Dog Days. (Exercising the right).

In the late afternoon of March 27th, 12-year-old Zachary Patterson was walking to his home on a private drive in Harpswell, Maine, when he noticed a neighbor's dog standing in the drive. The large pit bull terrier had menaced him and his mother before, and had once bitten the latter (her injuries were not serious).

Zachary began yelling and running toward the house, with the dog in hot pursuit. Ramona Patterson, 32, heard the commotion, and when she rushed to assist her son the dog turned on her. This time, however, she was armed with a semi-automatic handgun. As the dog approached, barking viciously and nipping at her, she fired a single shot, knocking the animal to the ground. It crawled to a nearby snow bank and died.

Harpswell's acting animal control officer, Dick Wyer, told the Portland Press Herald for March 29th that the dog "had a considerable history," and that the "town itself was going for a dangerous dog decree on him, but hadn't got around to it yet."

Patterson, who had clearly acted in defense of herself and her son, was not charged. The dog's owner, however, was charged with keeping a dangerous dog and allowing it to run loose.