Attacked by pack of dogs

gundog

Well-Known Member
Last Saturday i was shooting in Bishops Wood Selby ,i had my dog tethered to the side of me and was well away from any public footpath. i noticed 3 Rottweilers walking in the distance unleashed with the owners walking behind within a split second all three turned and came running over to attack my dog ,i had a loaded shotgun which i put to the floor and attempted to get the dogs off after a while the situation was under control leaving my dog bruised and shaken ,i requested the owners details who declined and made off . i have had this recorded as a crime with North Yorkshire Police
What advice from fellow members that is legal could i have done better ?Also does anybody know of anyone walking three Rottweilers
in the above area ,please forward details to NYPolice
gundog
 
you were one of the many that day, all shooting at birds 80 plus yards up?
I live next to the wood, will ask around.
 
Always difficult to ask for opinion on what to do in a high pressure/emotional situation as you were the only one that was there and you reacted in the way you saw fit. Sure you will get many opinions, however, from shoot the dogs to follow people back to car and everything in between. You dealt with the situation your way and in a way that you felt was appropriate.
 
I have a 3 shot semi auto they would not have made contact with my dog and im not joking
 
A large can of pepper spray would have gone down well..

Not sure if dogs would be susceptible to pepper spray. CS spray doesn't affect them although any liquid sprayed in their face has a deterrent effect. Not something you immediately think of putting in the jacket pocket when out shooting though.

If your dog was in real danger, I would say that it would be reasonable for you to protect it (your property) by whatever means available and that may well include lethal force on those dogs. But I think to have put aside your shotgun and tackled things without it shows good sense. I hope the dogs owners identity is discovered and she pays for it.
 
Thank you for all your comments it looks like we may have discovered the identity of the dogs owner i will keep you informed of how things go,i did speak to serving dog handler who advised to go for the back legs to pull the dogs away as this takes all the power away from the legs
i do not ever want to be in that position again !
 
gundog,
Well done on keeping your cool and placing your shotgun down.
I think if you had shot the dogs you would be in the right but... you most likely would have had to defend yourself legally and would likely have been portrayed as a dog killer with a gun! Others may say you would have every right to shoot... but I have seen this type of occurrence in the US and it usually ends up costing a fortune to defend your righteous action and I mean a fortune. Just my thoughts.
Hopefully you can now resolve things.
I see now that bicycle riders are in the habit of filming their rides to and from work... when out walking dogs I find there is usually sooner or later an interaction with a careless dog owner. People behave differently when they know they are being filmed.
 
To get anywhere near a let off shooting 3 dogs in that situation I would suggest that you would have to be actually attacked, thinking they might may not in this day and age be enough.
 
No way on this earth am I going to wait till I'm going down, thru bleeding out, before I stop them in their tracks, intentions are always clear when being approached by strange dogs, most places require dogs to be under control (on a leash).
 
No way on this earth am I going to wait till I'm going down, thru bleeding out, before I stop them in their tracks, intentions are always clear when being approached by strange dogs, most places require dogs to be under control (on a leash).

I feel the same way, however we live in a f****d up world, just out of curiosity at what distance would you have let them have it, 20yds 10yds 3yds?
I have been attacked by a dog when in Holland and I was surprised just how slow my reactions were, my partner was bitten on the face after it bit me, and at that point I had just about recovered my senses to respond with the required aggression to bring it under control, it was reported and nowt happened to dog or owner.
 
With regards to rules of the use of force I'm not sure if this applies in English law but you are allowed to prevent an attack before it actually happens and if it was me I would've shot all 3 to protect me and my dogs. At the end of the day an irresponsible owner with 3 dogs bred as attack dogs let of the leash to attack anyone or their dogs is not in my eyes a fit and responsible person to keep these breed of dogs or any dogs for that matter
 
You can hear it now, 'officer, i was walking my 3 dogs and this maniac's dog attacked my 3 dogs, his dog was getting the worst of it and the horrible man with shotgun killed all my 3 dogs' so you you did the right thing, unless you had a gopro camera strapped to your chest it's your word against theirs in a court at the end of the day.
Cheers
Richard
 
With regards to rules of the use of force I'm not sure if this applies in English law but you are allowed to prevent an attack before it actually happens and if it was me I would've shot all 3 to protect me and my dogs. At the end of the day an irresponsible owner with 3 dogs bred as attack dogs let of the leash to attack anyone or their dogs is not in my eyes a fit and responsible person to keep these breed of dogs or any dogs for that matter

While you are correct about what is usually termed a "pre emptive strike" the issue is proving (or at least convincing a magistrate or jury) that your actions were proportionate to the threat. Use of force legislation usually determines proportionate as "the minimum to achieve the objective". If you shoot three dogs that are running towards you at 30m then you'd find it hard to prove they were going to attack and not just run up and bark etc having them already chewing on your leg is great proof but a little late. Not saying it's right but the questions asked would be "what did you try before shooting?" and "how did you know with 100% they were going to attack?"

Very difficult to comment on until faced with the actual situation and exactly how threatened you are.
 
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