I guess the real question is, how emotionally attached are you to your pets? and what would you do to someone who harmed them?
For example, someone breaks into your house. Your dog is trying to ward the intruder off. The intruder kills your dog by gun/blunt force (depending on size of pet). How do you react? I personally have a malchi (maltese/chihuaha) and if I saw a intruder kill my little girl dog haley I would shoot them as non-fatally as possible, and then drag them into my basement to make every last second they were possibly alive a living hell. She's muh little girl.