Dand:
I went shopping for my electronic zapper after seeing how effective the ones carried by a couple deputies carried worked. They became popular after the mess created when one shot the lower jaw off a Pit Bull and it made it into the brush.
I went looking for one, which is similar to the ones I show in an earlier provide link. I could not find one but a gun shop, LE supplier had one from “exotic elec.co” which I purchased. It worked for me, stopped aggressive dogs and seemed to confuse them. They back off and retreated to a location more in their comfort zone.
Recently I loaned mine to a friend who was having a problem with a barking dog. The people below would put their dog out about 0600 and the dog would start barking. Complaints to animal control did little good. My electronic device shut the dog up. From my own experience the dog has to be rather close. It will not work on a dog that is 300 feet out. My friend and his wife liked the device so much that retrieving it from them almost because a problem. I started looking for a source on the net for them to buy one. The place I bought mine from was out of business.
As mentioned old dog losing their hearing may have a limited reaction. I have used mine on an old dog that kind of cocks his head, shrugs his shoulders, and heads for home.
Unless you have a "very controlled location" pepper spray is a better option than shooting around people. I recall an officer putting an injured horse down and the bullet penetrated the neck, ricocheting off the pavement killing a fellow officer. In another case a local had a large vegetable garden and vineyard. He was having problems and fired a shot from his .22 rifle. The bullet went off his property, penetrated a solid wood door, went just over the top of an easy chair and hit the knotted pine wall just above the TV set. If the owner had been in the chair must likely he would have taken the round in the head.
I used pepper spray on a pack of Pit Bulls one early morning when serving arrest warrants and a search warrant on a drug operation. My job was to secure that back side of a drug house. The dogs took exception to me and charged. I hosed them down with pepper spray and they quickly retreated into the timber. I was well armed with an 870 and a 357 but shooting was a poor option. There was the drug house with a number of people inside, along with children. There were officers in the area, and other residents within a quarter mile. Unlike the electronic device the dogs just disappeared, and allowed us to secure the area.
Having been a dog owner in I know that at times they mix it up with a skunk or roll in a cow pie and they need to be cleaned up.
I have also been bitten seriously on the job requiring a trip to the hospital, the sleeve of an uniform shirt torn off, and still have a scar on my leg. A gun, spray, or electronic device would not have helped that day. I was talking to a couple of guys one morning and one of them had a nice German Sheppard on a leash. He introduced the dog to me and I thought the dog and I were getting along rather well. We turned our attention to a piece of equipment and I turned my back to the dog. The dog grabbed on to my leg and I hit him in the face with my right fist, and in turn he took my shirt sleeve. It took both men pulling on the leash to get the dog off me.
The owner went down to the hospital with me and paid the bill. He had to fill out some forms for animal control and he repeated that his dog had just got out of two weeks of quarantine for attacking a plumber working under the sink in their home. I was lucky he had help pulling the dog off me.
As a good old country boy when circumstances allow reaching down and picking up a rock was enough to get most ordinary dogs on the run. Normally one did not have to toss the rock, but an true attack animal is a different circumstance.
