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Originally Posted by Moonraker
There is such a thing as drawing fire with fire, and Maggot and his three large dogs would have been over matched by an enemy eventually if they openly threatened anyone who entered his land. I think he would have been wiser to use a more subtle approach on the outskirts of the Shire.
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It depends whether you're talking about the Ringwraiths specifically or trespassers in general. Wolves or trespassing Big Folk might have been seen as a possible threat, but Orcs had not entered the Shire in nearly three hundred years. The dogs would probably be enough to keep troublemakers at bay, which was probably the extent of his or indeed many hobbits' thinking on the subject, as wise as Maggot himself was. Maggot obviously had no knowledge of the Ringwraiths so I fail to see how he could be expected to take any other plan of action except one according to his own wisdom and knowledge of the situation. It may not have been effective, but he can hardly be expected to have taken a Ringwraith-specific plan of action given that he didn't know what they were.
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It is still questionable whether Maggot had the right and authority to threaten anyone with his dogs, even if trespassing by mistake.
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Given that there was no real government Maggot, much like any other hobbit, had the right and authority to do as he pleased, constrained more by the bounds of common sense than any law or constitution.
Perhaps Aragorn ought to have arrested him for keeping such large and dangerous animals?
