Rabies is an incurable, lethal disease that causes inflammation of the brain in certain mammals, including dogs and humans. The disease is usually transmitted by a bite from an infected animal. Rabies can take months to incubate, during which time the afflicted host looks and feels healthy. By the time symptoms show (headache, fever, muscle spasms, mania and depression, an inability to swallow, coma), the disease is nearly 100% fatal.
U.S. law requires cat and dog owners to vaccinate their pets against rabies every three years.
Rabies vaccines had not yet been developed during the era in which To Kill a Mockingbird is set, so a rabid dog would have indiscriminately killed any human or other animal it bit, and the illness would have spread rapidly through the community.
Today, as in the 1930s, animals believed to be rabid are killed.
The rabid dog in To Kill a Mockingbird symbolizes racism, because, as with rabies, racism spreads like a deadly disease until stopped. Atticus' stand against the town in his attempt to ensure Tom Robinson a fair trial is analogous to his quiet, but powerful, response to the threatening dog.
The rabid dog incident in "To Kill a Mockingbird" occurs in Chapter 10 when Atticus shoots the dog, Tim Johnson, to protect the town from his rabies infection.
The day her dad shot the rabid dog.
Atticus breaks his glasses while trying to shoot the rabid dog in a single shot. Despite his poor eyesight without them, he is still able to successfully shoot the dog.
Atticus shoots Tom Johnson in Chapter 10, on page 127, line number 12.
Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb, asked Atticus Finch to shoot Tim Johnson, the rabid dog, because he believed Atticus was the best shot in town. Atticus reluctantly agrees and demonstrates his excellent marksmanship by taking down the rabid dog with a single shot.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the crisis where Atticus shoots a rabid dog demonstrates to his children, Scout and Jem, his exceptional marksmanship skills. These skills surprise the children, as Atticus's shooting ability was previously unknown to them.
When a rabid "mad" dog enters town, the sheriff asks Atticus to shoot it. Atticus is a sharpshooter, a skill he does not broadcast.
Atticus did not like killing. He was an excellent marksman, but rarely fired a gun. He only fired that day when a rabid dog threatened the town and his children.
in the movie it looked like a Krag-Jørgensen
He shot Tim Johnson, the pet of Maycomb. Tim Johnson is a liver-colored bird dog. Atticus shot him because Tom was acting weirdly and was in the stage of terrorizing the neighborhood and Atticus brought him down with a bullet. (:
Atticus shot the dog because he was rabid, and Atticus was the best shot in town.
Heck Tate wants Atticus to shoot the dog because he knows that Atticus is the best shooter in Maycomb and he wants the dog to be put down before it harms anyone. Heck Tate knows that Atticus is the most skilled marksman and can take down the dog with one shot to prevent any danger to the community.