw) before he "tagged" me.
We did this about seven times before the dog got winded and slowed down. Of those seven attempts I estimate that I would have had one, that's right ONE good hit before I was tagged. Giving myself the benefit of the doubt I might have hit two other times but they wouldn't have been good COM hits.
And this was with the reaction time benefit of knowing that we were playing this game!
Talk about an eye opener regarding response time vs distance!
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So in terms of this topic I think I'd be likely to, at minimum, draw if not fire at a far greater distance than I would have previous to my little experiment. I love my dog I'm not going to use him as an expendable decoy. (I live in a fairly rural area BTW)