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It's going to depend on the totality of the circumstances.

You better know the laws of the jursidiction before you shoot.

Back in my Deputy Sheriff days this problem brought one headache call after another. I was in a state that did not allow deer hunting or deer trailing with dogs.

The biggest problem was the law. It allowed Hunters in the field to who saw dogs actually attacking certain game animals to kill the dog. But if you shot a dog that was simply present in the field where game was present you were in a bunch of trouble. The law didn't apply to all game animals and no birds.

Another law allowed Owners of certain live stock or their representatives to kill dogs harrassing their stock. You could kill a dog that was attacking your sheep but not your chickens. If the owner of the dog could be identified the stock owner was allowed to collect for his loss. If the owner could not be identified the stock owner could collect replacement cost from the County Dog license fund.

I have had to sit down with more than one owner of Fifi or Fido to explain that to a sheep owner the loss of a ewe represented two lambs a year and a bag of wool for x-amount of years, so maybe that wasn't their dog dead out in that field after all.. And the Judges in the county and probably at least half of the Jury pool where some how or another connected to ranching. Where replacment cost was just the cost to buy another sheep.

From my Experience most domestic dogs just chase game for sport. The only problem is the game animal doesn't want to play. I have seen Buck deer standing surrounded by a pack of dogs head down and tongue hanging out, dogs nipping at the animal. Do you know what that would do to a pregnant doe in the spring time.

Once dogs start doing this they won't stop, its great sport. It's very difficult to break a dog of this habit unless it's caught the first time or two. Beyond that they pretty much are a lost cause.

Feral dogs. I have seen a couple. but for the most part the "wild dogs" I saw were someone's domestic dogs allowed to run at will.

Two things you need to know before you shoot a dog running loose.

1. That you have the legal right.

2. That your home owners policy will pay for your shooting Fifi or Fido.

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DD, Ret.

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