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That's why for home defense I have a 12 gauge loaded with #7 bird shot. At 5-10 feet (about what it would be in most rooms in a house) the pattern is still devastating and the shot won't travel much beyond the first wall. You don't have to be extremely accurate with it and the sound...
Lots of great advice here to the OP. As far as the dog that's roaming around your property I'd only shoot it as a last resort. Trying a BB or pellet gun first might be good enough to persuade that dog that there's better places tp sniff around. Shooting any animal with a handgun is risky...