Dog vs. cat vs. cops

[Transit]

How would anyone know if the cat is dead or not? Assume the cat is alive and shoot the attacking dog.

 

[RoyJackson]

#3) The cat is property. The remedy for property damage is not to go get a gun in a city setting where it is clear who owns the dog and who is responsible for the damage. I am sure emotion played a role in the cat owner's actions and judgement. Emotions and guns do not mix well, this is why the police will do all they can to limit that lethal combination.

Although I agree with most of your post, I must disagree with this part.
Legally, yes...pets are property. But to many (including me), pets are part of the family. I'd defend my dog just as this lady did.
I also think this lady went to get the gun to save her pet, not a retribution or revenge. I would guess she was so distraught, she probably didn't realize her cat was dead.

I'm guessing you're not a pet owner...or if you are, you aren't attached to your pet.

This whole thing is a sad tale all around..

 

[LD1]

How would anyone know if the cat is dead or not? Assume the cat is alive and shoot the attacking dog.

Although I agree with most of your post, I must disagree with this part.
Legally, yes...pets are property. But to many (including me), pets are part of the family. I'd defend my dog just as this lady did.
I also think this lady went to get the gun to save her pet, not a retribution or revenge. I would guess she was so distraught, she probably didn't realize her cat was dead.

I'm guessing you're not a pet owner...or if you are, you aren't attached to your pet.

This whole thing is a sad tale all around..

This is exactally what I was going to point out.

We dont know if the cat was already dead or not. And my guess is that the cat-owner was indeed still trying to save her cat.

The only thing it says is "the dog owner also claimed the cat was already dead". Is she a Vet? Did she check for a pulse? Breathing?

IMO, the cops arrested the wrong person.

We have two people, a cat owner and a pitbull owner. And we have two dead animals, a cat and a pitbull. So why are we arresting the one sitting on her front porch instead of the one illegally trespassing????

The ONLY thing that would sway my opinion (and it would be hard to prove), would be if the dog owner had alread seperated the two animals and had her dog back under control and at her side, and was just waiting on the cat-owner to come back out to see how she wanted to handel things. If that was the case and the cat lady came out and shot the dog that was sitting at its owners side.....bad. But it sounds to me like the dog still had the cat in the jaws and the dog owner couldnt separate? Who knows for sure

 

[RobertBrown]

If this happened in my county I seriously doubt any citations would have been written. Maybe a law suit maybe not. I have no problem with that regardless of the breed.
This is about the jurisdiction. They no doubt have some serious gun related crime in that area and they have passed laws to make prosecution easier.
Unfortunetly this crime has little to do with aforementioned gun violence, but the charges do.
I am not a cat lover and I am glad to see another dead bull dog. These dogs and irresponsible (pit bull)dog owners have become an epidemic in this country.
I don't get why anyone would want to keep a dog that has the potential to kill or harm a child. They have been bred to fight and kill. I think they are poor choice for even for a guard dog let alone a household pet.

 

[JDgreen227]

This is exactally what I was going to point out.

We dont know if the cat was already dead or not. And my guess is that the cat-owner was indeed still trying to save her cat.

The only thing it says is "the dog owner also claimed the cat was already dead". Is she a Vet? Did she check for a pulse? Breathing?

IMO, the cops arrested the wrong person.

We have two people, a cat owner and a pitbull owner. And we have two dead animals, a cat and a pitbull. So why are we arresting the one sitting on her front porch instead of the one illegally trespassing????

The ONLY thing that would sway my opinion (and it would be hard to prove), would be if the dog owner had alread seperated the two animals and had her dog back under control and at her side, and was just waiting on the cat-owner to come back out to see how she wanted to handel things. If that was the case and the cat lady came out and shot the dog that was sitting at its owners side.....bad. But it sounds to me like the dog still had the cat in the jaws and the dog owner couldnt separate? Who knows for sure

As the story was also reported online, many people commented on it, and from my interpretation the dog was still mauling the cat when the cat owner shot it. By the way, I just came back in, I was out with three of our cats and a strange dog about the size of a fox came onto our property, I grabbed a pair of fist size rocks and ran after it and it took off. If my wife were not such a bleeding heart I would have been carrying my .380 with me. Had the dog made any aggressive move or got close to my cats I would have attacked it. Didn't recognize the dog or I would go give the owner h--- for letting it run loose.

 

[dave1949]

Although I agree with most of your post, I must disagree with this part.
Legally, yes...pets are property. But to many (including me), pets are part of the family. I'd defend my dog just as this lady did.
I also think this lady went to get the gun to save her pet, not a retribution or revenge. I would guess she was so distraught, she probably didn't realize her cat was dead.

I'm guessing you're not a pet owner...or if you are, you aren't attached to your pet.

This whole thing is a sad tale all around..

Yes, it is sad all around.

I am a pet owner Roy. My comments are because I care for my dog a great deal. I don't agree with the idea that shooting a dog just because it is on your property is okay; that dog is more than likely somebody's pet. It could be my dog, even though he has a fenced yard and is on a leash when he is not in the yard, it's always possible he could get away. It could be your dog on my property too. I don't understand this fixation with mine, mine, mine. My property, my this, my that; I can kill if I want to. Well, yes, you can, but that isn't the point is it? My first reaction is to think about how to get that person's animal back home and safe. The same as for a wandering cow, horse, goat or whatever.

My FIL was a fanatic about his lawn and garden. It was his pride and joy. But he never used anything but a BB gun to chase off neighbors dogs and cats. He did have harsh words for the owners and made it clear their pets were not welcome. There are levels of possible responses to most situations.

We don't know if the cat was alive or dead and it would be normal to assume it is still alive and try and save your pet. I might do the same thing. I might think later that pepper spray or something non-lethal would have been a better response. That is the problem with guns, you get only one chance to make the best decision. The choices are very clear when human life is threatened, but not so clear in other cases.

Apparently, the police charged the cat owner because they thought her response to the situation was not reasonable. I think the police will always have a problem with someone who introduces a lethal weapon into a situation where human life is not at risk. That is as it should be. If they are erring, they are erring on the side of protecting human life. If a person wants to 'weaponize' themselves, it is their responsibility to be using the correct weapon for the situation and location.

I don't think the cat owner should be punished and I don't think she did anything wrong, in the absolute sense. I do think she could have made other, better choices. I know that makes me a Monday Morning QB. But, it wouldn't be unreasonable, and would show forethought, for a cat owner in a city/suburban setting to keep a can of pepper spray by the door.

Could I see most dogs having a gay old time chasing the neighbors chickens? Heck yes, that would be typical dog behavior, especially for younger dogs. But, for example, killdozerd11 only shot the dogs in his yard after warning the owner. In other words, he did what he could to avoid killing. He transferred the responsibility to where it belongs - to the owner. He has to protect his chickens, that is his responsibility and he met it. His neighbor is an idiot and had pit bulls; another data point for my theory.

Dave.

 

[Bird]

One problem with news stories iike this one is that they never give you enough information to offer an opinion. And it's not unusual for some of the information given to be wrong.

From what little we know of this incident, and if it's right, I'd have a hard time understanding how the shooter could be arrested. But as I said, I don't know enough about it.

We have a chihuahua. My wife goes for walks in the neighborhood, carrying a normal walking stick, but she's afraid to take our little dog because there are sometimes dogs loose in the neighborhood. I go out for a walk much less frequently, but when I do, I take the little dog because she loves to go, and I have a .38 in my pocket and I carry a Bubba Stik . It's not very often we encounter loose dogs, but when we have, so far it's been small friendly dogs that just wanted to play, or when it's been bigger dogs, they went the other direction when I challenged them with the Bubba Stik. I would really hate to shoot a dog, but if my dog or I get bit, the biter is quite likely to get shot.

 

[dave1949]

One problem with news stories iike this one is that they never give you enough information to offer an opinion. And it's not unusual for some of the information given to be wrong.

From what little we know of this incident, and if it's right, I'd have a hard time understanding how the shooter could be arrested. But as I said, I don't know enough about it.

We have a chihuahua. My wife goes for walks in the neighborhood, carrying a normal walking stick, but she's afraid to take our little dog because there are sometimes dogs loose in the neighborhood. I go out for a walk much less frequently, but when I do, I take the little dog because she loves to go, and I have a .38 in my pocket and I carry a Bubba Stik . It's not very often we encounter loose dogs, but when we have, so far it's been small friendly dogs that just wanted to play, or when it's been bigger dogs, they went the other direction when I challenged them with the Bubba Stik. I would really hate to shoot a dog, but if my dog or I get bit, the biter is quite likely to get shot.

Good point Bird, it is more likely than not that the reporting will be wrong. But that shouldn't get in the way of a good discussion :laughing:

You illustrate my idea, you are prepared to make various levels of responses in a situation. You don't have to be prepared that way, the BubbaStik was at your expense and you have to carry it around, but you make a conscious choice to do so. I call that civility and tolerance, something we have all wished for more of in various threads.

Going back to killdozered11's chickens. I think it also makes a difference as to how the chicken chasing dog is behaving. Is the dog playing or does it intend to kill? The playing would be aggravating for sure, but nothing is dead yet until you get your gun out. Maybe it is just me, but I would rather train the neighbors dog than shoot it, if it is just playing with my chickens.
Dave.

 

[RoyJackson]

...more likely than not that the reporting will be wrong. But that shouldn't get in the way of a good discussion :laughing:

Hasn't stopped us since I've been a member...10 years now.

 

[JDgreen227]

Hasn't stopped us since I've been a member...10 years now.

OP here, the writer who reported the story has been one of the longest-serving staff of the local news that ran the story, I know him personally and he did not report this cat-dog story in the newspaper in general, but in his own human-interest column that runs daily. In all the time I have been reading his reporting he has never tried to let his own opinion influence the facts, IMO he is one of the fairest, most honest people in the newspaper business.