Bear kills your dog in your yard, would you...

[claude clay]

kill it if you had a gun that would do the job?

Bear, With Cubs Nearby, Kills Dog In Avon - Courant.com

it is happening in your back yard and if you had a 45acp perhaps you could act in time to save your dog. otherwise you would likely have to go inside and get a rifle.
by the time you return the dog would be dead.

What would you do?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Harryball]

I would have shot the Bear. Its a black bear not a grizzly, my .45 would of at least scared it off...

[Old School]

Tough call for sure. This is one of the problems that is caused by humans invading the habitat of bears and other wild creatures. I love my dogs and they are not small dogs and are always together so I believe the mother bear would try to first avoid them but who knows for sure.

Seeing one of them in the mouth of a bear would very likely cause me to attempt to save them in any way I could and if I did live in bear country I would be properly armed when outside and for black bears it would be at the least a .357 mag if not a .44 mag.

[Adkjoe]

Absolutely, my dog is my best friend and even if I only had a knife I would probably try and kill it. Stupid, probably but no one messes with my dog

In all reality I almost always have a .357 mag on me which would do the trick for our little black bears. When I'm in the woods it's loaded with 180 gr LFNGC rounds which will definitely do the trick.

[NC Bullseye]

Dog to vet, bear to taxidermist.

[gasmitty]

A couple of years ago an older gent in my old town of New Milford (CT) saw a black bear threatening his dog in the back yard, and he killed it with a shotgun he kept handy. You wouldn't believe the public uproar over killing the "innocent" bear. The DEP of course got involved (the usual "shooting non-game species") but he ultimately wasn't charged. One of my last visits to the vet back there I met a guy whose golden retriever was set upon by a coyote and had its hindquarters chewed up. Both incidents were in semi-rural parts of town where the homeowner's property abutted heavily-wooded areas.

If I had a shot, even with a .38 snub, I'd take it to protect my dogs. Usually I have a .45 close at hand and the 870 with buckshot isn't far away.

[Guantes]

My dogs have always been members of the family. You screw with the dog, you're screwing with my family.

I once picked up a hitchhiker. Was in my pickup with the wife and dog. The hitcher waited, apparently for me to put the dog in the back so he could ride up front. I told him, the dog is family, you want the ride jump in the back.

[ontarget1911]

Around here we practice S&S. Shoot and shovel

[retsupt99]

My dog is is a faithful companion, I would not stand by and let her be attacked.
I'm always armed out in the yard, but I also know that a bear, even a small black bear is 'fast and strong'.
I do not just want to make the bear angry with a couple of misplaced shots.
Good luck shooting a charging black bear with a pistol.
A .45 could work against a small black bear, but you would be surprised how much lead a bear can take and still outrun a quarter horse for a short distance.

That could just as easily have been a child in the yard...
All that said, I'm going to try and save my dog...

The only problem for me would be shooting the bear while it's still in my dog's mouth...

See...she's still licking her chops from the last bear.

[HKinNY]

I see a new bear skin rug for the floor.

[Aiko]

You bet, my dogs would do the same for me.

[ksholder]

Hire the bear to be my new dog. That would keep the BGs away. :)

[Hiram25]

Yep, have to protect my family and my Ruby is part of it.

[archer51]

Many things would come into play. Size of the bear, gun I was carrying, distance and available cover to put between me and the bear. While I love my animals, I won't jeopardize my life for them.

[Old School]

Hey dad who's the hottie in Post #9?

photo.jpg

Tell her I got one of them operations Atctimmy got so I'm cool.