RE: Would you shoot a tresspassing dog?
I've dealt with more than my fair share of dogs. Most of the time, they are strays that people think they'll just dump out in the middle of nowhere. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, I guess I get all of them. The ones I could catch I took to the pound in the nearest city. But I think a lot of them were probably abused by their owners and are afraid of people, so they won't let me catch them. Then it makes me wonder what's better: letting them starve or putting them out of their misery. I'd rather be put out of my misery than starve, so I base my decision on that.
There are a few dogs that wonder on our property and I can locate the owners. I've found a couple of dogs that the owners were glad to get back, mainly bird dogs that wandered off and got lost. The owners came and picked them up and I never saw the dogs again. Two of our neighbors have dogs that wander across our property frequently, but they are nice dogs and I haven't seen them cause any problems, so I really don't care. But not every neighbor I've ever had has always had nice dogs. If they ever start to act aggressive, towards myself, my pets, or livestock, they're dispatched immediately. Dealt with this problem a couple of times. Most of the time I had warned the owner that their dog was becoming a problem. I was brushed off most of the time, told to %@&* off once. I took what I felt were appropriate measures against the dog(s), and on the latter had to resist the urge to do the same to owner.[:@] On one occaision, there were eight dogs running in a pack, that I believe chased cows through a fence. I saw where the cows had gathered in a corner the night before and eventually spooked through the fence. Some of them had some nasty cuts. The next day, I saw the dogs coming along the same path to the same spot. Then they saw the cows in the wheat field and started heading their way. Two german shepard type crosses, a rotweiler cross, and some smaller dogs. I was able to take out the biggest three before they could run back into the brush. I had never seen anything like it, and haven't ever seen it again.