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I don't think I even had time to use a laser -
It was point and shoot.
The good thing was the dog immediately stopped what it was doing, ran away a short distance and died pretty fast.
I was impressed with how well the .380 workedthat day! I gather that I did hit it's heart.
The cops and owner were never involved -
See the dogs owner was my wife's biological father. He was a true recluse. Lived alone, and had no friends.My wife hadn't seen him since she was three and he divorced her mother.He had made it very clear time and again that he wanted nothing at all to do with anybody.
The man had been hit by a car and killed a few days before.
The real sad part was that my wife and he had started corresponding two years prior to his death, andthey had just gotten to the point where maybe we could have talked him into letting us visit some day.
He'd had a nice secluded home, and had a few burglaries in the past so he got this big dog to guard the place when he was away.
The home was surrounded by a big chain link fence.
The man had no friends, no close relations other than his two daughters who hadn't seen him since they were young children.
And no one could control that dog.
My sister in law lived not far away, and went to the home first. She'd gotten the keys her biological father had been carrying with him when he was killed.
In the yard she went.Up to the house. She unlocked the door, and the dog charged from around the back of the home.
She made it into the house, but the dog pushed in behind her.
After that, she had quite a frantic time fending off that dog.She made it up on top of the dinning table and with an odd bit of furniture, lamp or chair or something, managed tofed of the beasts lunges.
She is a petit woman, hardly bigger than the dog and she was quite terrified.
Anyway, there was a glass sliding door leading to the back yard not three feet from the dinning table, and she eventually escaped out of that.
Heh, her husband used to carry concealed, and got her both a Beretta .22 and a Rossi .38 snubnose, but that gal to this day wants nothing to do with having the ability to defend herself! You'd think she might have changed her mind...
My wife and I were already driving over from across the state. Since I didn't know about the dog I was armed with just a Kel Tek .32 and Bersa .380, both loaded with Winchester silver tips.
Had I known about the dog I would have taken a .22 rimfire rifle...
Anyway, I gather the dog eventually pushed out the glass slider and into the yard where he had his food, waterer and dog house.
We talked about what to do about that beast. Honestly, no one even mentioned the cops. It just never occurred to any of us. I guess they could have been called to deal with it but they would have likely called a bloody swat team and sprayed bullets all over the place!
We did contact various dog pounds and county animal control people. None of them were available for several days, all wanted to charge a fee, and none of them wanted an uncontrollable dog.
Poisoning the animal was considered.
In the end I just went in and shot the silly beast. No big deal. I buried it in the woods behind the yard.
I've got livestock, I hunt, and we raise and butcher all our own meat. I'm always called in to "deal with" all the old, dying, or otherwise unwanted family pets and pests so I've shot plenty of dogs and cats. I've had relatives offer us unwanted dogs to eat! ( Give it to Bob, he eats anything!! )
I'veput down more goats for meat than I can count, and had to put down a horse once.
So, shooting one more dog didn't bother me at all. I just cocked the Bersa, held it down by my side in my right handand walked into the back yard like I owned the place. Dogs know it if you fear them. It didn't hear me till I got close and challenged me from about four feet away. Bang! Plop.
I'm glad I had hollow points in the gun. I want the animal to bleed out as fast as possible, and I think hollow points make a more ragged wound than FMJ.
No handgun, especially .32s and .380s have much if any "knockdown power." You simply mortally wound the animal and wait for it to bleed out.The hollow point does a better job of turning what little energy is there to tissue damage.
I would never use FMJ in .32 ACP, .380 ACP or 9x19 for defense! .45 ACP? Well, maybe. Just make real sure the gun digests hollow points 100%.
My wife has quite the collection of old pocket pistols, and most don't like hollow points.
Like I said, we raise all our own meat. I've put down lot of goats.I've used .32s, 380s, 9x19, both with FMJ and hollow points, .44 magnums with both heavy jacketed hollow point loads and light cast bullet pop gun loads, and of course the .22 rimfiire. Allhave more than enough power to penetrate the skull of an animal at close range, so that isn't a problem. And goats have thick skulls! If you hit the animal right, it drops instantly no matter what you use. If you hit it wrong, you have a mess on your hands.
For large animals like horses that I don't want to suffer, of course I use full power .44 mag loads. The bigger the gun the better it is for killing. Duh, we all know that.
But a pop gun will do the job if ya don't mind the animal kicking for a few seconds....
Lasers are fun toys, but I think they are just that. I have enough concerns about the reliability of my weapons without having to worry about batteries...
And when it comes time to do the job I find I just point anyway.
The idea is to target practice practice practice.
You need to developed muscle memory, so that you can hit thetarget your looking at even if you ain't lookin', so that you don't have to think about the act of killing at all.
My "kill" reflex is usually triggered while I'm carrying my rifle or my sidearm is still in it's holster.
I look over the deer in the woods and figure where I want to shoot it. The kill reflex is triggered, and I have no couscous memory of throwing the rifle up, lining the sights andthe shot, I keep my attention on the animal.
Same with domestic animals. I see 'em born, play with the cute little fluffy things, give 'em names, take them on walks, and do my best to see 'em raised nice and healthy. Then I lead 'em out to the woodshed one fine brisk autumn day and murder them.
You decide to do the deed. Walk the animal out, pour a little grain on the ground. When it lowers it's head you draw and shoot. Ain't no sighting the gun or thinking about it involved at that point.
