dogs can be very dangerous
my wife and I was returning home from a walk around the neighborhood when an adult very large German shepard came charging at us from the back yard of a neighbor's house. He was barking/snarling and coming straight for us. I instinctively placed myself between the dog and my wife. We both stood there (as opposed to running). I drew my Model 96 Beretta 40 caliber and flipped the safety to the fire position.
As the dog neared me he slowed to a walk and had his head down. His ears was laid back and a ridge of hair was standing up along his spine. His tail was curled high behind him: classic attack stance. When he was about 10 feet away I took a slow step toward him and he immediately stopped and stood there eyeing me. He then started walking closer, barking all the while.
At this point he was in the street where we were, about 4 houses from where his owner lived. Just then his owner came running frantically down the street yelling for the dog. The owner grabbed the collar of the dog, then looked at me (with contempt/anger) and said "what the hell do you think you're gonna do?". "Whatever it takes to stop the threat" was my emotionless response.
"If you shot my dog I'd have your ass" he threatened. "If you don't want your dog to get shot then don't let him attack people and you won't have a problem" I advised. "I'll call the police" he angrily said. "Tell you what" I said, "I'll save you the trouble". I flipped out my phone and started to dial 9-1-1 and he said "just forget it".
"Sorry pal, but I will do whatever it takes to protect my wife and myself" I insisted. "Now I can make the call or you can, whichever" I continued. He turned to leave and I reholstered the Beretta. He turned back and gave me one last sneer and the wife and I walked on down the street.
I would have dispatched the dog in a heart beat if I had to. I don't really dislike dogs but I utterly despise dog owners who think that their dogs are free to attack people. This p**** didn't appologize that his dog was attacking us, had no conern about his dog bitting my wife or me, but rather was offended that I was willing to defend us.