I found that a 12 guage loaded with bird shot will NOT kill a pit bull unless you shoot him three or four times. Now I use a minimum of #4 buck or bigger.
Why bird shot? Because many of the home defense books in the past recommended it for home defense as it will not go through several walls.
Surprise surprise! It won’t go deep enough into a pit bull either!
In all seriousness, the thought of a dog attack was at the forefront of my gun-carry exercise.
This is why I decided to carry large, and carry a lot. You see, dog’s don’t understand “being shot”. A dog is also full of muscles dedicated to the forward motion. You see, shooting a dog doesn’t have anywhere near the affect as shooting a human.
Humans hear the bang, and know they’ve been shot. Dogs don’t comprehend. And most of what stops a charging perpetrator is the knowledge of being shot.
So with a dog, one must shoot the muscle tissue and literally destroy the body’s ability to move it’s limbs. It’s a horrible, horrible discussion - but it’s important.
Bird shot doesn’t defend from anything but attacking birds. I’m sorry, very very sorry to say - with my reverence of life in all forms - that shooting a dog is a practice of biology and physiology.
And just the thought of it makes me cringe. When carrying a gun in public you are far more likely to be attacked by a dog, or a pack of dogs. And dogs are relentless and cunning - they surround you. They are quiet. And they work as a team within hours of packing. I carry .357, 180g SemiJHP. And I don’t carry it for people. I carry it for animals. It saddens me, but there it is.
I have no pets (I’m a believer that the right pet finds you) but I do have a daughter and I live in the middle of thousands of acres of gamelands. I have a coyote problem. And I -can- have a bear problem too. Those Coyotes are fast, quiet, and when is in front of you, the rest are behind you. And they don’t understand what a gun is, or the bang that it makes.
dang...