[sje2081]

My poor dog has been attacked for the second time in the past two years. She is a 60lb greyhound, and both times she was attacked completely unprovoked. This last time a few days ago, we were walking on a sidewalk across the street from a 150lb st. bernard sitting in its front yard. This dog (unleashed), bolted across the street and attacked my dog with no warning. Before the owner and I could separate, pretty significant damage was done. She will be ok, but it took a $500 trip to the vet to fix her up (which I will recoup by any means necessary).

Anyway, since this seems to keep happening, and too few seem to understand the concept of leash laws...I want to take steps to prevent this from happening again.

I live in a suburb of Houston, TX.

1) If I have a CHL (which I currently don't, but will look into one), could I use deadly force on a dog to protect my dog? Would I have to wait for an attack to begin (contact and biting), or can I take down a dog charging at us on public property (unleashed, which is illegal here).

2) Replace "dog" with say a child or myself being the one in danger. Would it be legal to draw and fire in this scenario?

3) Would I be better off equipping myself with pepper or bear spray? Are there any legal issues I would need to worry about in using this to protect my dog? I was looking at getting a can of alaskan bear spray, as it seems to be wicked powerful and have a strong stream. Any problems using something like this vs. something weaker like standard pepper spray?


Thanks for any insight!