You did exactly what you should have Claybuster. That's the reason you carry, for protection.

I live next to a woman that sits for children and there is a dog in the neighborhood that belongs to a neighbors visiting daughter. She lets the dog run free when she's visiting and once I had to fire a warning shot to keep it from attacking a six year old girl. The dog has since been taken in by the SO and the owner was fined.

[b]If another dog is killing my dog I will beat the shit out of that dog with a stick or something but I will not shoot a dog, unless it is attacking a person ( bad guys excluded )[/b]

They might be a good solution for many types of dogs, but not a pit bull terrier. There is no beating the shit out of one of those. In my town about 10 years ago, a 250 lb man tried to 'beat the shit' out of a pit bull who had a kid trapped on the roof of a car. Let me just say that all he earned was a lot of stitches and some broken hand bones. Fortunately, someone was on hand with a handgun, although it had to be unloaded into the dog to stop it. It is aldo a well know fact that drug dealers keep pit bulls on their property to thwart police or DEA raids due to the fact that very few men are a match for a pit bull, and they can take shots and keep going. Give the criminal time to flee.

Let us know when you succeed in kickin a pit bull's ass.

Also, everyone, why all of the 'if someone touches my dog, they'll get shot' in this thread. Yes they might get shot - and you will definately be in prison. This kind of talk fuels the fire for anti-gunners. I really doubt I would shoot a man dead for hurting my bassett hound. Although, if possible, I would blogeon him to a pulp, then sue him.

    Night before last an elderly woman taking a walk in the woods got killed by three pit bulls that were running loose I used to not think it was the dogs but the owners but now I think maybe them aint that good a pet. This happened just across the river in the next town my barber's sons mother in law in fact.

As I read more, I see people referring to stopping fights between Chows, Labs, big mutts, etc. Please, don't make the mitake of trying this with pit bulls. Call the local dog pound and ask them their advice on breaking up a pit bull fight. Call the local attack dog trainer, call whomever, they will tell you it is a mistake. We have had some pit bull incidents in my town in the past (I live in the south). Do not try to go head-to-head with a pit bull, even with a crowbar, baseball bat, hammer, axe, whatever. Use a gun. With a hi capacity mag.

If you do decide to figh one yourself, let me know. I would be interested to see how many stitches you got.

It's called personal responsibility Ariel, in case you've never heard that term. An animal is your property and it is your responsibilty to maintain control.  I had a friend of mine that used to raise horses.  He lived in a rural area and had a lot of trouble with people letting their dogs run loose.  After he had to put down one of his horses because a dog chased it into the barbwire fence, he started keeping an '06 by the back door.  His pasture is littered with dog teeth...ENUF SAID!!!  If you care about your property/animals, maintain control.  I don't read this site to listen to a bunch of whiners from PETA!!! [KILL]

Claybuster, you did exactly what I would have done.
Irresponsible dog owners are always upset their dogs are killed.
I've broken up dog fights, had shoot dogs that attacked animals, been bitten, and if was my dog that did the attacking on someone's property I'd expect to pay for damages.

Poor doggies.
It's a terrible thing what happened.
That Pit Bull didn't deserve to die. It deserved a responsble owner who would take care of it.  Shame on anyone who feels some sort of glory in the killing of a dog in this type of situation. There's no glory to be had. I understand Ariel's initial reaction to this post, but don't think he responded appropriately. Then all hell broke loose, and it became reactionary.
Those poor doggies.

Good  job claybuster , I love dogs but any dog that bites has to die,Even if it's Mine.You handled it better than me because I probably would have cut the dogs head off and stuck it on the fence post.

If you shoot a human being over a dog fight you will go to jail. Big Willie is waiting in jail. He will put something in you.....It is not a Cor Bon.........It will not go in your forehead!

Hell I would have pumped a couple more rounds in the pit bull when the owner arrived, just for good measure...[:D]