MI CPL holder misses dog

[bignflnut]

Police said the woman was dragged into the street by the dog, which neighbors described as a stray of no specific breed. She was crying for help when a friend of hers who lives nearby heard her.

"Our resident, seeing this -- he's a CPL holder -- came out of his home and engaged the dog," Detroit police Capt. Darin Szilagy said. "He fired an unknown number of shots to try to stop the attack. Unfortunately, during that action, the woman was struck."

Police said they have no doubt the man's intention was to help, not harm, the woman. But she was hit by multiple bullets.

"We have checked the area for the initial dog that caused the mauling, and we have not located it yet," Szilagy said. "We do believe that dog may have been wounded, and we have been canvassing the area to try to do due diligence to locate this animal."

It's an awful, yet instructive, story.

[qmti]

If the dog was big enough to drag a human, he was big enough to hit. Guy needs some range time and instructions from a qualified instructor.

[Javelin Man]

He could also get a little closer....

[Brian D.]

He could also get a little closer....

Contact shot if at all possible. That's what is taught by anyone I've known to write or speak on the subject, anyhow.

[M-Quigley]

If the dog was big enough to drag a human, he was big enough to hit. Guy needs some range time and instructions from a qualified instructor.

Any instruction would have to be on a rapidly moving target, because someone getting mauled by a dog is probably going to be moving a lot, not a static target. If was in that situation, I would try to get close enough to the dog to hit the dog without hitting the person. Also probably not shooting down, but across, if they are on the ground. I say probably because it depends on the individual situation at the time.

I think instruction like this would be best with equipment used with force on force instruction, non lethal ammo or handguns, with someone playing the role of a person being mauled by a dog. You wouldn't have to actually use a real dog.

[TSiWRX]

"Closer" here is somewhat deceptive - remember that as we get closer to the target, any movement actually magnifies the arc through which we must track that same movement: for a simplistic yet illustrative example, think about a threat side-stepping at 7 yards, versus side-stepping at 2 yards.

The late Louis Awerbuck noted that this apparent "inverse proportions" was one of the reasons why even good shooters "miss" at close distances - but certainly, Javelin Man, I think that this is one of those instances where I'd be trying to get as close as possible.

And with regard to the speed of that moving target, indeed, just like M-Quigley noted, that's really going to need to be played towards reality, too. So, that brings us to qmti's post about training...this is something that I have yet to see, in any training context.

As with Brian D. I'd be inclined to try for a contact shot - but even then, the backdrop is still the backdrop!

This is one of my nightmare scenarios, regardless if the attacker is human or animal.

This is indeed an excellent training scenario to think about, bignflnut.