how would you draw your gun with a dog?

[liberty2014]

I have been doing some thinking and was wondering how you would or if you even should draw your gun while walking the dog. I have a pit bull and a german shepherd so the chances of me having to draw while i have either of them at the end of a leash are slim to none but it could happen. Say a guy with a knife tries to rob me and i see him getting closer should i let my dogs take care of it and risk them getting hurt or should i just draw and fire? If i let my dog take care of the threat and see my dog getting stabbed or shot should i shoot or run? If everything works out and my dogs take care of the threat without me pulling my gun or pepper spray and the bad guy has to get stitches caused by a dog bite would i get sued? Can my dogs be seen as a deadly weapon and cause me jail time because i let my dog attack the bad guy instead of shooting him? Should i take my dogs to the range to get used to the sound of a gun going off? Am i asking too many questions? Any and all input is appreciated.

[Ericstac]

Wow talk about a lot of questions on one scenario lol..

I have a Weimaraner so unless I shoot the bad guy out of the sky Jake isn't going after him and if he did it would be a soft grip because he is trained to not bit down on the bird hard..

Are your dogs trained to stop a threat on command?

[C-dub]

Having trained dogs for protection for many years, unless your dogs are trained to protect they probably will not take care of much of anything. There are always exceptions and many of our best friends really step up to the plate in times of need. The person willing to come after you while walking those two dogs is either not concerned about them, will just stab them, or is high enough to not know any better.

Just my own personal advice, if you find yourself being attacked, dogs or no dogs,

I do not rely on my own dogs for my defense. They are the second line of defense after the locked doors and I am they're back up. When out walking some people will avoid us, but others that have asked to pet them have and are not afraid of them. My dogs are social, but like myself have a secret. My dogs are trained in protection and I have a CHL, neither of which anyone in my neighborhood has any knowledge of.

[Beiruty]

Having trained dogs for protection for many years, unless your dogs are trained to protect they probably will not take care of much of anything. There are always exceptions and many of our best friends really step up to the plate in times of need. The person willing to come after you while walking those two dogs is either not concerned about them, will just stab them, or is high enough to not know any better.

Just my own personal advice, if you find yourself being attacked, dogs or no dogs,

I do not rely on my own dogs for my defense. They are the second line of defense after the locked doors and I am they're back up. When out walking some people will avoid us, but others that have asked to pet them have and are not afraid of them. My dogs are social, but like myself have a secret. My dogs are trained in protection and I have a CHL, neither of which anyone in my neighborhood has any knowledge of.

I am raising a 10-weeks old GS. I would like to get her trained for obedience AND defense. Any referrals is highly appreciated.

[ToadPS]

If a would-be robber keeps coming at a guy that has a pit bull and a german shepherd on lead then that perp must be crazy.

To paraphrase an old adage, never bring a dog to a knife fight and never bring a knife to a gun fight.

[tbrown]

Didn't the governor already answer this question?

[Julie]

One of our neighbors murdered my German Shepherd last year. Would LOVE to have another GSD, this time trained in protection, but with three small children and a coward for a neighbor, it's probably not the right thing to do.

I sure miss my sweet GSD, and if we were in danger, I wouldn't put her life in danger if I could save us both. Someone willing to go up against a GSD or pit bull is only going to be slowed getting to you unless your dogs can reliably take care of that person first.

[gigag04]

If I need a gun I'm dropping everything but the baby to fight the threat. This is a learned skill though, there have been OIS where the officer kept holding his ticket book and fired one handed. We humans don't drop things well.

I have worked out my baby toting around gun access but its tricky.

[MoJo]

I would use my hands my dog can't shoot.

[The Annoyed Man]

Like this:

[fickman]

Like this:

gunwithdog.png

[RPBrown]

Although not trained for protection, but trained for obedience, my dogs (85lb pit, 95 lb Golden and 2 small mixed breeds 20lbs ea) have protected us to the point of scaring away someone that I feel had intent. He had crossed the street to our side while we were walking. The dogs sensed something was wrong and as he got closer he put his hand in his pocket. The dogs went nuts trying to get him when he did this. They are normally pretty docile around people but not this guy. Anyway, when they did that I put my hand in my pocket where my pistol was and he went back across the street. The dogs kept an eye on him as did I, all the way down the block.

With that said, had he pulled a weapon of some sort, I would have released the leashes and pulled my weapon. Not sure which would have gotten to him first, one of the dogs or a bullet, but I dont think he could have gotten both dogs.

By the way, on the next block 2 small kids came over to "pet the puppies" and they got big wet kisses from all of the dogs

[SQLGeek]

Like this:

gunwithdog.png

You forgot the "pew pew pew".

[gigag04]

Like this:

gunwithdog.png

Currently winning this thread

[texanjoker]

Some good questions. The biggest threat I see you facing with 2 big dogs would be another dog attacking your dog as most criminals are smart enough to not mess with dogs, let alone a person walking 2 big ones.

Unless your dog has been protection tested, trained and had an actual deployment on a person away from training you will not truly know if they will protect you. Sure they may bark, look scary, but they may not do much more. I have gone yard to yard searching for criminals with a k9 having residents tell me there is no way the bad guy in their yard because they have pits, GS. After they put their dogs in, I would search the yard and bingo find said BG. The last yard like that had 2 GS. Owner laughed and said he needed to go buy some new dogs.

We also practiced quite a bit while shooting and deploying our weapons while having a dog on the leash. This is something that must be practiced as an excited dog wanting to get somebody is going to be yanking you about. Also you won't know what the dog will do until you actually fire the weapon. I have seen k9's stand there ready, pull back and step behind you or the worst case I saw was the k9 actually tried to bite the officers gun hand while he was firing the weapon.

As far as liability IMO you always have that with a dog or firearm. Sure there may be some protection in the law, but always think wisely before using any force.