Also if you carry concealed, shoot from underneath the dogs throat upward through the skull. A dog has a very hard skull and downward shots can cause richochets and/or secondary fragmentation projectiles.
I have also read that an old hippie trick against police dogs was to grab them around the collar or scruff and start spinning in a circle, then releasing. Apparently dogs don’t recover very well from the spinning.
And that's what the US Gov't said in the shot that hit JFK in the back of the head.
Of course we now know JFK was never hit in the back of the head, he was hit near the right ear and it blew a large hole in the back of his head about the size of a man's fist.
The lesson learned is shoot a man in the head and you will kill him. Shoot a dog in the head and you will likely find he will keep coming.