Thursday, March 05, 2009

Take the misdemeanor...

Maybe I've lived in the country too long, but if I had a stray dog trying to get territorial with me in my yard, and I called animal control, and they said "We'll have somebody there in 23 hours," I'd be sorely tempted to reply:
"Tell them..." cli-click... BANG! "...not to rush on my account."
Discharging a firearm in city limits will probably get someone there faster anyway. I guess I have lived in the country too long.

Folks, if you love your puppy, don't let it roam, especially if it's one of the scarier-looking breeds. Make sure it has tags. I can get friendly with a Rottie or Dobie because I know they're just dogs, but some people will panic at the mere sight. And you also need to realize that little Cujo, who is so sweet and easygoing and good with your kids at home, can be nervous and aggressive when he's three blocks away and surrounded by strange people.

22 comments:

Rob K said...

With subsonic .22s, you may not even get the misdemeanor. As that Traveling Wilbury's song said, "In Jersey anything's legal, as long as you don't get caught." And there's always the tactic of just shooting it in the butt with a BB gun to run it off. But city folks aren't that imaginative.

Anonymous said...

Oh man. No kidding. Responsibility is dying (dead?) in this country.

My lovely wife picked up a stray on her walk with our golden two weeks ago. Cute guy. Took to us and our dog right away.

After the owner never turns up (no tags, no chip, no response to 50 bazillion fliers and internet "found" listing), we're trying to find him a foster system slash new home. Turns out he's leash aggressive and aggressive with strangers. :sigh: A good deed never goes unpunished.

I hope the original owner finds that special level in hell next to child molesters and people that talk in the theater.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and the pit bashing in that article is first rate MSM "journalism." There are more stray pits that are aggressive because idiot aggressive owners get them for their reputations, feed the aggression and then turn them loose more often because they're idiots.

:gah:

Some dogs need to be put down, no doubt. But it's a crying shame the owners that made them what they are aren't put down with them.

Anonymous said...

In my time I have seen several dogs dumped in my neighborhood by owners who no longer want the dogs. It is these people who deserve that special level in hell. They have abdicated their responsibilities to a creature who is completely dependent upon them.

There are millions of pets in this country. They are usually cared for and loved by their responsible owners. But they are pets, not family members or children or wards of the general community. A little realism goes a long way in dealing with other folks' failures in pet care responsibility. Take a friendly stray dog to the pound for reclaim by owners, as they may learn that they have to pay a price for letting Fido get out. If they don't want the dog any more, the pound will euthanasia it.

Asphyxiated Emancipation said...

Held hostage by a dog? Jeebus. If it's threatening, kill it. I guess that's just me, though. Bein' all practical and stuff.

BobG said...

Just call the police; they seem to enjoy shooting dogs in people's backyards.

Farm.Dad said...

Unless you can accomplish the S³ ( shoot shovel shutup ) successfully ( say with a .22 rifle and shorts or cb caps i disagree. The " reckless " discharge of a firearm would likely affect any ccw or other permit instituted by the state or municipality in question .

Anonymous said...

Old joke about a man who calls the cops to report someone is breaking into his detached garage. Calls the police. They say they'll have someone there within the hour. He tells them to forget it, he's got a gun and he'll go deal with it himself. In minutes, police are there and arrest the burglar. Old man, who did not have a gun says 'though you said it'd be an hour'.

-SayUncle

milton f said...

Wonder if some enterprising individual could get in the business of removing strays from the street, for a reasonable fee? It would appear that the grubrmint can't take care of this problem in town, either...

Mulligan said...

pitbull loose at the school bus stop
response time 5 days
man with a gun threatening to shoot a stray dog
4.5 hours

actual fort worth, tx animal control response times.

Rabbit said...

I've amassed 3 rather large Siberian Huskies in the last year or so. Sibbies are notorious escape artists, and two of them would manage to tear off planks of my backyard fence at least once or twice a week and run.

Yes, I'm on a first-name basis with the animal control folks, and at least one of them has me programmed into his cellphone.

The only damage they've done to anything other than my fence is when they played 'make-a-wish' with a squirrel who obviously didn't understand physics and jumped short from one tree to another. In addition to the 10x14 x10 chain link pen now assembled in my back yard, I have managed to dog-proof the outer perimeter for the last 2 weeks. A ZoomBack collar for the Alpha speeds locating him, too.

Dangerous? Jack and Abby? Maybe if you're allergic to tongue baths. On the other hand, a tongue bath from something that looks wolfish yet loves you...
Phlegmmy has been the recipient of it once. Check with her.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Anonymous said...

It is an ordinance violation to discharge a firearm within Indy city limits. However, if a pit bull was perched outside my window, I'd take that to trial.

Be advised that in addition to the OV you could be hit with Criminal Recklessness as a Class B misdemeanor (0-180 days, 0-1K fine) or Criminal Recklessness with a Deadly Weapon as a Class D felony (6 months to 3 years, 0-10K fine).

As heard in Rose Hulman cottage just last weekend, "No, Tamara, put the Mauser down. I don't care how much the pit bull looks like an eland. I don't want to talk to IMPD today as they remain . . . unimpressed."

All the more reason to have a nice air rifle handy to repel doggies. That Beeman C1 of mine has taken plenty of rabbits and squirrels and one dog (eye, neck then in through the ear).

Shootin' Buddy

CastoCreations said...

Rabbit...

We have two Sibes, a Malamute, and a Mal/Shepherd mix.

Our KEY to non escape? Horse mats, laid over concrete blocks, then six foot high kennel fencing. And NO dog house in the kennel (they could easily climbed up and then climbed out). You could make it even better with a chain link "roof" on the kennel.

We've had our girl escape once when we weren't paying attention - and yes she ripped the boards off the fence. Huskies are serious escape artists. :)

I hate it when people ask if our dogs are wolves. Morons. They're our babies.

There is one dog who wanders and if he ended up "trapping" me in our yard I'd shoot him. He's NOT neutered, a Chow, and his owners LET him wander. I hate it.

I had a Boxer escape his yard when I was walking our Husky one day and I was damn ready to kick that Boxers head in...he was NOT trying to play. I put myself between my dog and the boxer. My guy is a lover, not a fighter. :)

Home on the Range said...

As Barkley's buddy you know him better than most. Yet sometimes, being large and black, he can be scary to people walking down the road.

Then of course there was the time when I first moved in here, and my neighbor, the huge guy of the big motorcycle and knife is taking his garbage out and Barkley is at the fence with the equivalent of Doggy Tourette's, barking what was the equivalent of "f-you" to this guy, but he fortunately, smiled and came over. His son, who is blind, has a lab. There's no fooling him.
They're friends now, though he barks at their dog.

Anonymous said...

Yep, I got NeighborDog that's major 'tarded. In the seven years he's been here, he STILL hasn't figured out that I live here.

Srsly, this dog will sit in the rain to bark at me, instead of under one of several trees.

He DOES know the sound of my air rifle cocking and remembers that those are MY gophers, and if I want 'em dug up, I'll do the digging.

And people that abandon dogs have the next cooler spot in Hell from those that abandon cats.

Anonymous said...

You Yanks have as much stress and hate in your animal relationships as you do in your private lives. There is a choice. You can start over. Here in Pleiku we have totally egalitarian dealings with cats and dogs.

Totally.

Rob K said...

Anonymous, you're going to tell us they taste like chicken, right?

Tam said...

I LOL'ed.

J.R.Shirley said...

That pit's not the problem. The owner is.

Anonymous said...

Rob, not exactly, but if you've ever acquired the taste for iguana...

Mikael said...

"It is an ordinance violation to discharge a firearm within Indy city limits"

What's their take on bow and arrow, or say... 150lb crossbow?

Anonymous said...

Mik, send not to ask. A large village near me had the case before Council of two preteen miscreants who dented the neighbor's siding with an arrow. They were within one reading of the ban when the president of the county archery club, who just happened to live there, pointed out that they might be over-reacting. It hadn't occurred to them.

I say this the day after a gun club meeting where an officer of the club said, to my face, that we had nothing to worry about from the current administration, since the NRA would take care of it and that's why we pay dues to them.

He graduated from high school, too.

WV unting, Icelandic anarchy.