I lived in Elizabeth 30 years ago. Once, after a blizzard we were shoveling out and some idiot neighbor walked by with two pit bulls with shock collars. They ignored the collars when they saw our dogs and attacked them. (I bent a snow shovel in half one one's neck.) When I called the Sheriff to complain their response was, "Why didn't you shoot them?" I'd left the guns in the house and this was long before CCW.

Do you have a horse? Can you borrow one? I live in Sedalia in horse country. A few neighbors have shot dogs hassling their horses and the dog's owners found out Colorado law is very explicit that "Thou shalt not mess with livestock." When they complained they were pretty much told to piss off.

If you do have to shoot the dogs, just be careful of your backstop. 5 acres is not very big. Sounds like a shotgun situation.

Steve