Paul Ready: Welcome back to Part II of our feature on defending your pets. In Part I, our member Clint was forced to defend his dog against an attack by another bigger dog. Many of you have asked what the law says about how and when you can defend your four-legged friends. The answer will be different depending on the law in your state. That’s why we’ve asked the Independent Program Attorneys in your state to tell us more.
In Part I, we saw the actions Clint took to defend his dog from being killed by the neighborhood stray. Now, in Part II you will learn if his actions followed the law. Watch Independent Program Attorney Emily Taylor teach you the law, so you will know what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation.
Ed Riley: In Virginia, you have the right to defend your domestic animal from attack, but the use of force must be reasonably and properly exercised. Focusing on this member situation, in Virginia Code Section 3.2-6570 Section F addresses it directly. If the dog or cat of the property owner is being attacked by another dog, whereas causing injury or death, then that property owner has the right to use reasonable and necessary force to protect his or her dog or cat
Paul: For more information on when you can use force in your state, please go to GunLawSeminar.com and register to attend one of our events in your area. If you missed Part I of Clint’s story, you can click the link on your screen to see it. And as always if you are not a member we would love for you to join us at uslawshield.com.
Keeping this in context, that your pet is being attacked by another animal, I understand that you can use reasonable force to neutralize the attacker. I would think, just as in any case, only enough to stop the threat. I suspect that if a person is attacking your pet, rather than a human family member, that this would have a higher bar to meet, and even if the human was intent on killing the animal, reasonable would be different. This needs to be clarified.