this exact topic has been discussed dozens of times, and they all read the exact same. Half the people say they would whack the dog and half the people say its probably a speckled puppy pet of a little girl.

I think its pretty simple. Using common sense, if the dog is a mangy pit bull, chow mix type of dog with no collar then I probably would put it down...if it were a lab, golden retriever, pointer type dog with a collar- then I try to find the owner and fix the problem.

I would think there is not much gray area. A reasonable hunter can tell a wild dog from a pet IMO