The more I thought about this the more I feel the killing of someone else's dog should be civil not criminal. The civil courts are better set for the reimbursement of damages and this type of event would be better heard in that type of court. However,if my memory serves me correctly I think Va is a contributory state when it comes to civil law? If I understand the concept right, if a party is found to have even as little as 1% of contributory negligence they cannot collect for damages. If that is true in this case the dog owner whose K9 is at large would not beable to collect, however folks who kill someone's dog without cause could be held liable.