In article .com,
"hylourgos" wrote:

IMO, if you let it go at all (i.e., the situation didn't demand that
you rush to get your gun the very first incident), then maybe the
cooler thing to do is talk to the owner and let him know how you feel,
before you kill his pet.

I personally would fault no one for killing anything, man or beast, who
threatened his small children. But if you take a pass, then why not use
that moratorium to resolve the situation peacefully? And if the
neighbor won't cooperate, by all means include the police in the
dialogue: they're often helpful that way, and you've covered your legal
bases in doing so.

What I've not read in any reply, but may have missed, is the
recommendation for the OP to educate his children clearly and often
about how to treat and behave around dogs - be it the neighbor's
questionable mutt or the family Peekapoo.

Most dog bites aren't by pit bulls, or any of the other breeds deemed
"dangerous", but by the labradors and retrievers (read the dog bite
stats a couple months back but don't feel like pulling it up at the
moment). The scary dog mauling stories make the news because they're so
horrendous and INFREQUENT. What you don't hear about are the every day
bites by Gramma Nell's nice little Yorkie, or the family's Golden who
was startled by the 2 year old jumping on it while it was sleeping.

Children need to be educated on how to approach and behave in the
company of all dogs. They need to be told to never approach a dog
without the owner's permission. They need to be cautioned about any
specific dogs the parent suspects as being a potential danger to quietly
leave the area and find an adult to asses the situation.
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
__________

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05