Over reaction? Or self defense?

[Nightmare45]

Leash Law??? Large dog charging me, will protect myself.

 

[CharlesMorrison]

That is a scarey situation. I am a "dog" owner and I will do what ever I have to do to protect them from dangerous strays or uncontrolled animals. I say "dog owner" because I have two small Bichons(?). I was never a dog person. It was my wife that had dogs when we met. The little buggers grew on me and before you know it, I was in love wih them.
Good little alarm dogs as they create quite a ruckus when they hear a strange noise. They dont offer much more than that towards protection but they try!

 

[SGB]

I'll have to defer to CapGun's post #14. I cannot say that I verified his statement completely. I did find the following which puts defense of pets into somewhat of a grey area and when common law is used things can go anywhere:

The legal consequences vary, depending on the state and the circumstances. For that reason, you are reminded again that you must seek the advice of an attorney if you have defended your dog against a dog attack. Only very general information can be provided here.

In California, people have a statutory right to kill dogs that attack certain listed animals, and a common-law right to defend their other domestic animals from attack under most circumstances. Other states have laws that are similar in nature; however, the list of animals might be different, so the laws have to be read carefully.

California provides a privilege to kill any animal that is worrying, wounding or killing certain other animals. California Civil Code section 3341, subdivision 2, states that any person can kill any animal (including a dog) that is off the premises of the owner and is worrying, wounding or killing certain listed animals:

3341, subd. 2. Any person on finding any dog or dogs, or other animal, not on the premises of the owner or possessor of such dog or dogs, or other animal, worrying, wounding, or killing any bovine animals, swine, horses, mules, burros, sheep, angora or cashmere goats, may, at the time of finding such dog or dogs, or other animal, kill the same, and the owner or owners thereof shall sustain no action for damages against any person so killing such dog or dogs, or other animal.

If a dog comes into your backyard and is killing your pet rabbit, you cannot kill the dog and claim a privilege under this statute, because rabbits are not listed. However, your fault (if any) for killing the dog would be compared with the fault of the dog owner. While you would not be entitled to claim a privilege to kill, a jury might decide that you nevertheless acted reasonably, or that the dog owner was principally at fault. This is because there is a common law privilege for defending domestic animals from attack:"

If memory serves, in "common law" it's held that that which isn't specifically illegal is legal.

 

[_Anthony_]

not enough information - people shouldn't possess animals in which they cannot control. My wife and I have a German Shepherd, most lovable dog ever worthless in the event of a home invasion or burglary but he's a good dog.

That being said he's also a very LARGE dog and if he ever got off the leash and ran towards someone even though I know he'd be excited and want to "meet them" I could understand if that person reacted in a defensive manner to fight off my charging "vicious" German shepherd. If you can't control your dog in public don't take them in public.

 

[craigguinn]

i always had a "walking stick" w/me when i used to walk my dogs for just such an occurance. don't know why the man felt compelled to stab the dogs w/a knife. must have been much more aggressive than stated in the article. can't say either way.

 

[old skool]

Really not enough information. Was he bit while stabbing the dogs?

 

[discodan]

+1 for Self Defense

These types of stories really sicken me. As an owner of 2 american bulldogs and a Staff bull terrier i know first hand that you do not ever let children handle these animals alone, due to high prey drive and power.

It all boils down to owner responsibility. Bad owners will be the end of these fine breeds.

 

[Rich M]

I almost shot my neighbors pit when it came onto my property chasing my kitten.

The kitten didnt deserved to be attacked and the outcome would have been tragic for her. Since its a cat and not a person, law enforcement would not have done much.

Kinda BS injustice for the cat. Same as the defenders dog. Pet owners have to stand up to their responcibility and their pets defence as well.

With the info provided, Peña was justified. With all the pit maulings I read about, I wont wait and see if Im being charged at.

 

[jhaw977187]

From what the kids reported to the media,it looks like the guy was protecting his small dog from the attack of two bigger and possibly aggressive dogs. Sorry for their bad luck, some lawyer's going to make himself a new Mercedes out of this one.

 

[Bikenut]

I guess I'll never understand the mentality that some dog owners have where they will come to the defense of a dog who has a man's gonads in his teeth .... and blame the man for putting them there.

I don't care how attached a person is to a dog... it is still just a dog... an animal... and people will always come before animals... even the people who act like animals still outrank animals.

Don't want your dog shot for attacking someone? Keep the damn dog under control. Period. If you can't keep the animal under control then don't complain when someone else does it for you.

It's still just a damn dog!

In the interest of full disclosure.............................. I love dogs. But I fully understand their place in the world and that place is NOT above people.