Good dog.
Someone from another department at work told a story about how she had one of her dogs shot in her back yard because it was snapping at her children. Now, although I was skeptical, I'm really not questioning why she would want her dog put down--she said it was for the safety of her children. I wasn't there to see if her kids were teasing the dog or if it was a one-time thing, so I believe her. It's very possible that the dog had gone insane/senile and was dangerous. But, I asked her about maybe, um, taking the dog to the vet to be humanely euthanized and she just shrugged and implied that she thought I was nuts for mentioning it.
Sorry, but shooting an animal is not the best method. It doesn't cost much $$ to go to the vet and do it, it won't cause the animal pain and is much safer than using a firearm (as evidenced by the story in the original post), especially near one's house with the children inside. And this was a large dog, not a puppy. Something might have gone wrong. I mean, we don't live in the days of "Old Yeller". There are other options. Not to mention that the guy with the puppies should have taken mama dog to the vet and gotten her spayed!