So this happened on Sunday:

http://whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/whitehorse-rcmp-probe-shooting-of-family-pet/


In my subdivision...we live in a country residential area. Basically, we are within city limits (about 20 minutes from town) all the lots are acreages ranging from 2-10 acres. I LOVE where I live. Its literally across a road to hike a beautiful mountain or the lake and not see another soul - why do people have to foul that up?

I have 5 dogs on my property right now(one boarder and 4 of my own, all fenced of course) but it is still scary that someone can do that to a dog at all!

I am teaching classes tonight, so I told my husband he can let the dogs out for half an hour and thats it. Thank God it's cold ( I know, who thanks anyone for that) but it means that they won't want to be out anyway.

I know that the owner should have kept his dog on his property. But I have had dogs come to my house, I march them back home and give the owners an earful. I haven't had to do it twice.

Why are people so cruel? Shooting the dog is blaming the dog - the dog is a dog. It doesn't know it is not supposed to go there!

How awful!!!!

There were so many better ways of handeling that, if in fact the dog became a problem. IMO it is probably some kid "having fun" while mom and dad are away. How horrible! Whoever it is should be ashamed of themselves and come forward but I'm sure that wont happen. Poor pup, he didnt deserve to die that way.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions.

It's possible that this was a really horrible, senseless and cruel act.

It's possible their loose roaming dog was attacking someone else's dog, and they had no choice but to defend their dog as so many of us would do.

I agree that shooting the dog in this situation was punishing the dog for the owner's stupidity.
Any time we shove, push, kick, hit or otherwise use force to drive away a strange dog that is approaching our own dog, we're punishing the dog for the owner's stupidity.

But that's not our motivation.
We aren't doing those things to punish anyone- we're doing them to protect our own animals.

I'm not saying that's what happened here- I'm saying based on the link I read, we have no idea what happened. Knowing that my scenario is *possible*, I'm inclined not to make a judgment either way as to what happened. Until they identify a shooter, or a witness steps forward...

We can assume whatever we want.
I'm opting for not assuming at all.

http://news.aol.co.uk/uk-news/story/picture-of-boy-stabbed-in-dog-row/1593711?icid=main|uk-ws-bb|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.co.uk%2Fuk-news%2Fstory%2Fpicture-of-boy-stabbed-in-dog-row%2F1593711

Keeping to the 'what's wrong with people' theme, this happened in england a few days ago

I do see how they could have been protecting their dog, maybe even some livestock. I don't think anyone has chickens, goats, sheep etc. where I live, but I know a few homes have horses. The corrals I have seen thus far all have electric fences, so I do not think a dog would get to them.

The person will definitely not come forward - it is illegal here to discharge a firearm within city limits (I'm sure its different for a home invasion, but I know for a bear or wolf, you had better be able to prove the animal was a threat and not just passing through your property. I even think it is illegal to shoot a dog unless it is going after a human).

I do really hope though that this was a case of someone defending their dog/pet/livestock and not just someone being an a**.

That is so sad, OP you are correct...dog's don't understand they aren't supposed to be somewhere. Its up to the owners to make sure their fences are secured and that their pets are locked in when they are or aren't home. That is why (when I get my next dog-pet less right now) I would never have any of my animals out on their own in the backyard without supervision!! I would go out their with them and check the yard before I let them out, you know checking to make sure that the fence isn't broken, gates aren't left open, etc.