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You made the right choice - you achieved the objective - shooting the dog could have brought you a bunch of problems.

It might be interesting to understand the mind set of pet owners who let their dogs run free when it's explicitly not permitted by law, or common sense, but their mind set doesn't matter - the issue is that they have made a choice to ignore the law (or common sense) and sometimes that behavior has negative consequences.

Our community's elected leadership decided to invest a lot of tax dollars to build a beautiful concrete walking \ riding \ skating path through a greenbelt area along a creek - it's easily accessible to many residential neighborhoods, with clearly posted signage about dogs needing to be on a leash at all times, and the responsibility of pet owners to pick up after their pets - yet there are a lot of dogs of all breeds and sizes running loose, with numerous dog droppings on the side of the pathway as well as on the pathway - maybe people are just lazy, or they can't read, or they don't care - again, their mindset doesn't matter to me - I report the problem to our Animal Services department, and they do their best to monitor the problem and enforce the ordinances as best they can - but they can't be everywhere, so I have to use common sense and protect myself as best I can - I've always carried pepper spray, and lately, as I've noticed more and bigger dogs running loose, and irresponsible pet owners, I have started to carry my Glock 26 when we're out walking or biking.

Believe me when I say I'm very glad that I haven't had to use either - but I would if I had to.

My real worry is about how the dog's owner would react if their dog came at me aggressively and I had to pepper spray or shoot their dog.

I know a lot of people love their pets very much and I don't wish the owners or the animals any harm - as long as the owners keep their pets under control - don't let them leave droppings in my yard, keep them on a leash and under control when you're in a public area (bike path, etc.), and if they bark excessively, shut them up. And please, when I'm out riding my bike and your unrestrained dog starts chasing me, don't tell me "he doesn't bite" - I don't know you or your dog and I don't trust either of you - I've already got my pepper spray out by then - your dog should have been restrained.

When I'm in a public place (not in your yard or on your property), and an unrestrained dog of any breed approaches me, I don't know whether the animal wants to play, whether the animal is threatening me because he perceives that I'm encroaching into his territory, or whether the animal is confronting me because I've looked at the animal the wrong way - I don't have the experience with animals to know their behaviors, and I'm not interested in learning - I shouldn't have to - but I am very interested in protecting myself and my girlfriend and my grandchildren if we're out walking and you don't control your animal appropriately.

I'm not going to run over to your dog to use pepper spray or shoot him if he is outside of the effective range where he can hurt me - I mind my own business - but if your dog approaches me, I'll protect myself immediately and without any hesitation or remorse - preferably with pepper spray, but with my handgun if I have to.

What troubles me in this discussion is the dog owners claim that they understand the "psychological motivations" behind their dog's actions and that they understand the intent of their dog before he takes action - like I said, I don't understand much about dogs, and even if the dog owners do know all about their animals and how they'll react to any situation (I really doubt that this is possible), the thing is, I don't know any of that about your dog - I just wanna protect myself.

Seems to me, that if you keep your dog under control when you are out in public with your animal, and insure that you have a solid fence so the dog stays inside your yard, everyone gets along - if not, and your dog approaches me in any posture that appears to be even close to aggressive, I'm gonna keep myself safe and your dog is going to have a problem.