Back in February, a pack of dogs attacked a neighbor’s cow and so damaged it that it had to be killed. I learned later that there was more to the story: The dogs also tried to attack the neighbor who owned the cow. He shut himself in his car and called the sheriff. He did not defend himself aggressively, because (and I genuinely didn’t know this about him) “he doesn’t like guns.” Must have been a long wait for the sheriff. He lives further back in the nowheres than I do.
That last bit of information came as a shock: His, er, domestic partner is the guy who fought off a big bear last summer, when it came right through a glass door of their house. And he’s the little one. The guy currently under discussion is in every other way a helluva man – he has accomplished things I don’t bother to dream about, and he sure doesn’t have anything against hard work. But he nearly got torn apart by dogs because he “doesn’t like guns.”
This came to mind a few days ago. Landlady and I were stuccoing her house when both dogs started barking like crazy. I figured it was just horses in the wash, but Landlady said, “Maybe those dogs have come back.” At that I dropped what I was doing and grabbed my .45 where I’d stashed it in the Jeep. I wanted a rematch with those dogs.
Well, it turned out to be horses in the wash. Landlady and I got to talking about the dog incident, and I said something like, “Tell you the truth, I feel worse about the cow than I do about [neighbor’s name.] The cow didn’t have any choice about being defenseless.”
It’s not that I have anything against the guy, because I don’t. He’s a really nice guy, a good neighbor, and I’d hop in the Jeep to help him out in a heartbeat if he said he needed it. But what kind of an approach is that? We don’t live in a park, dammit. Here, the wolf (or the bear, or the dog pack) can literally be at the door. Having an effective way to respond is just the obligation you owe to yourself and your family, if any.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again now. Along with the ability to procreate, access to weapons is what separates adult creatures from infants. Deliberately choosing to remain defenseless is like choosing to remain an infant, and it makes no sense at all. Those who advocate it do not have your best interests at heart.
Sounds like your neighbor needs to really examine how much he enjoyed his personal reenactment of scenes from Cujo. I’m not keen to heap collective responsibilities on others. I am however apt to look at that dog situation thus; his being a victim and refusing to not be a victim when the tools of not being a victim are readily available, indeed damn near mandatory, may lead to someone else suffering down the road. I wonder how that would impact his sensibilities to know the dogs that got after him killed a human next month?
I can imagine being ripped to shreds is a shitty way to go.
If he’d have popped a few pooches when he was in his predicament rather than cower that would be that many fewer teeth out in that part of the world.
I would see it as my duty to kill as many feral mutts as possible where ever possible.
Same as I’d see it a duty to go help that neighbor pull his car out of a ditch or stop his bleeding if he hurt himself stretching fence.
It’s just the right thing to do.
Buck.
Which is EXACTLY why my revolver will go along with me when I’m out on the boat fishing. Alone. Along a major drug corridor…
If you think about .. none of us live in a park. Most of us just live in places that cover up that fact real good.