Using your dog for self protection

[Kid k]

Ok so I have a German Shepard/Great Dane mix appox 100 pounds, he is very protective of my wife and I. He has repeated scared of the neighbors loose pits and labs. And once at 3:30 am with my side arm holstered, I let him out to comfront somebody trying to get into my wife truck. Dog knocked him to the ground as he ran. Shore he had some bite marks, but I call my dog back and the guy ran. I reported it. My question is that when portecting your self and your property is there any legal problem one could have with allowing the dog to attack a person in my defense.

Im I the only person that is using his pet for self defense, anybody have any stories?

[jb44336]

Hmm that's a good question.. I don't have an answer for that.

I DO have a story though: about six years ago, I was in the bathroom when I heard my Beagel growl in a way I never heard him growl before. When I came out of the bathroom, two men were standing in my kitchen. I was about 15 feet away from the men, and one rushed towards me. My Beagel attacked him, and I defended myself. Around that time my brother rushed in the kitchen and confronted the other man. We got the upper hand, got them outside, and my brother got on the phone with the police. I noticed in my yard that there were another 3-5 people. That's when I got a sick feeling in my stomach, knowing that things could have turned out very differently. I believe my dog gave us the upper hand and I'm very thankful for that. (PS- just so you know, this was before I owned a gun)

[RXM]

Using your dog or a firearm to prevent someone from breaking into your car isn't considered self defense. Only some states allow for the use of force to protect property and PA isn't one of them.

[BestDefense=StrongOffense]

While I would not use my dog to attack someone, my last dog did prevent unlawful entry into my home 3 times. Reports were made for each instance, with one arrest. Male turned up at hospital with arm injury, was found to be in possession of some of my neighbors belongings. To be clear, my dog was inside, and did his own thing. It was hard enough to keep the 870 leveled at the door and talk to the dispatcher, let alone try to pull my dog back.



I am not sure if turning your dog loose on someone in the driveway is legal. Tread lightly.

[Kid k]

Glade to hear different Perspectives, My intent was not to attack. But defense, But not to go out alone either, My dog just turn 2 years old and still a puppy and I learned quickly how he reacts from that night. He stay on the leash now

[OwnTheRide]

My dogs are part of my defense strategy, both as an alarm and force. At minimum, they'll serve as a buffer between the BGs and my family. My dogs were used (sorta) in defense one time:

I was sitting in my office playing some game when I heard one of the dogs barking outside in a stressed tone. We'd had a lot of other dogs wandering through our land, one old lab in particular, so I figured he must be passing through again. I got up from my chair and glanced out the window. Sure enough, there's that gray muzzle on a big brown dog walking in the yard.

As I sat back down, something went off in my head. Something wasn't right. The dog was too big, the ears were standing up and round, the muzzle wasn't the right color... I looked out the window again and HOLY SHIT THAT'S A BEAR!

I start running down the stairs... I don't know if my wife is inside or outside, but the dogs are definitely out there and I'm quite fond of them too. I'm yelling for my wife to get inside, hoping she hears me wherever she is. Well, she did, but she didn't understand exactly what I was saying, so she went outside to see what the fuss was all about. Doh.

I get outside, and I see the following: the bear eating from a bird feeder I'd told my wife to take down; my wife, slack-jawed; and my oldest dog, obviously terrified, barking like crazy, firmly planted between my wife and the bear. My wife ran inside, my younger dog hot on her heels. I called my oldest dog, who, upon seeing my wife was inside, ran around and stood behind me, LOL. Apparently I don't warrant protection.

I took the lid off of my garbage can and beat it against the can, which made enough noise to scare the bear off to go terrorize my neighbors. That poor garbage can took a beating that summer from all the times I used it to scare away bears.

One good thing to come out of this was that my wife was finally convinced that bird feeders attract bears

[Exbiker]

Bad idea and in fact possibly a huge liability. You are relying on either your dogs prey drive, his resource guarding or his misplaces aggression. You also sent him to do a task he has no training to do.
Without training he should merely be an early warning system and a decoy as the bad guys don't know his level or lack of training. In actuality without proper training you are responsible for his safety.

[Kid k]

Bad idea and in fact possibly a huge liability. You are relying on either your dogs prey drive, his resource guarding or his misplaces aggression. You also sent him to do a task he has no training to do.
Without training he should merely be an early warning system and a decoy as the bad guys don't know his level or lack of training. In actuality without proper training you are responsible for his safety.

Thanks. Very true. Good to think outside the box

[arjohnson]

My German Shepherds only responsibility is to protect the house from an intruder, if someone breaks in he will do just that. He is very protective of his territory, to use him for any other reason is asking for trouble.

[LawDawg]

My K-9 partner is retired after 8 years of service. He lives at home with us now and is very protective of the house and family. He spends a lot of time just laying by the front door and watching the outside activity. I have my property posted "Beware of the Dog" to give people the heads up when approaching the front door. His bark is intimidating enough that the UPS/Fed Ex guys leave packages at the garage to avoid coming onto the front porch. Over the summer, a male soliciting for some kind of BS came up to the front door and knocked. I was in the kitchen making coffee and I could hear my Shep barking. The guy attempted to hang paperwork on my door handle. While he played with the door handle, the door opened up a couple of inches. Next thing you know, I hear a scream and the barking stops. I run out the front door and find the guy on the roof of his car in my driveway. My Shep has him in a bark and hold. My Shep returns to my side and I ask the guy what happened. He tells me that he accidentally opened the door and before he could pull it shut, my dog was on his ass. He was unharmed but definitely shaken. He tells me that I have one hell of a security system. I asked him if he saw the signs on the property and he said he did but he has seen many properties with signs and figures a lot of people just use them to scare people. He said he will never take those signs for granted again. He gave me the paperwork and was on his way. My wife now feels very secure when she is home alone with the dog. Before this incident, she was unsure of how he would react if someone came in while she was home alone.