Pittsburgh police early yesterday shot and killed a dog after they said it shook off an entire canister of pepper spray and the impact of several bricks hurled at it to get it to move away from a house.

Just before midnight on Tuesday, Officer James Goga responded to a call from a woman who lives at a house in the 1000 block of Steuben Street who said a "large pit bull" was sitting on a chair, growling and barking, next to her front door.

The 57-year-old woman said she couldn't get past the dog to get into her house, and police said it would growl and bark at anyone who came near, refusing to move.

"The contents of one can of pepper spray was deployed on the dog," Officer Goga reported. "This was ineffective and only caused the dog to lick its face."

The impact of two bricks only caused the dog to growl some more.

Shortly after midnight, a special deployment unit arrived to try to remove the dog, but when officers moved in it jumped up and came at them aggressively.

Officer Goga then shot it in the chest, killing it.

Police hadn't determined who owns the dog.