pointing a pistol= cruelty to animals?

[geronimotwo]

sorry, no link, local paper (very).

"on sunday troopers responded to a disagreement between neighbors on stoodley hollow road in the town of hamden, which involved dogs that allegedly were running at large. they arrested joseph a. kemp, 44, walton, for cruelty to an animal after he allegedly pointed a pistol at a dog owned by mark c. wood, 49, walton. wood and his son, cole m. wood, 20, walton, were charged with allowing dogs to run at large. all charges are returnable in hamden town court on april 26."

how is it "cruelty to animals" to point a gun at them? they do not have the understanding of what could happen if the gun goes off, so in what way is this cruel? i could understand a brandishing charge, if the gun was not needed for personal defense.

[JonnyB]

Well, geez; the poor doggies were scared, don't ya' know?

C'mon. Dogs have feelings, too!

jb

[Matthew Carberry]

With people, pointing a gun can be assault because there's a potential threat.

Pointing, say, a banana can't.

To the average dog, a gun might as well be a banana.

I'd like to see this go to trial and have someone try to articulate the cruelty.

[member1313]

I might argue that because a dog can't effectively communicate to us on our level, we're in no position to judge if a dog, or any animal for that matter, can tell us if they feel threatened or not.

I don't see what's cruel. You didn't do anything to the dog, but then again, I can't exactly defend someone threatening to harm an animal.

[Matthew Carberry]

I might argue that because a dog can't effectively communicate to us on our level, we're in no position to judge if a dog, or any animal for that matter, can tell us if they feel threatened or not.

I don't see what's cruel. You didn't do anything to the dog, but then again, I can't exactly defend someone threatening to harm an animal.

Animal behavorists should be able to tell us if the dog exhibits signs of being threatened.  If they don't, no threat.

No threat, no actual physical harm, no cruelty.

[BlueStarLizzard]

i can tell you from experiance, most dogs do not know what it means when a gun is pointed at them. but many (and this saved my butt one day) do know that guns sound scary when they go boom.

this is what can be threating to a dog: eye contact, posture, hand gestures above their heads and moving down, vocal threats by tone (growl, yell), and getting in their face. which is why, if you must approch an aggressive dog, you face away from it, you do not look it in the eye, keep your movements slow, speak in a nonthreating soft tone, and slowly back towards it (but make sure you have room to get away, if it don't work).
its also why you do not stick your face in a strange dogs face and you keep your hand under its chin, palm up and let the dog make first contact.
if the dogs were threating the guy, i've got no problem with what he did. dogs, especially if you have multiples, running around lose can be very dangerous. on the other hand, if the dog wern't being a nusance and the guy was just being a jerk, he should get some trouble from the law (not sure how the animal crultey bits gonna work though...)

[trapperready]

but they (and this saved my butt one day) do know that guns sound scary when they go boom

All dogs are different. I've got one dog that will go hide under the truck if he hears a gunshot. I have another (a German Shorthaired Pointer), that loves the sound of guns and will start racing around looking for a downed bird if one goes off in close proximity to him. My third dog is deaf enough that he'll just tip his head a little, then go back to whatever he was doing in the first place.

[coppertales]

I address an agressive dog right between the eyes, that is where my pistol/rifle is pointed.  If I see a running loose dog on my property  I will shoot at it to scare it away.  I will only shoot the dog if it attacks me or someone with me.  Out in the country where I have/will live, the three "S's" rule....chris3

[BlueStarLizzard]

but they (and this saved my butt one day) do know that guns sound scary when they go boom

All dogs are different. I've got one dog that will go hide under the truck if he hears a gunshot. I have another (a German Shorthaired Pointer), that loves the sound of guns and will start racing around looking for a downed bird if one goes off in close proximity to him. My third dog is deaf enough that he'll just tip his head a little, then go back to whatever he was doing in the first place.

i should have edited that. i got lucky that both pits were gun shy. and i'm thankful to this day that they were, because i really really never want to have to shoot a dog. two of our dogs could care less. at most shooting makes them cranky cause it interupts their naps. but i have one that really is terrified of guns. i'm pretty sure he's picked up the connection to the loud noises. poor graham freaks put and hides under the desk if me or dad are fooling with a firearm. and we have to lock him up in one of the cars when we shoot, so he doesn't freak too bad.