I was out walking with Bear last night through a particularly dark part of our neighborhood and I saw the reflection of eyes (I wear a head lamp at night as we don't have street lights where we live) coming towards us. Having lived out west my first thought was "thats a big coyote...crap!" But it took me a sec to realize that there are very few coyotes where we live in NoVA and that it was the neighbors dog.
This is the third of fourth time his lab/pit mix has been out wandering the neighborhood. The thing, is it routinely tries to nip at Bear but anytime a human approaches it, it runs off only to come right back around. Frustrating to say the least! After about a min of yelling at him to go home a swift well placed kick to the gut/ribs sent the message that verbal commands didn't. I didn't kick it too hard as I know the neighbor and I am not trying to kill his dog or crush any of its bones but his dog getting out is pretty routine and he doesn't seem to care in the least.
Generally I carry certain forms of personal protection but the use of lethal force is a last resort. Typically, threat of life or loss of limb is the determining factor.
