I agree the bb gun is not a good thing unless the dog is charging like pit bulls have reps for attacking.
When the local dogs usually Labs too show up in my yard I load them up and take them home if their parents do not show up in a reasonable amount of time.
I would never call the dog pound for visiting pets, I am a doggie mama and feel it is better to take the visiting canines back to their owners or keep an eye out for someone looking for thier pet if I don''t know the dog.
The Labs that come over only do it once in a great while.
One day I had two on I was babysitting for a neighbor and another whose owner had to get going that morning on a charter boat he owns so his big Choc Lab slept in my backyard all day under the deck. GO figure.
I find it special that dogs show up at our place when they get out. We have a busy bay road that people speed on down below and I would rather they hang out at my place then be on that bay road and cause an accident or get hit.
But the Lib neihgbor, we live acres apart around here coming into my home and coming to my bed and waking me up cause she was pissed was not appropriate.
Oh well maybe that is why I would rather have dogs visiting.
I only wish the stray had been someone's missing pet. Even the first time we saw the dog, we could tell it didn't belong to anyone. He didn't really want to have anything to do with people. It's not that he was skittish, he'd just trot away when he saw you. He also was very thin. No collar either.
I have a sun room I can close off from the rest of the house. There have been several dogs that have taken up residence in my sunroom while I run down their owners.
Normally if I can approach the dog and it has a collar with a tag I'll take the dog in temporarily. I remember one Wednesday night I did this with a cocker. I called the vet's office and got the receptionist who was at our local Baptist Church. As soon as Church was over, she went to the office and got the name/address/phone number of the cocker's owner. I called them and they came to get their doggy.
I agree with you about having anyone coming into my home and up to my bed!
From comments and FReep mail it looks like the majority recommend contacting the local PD. I am off from work on Friday so will take the x-ray and head down to the local PD and have a chat with them. I will also put the electronic fence back into operation, better to have her shocked than shot. Will also let a neighbor who is a state trooper and a dog lover know what happened, maybe he can keep an eye out as he works late nights and is around the house in the evenings when this happened.
Their PARENTS ?! Think again.