DC was bitten by strange dog, owner has now contacted me

[Villanelle]

Yesterday my DC was bitten by a dog at the park. He was playing in the play area, went down the slide and then started running after his younger sibling, the dog came out of nowhere and started chasing him. It caught up to him and bit him on the leg and back. He was hurt (puncture wounds, bleeding and bruised) but not enough to need stitches, thankfully. It was terrifying though and could have been so much worse. It was a big dog, like a Weimaraner, and totally out of control in a children's play area, the children(!!) walking it had to drag it away.

We contacted the police but they're going to contact us again in a couple of days.
It was posted about on FB by someone who witnessed it. I didn't reply to it but somehow the owner of the dog has contacted me. They haven't apologised or anything, just given me their phone number and told me to phone them.

I want to shout at them for being so irresponsible, I'm so angry. I don't know if I should reply to them or just leave it up to the police/dog warden. I don't want to argue with them, of course, but I don't think they realise how awful the situation was?

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

OP, I am so sorry this has happened to you and your family. I was chased by a dog as a child which tore my clothes, and it really shook me up. Having a dog at home definitely helped me get over it so I hope it's the same for your son.

I'd be really interested to know if the dog was in fact a Weimaraner. DH loves the look of them and wants one as our next dog, but I know a lot of people who own and work gundogs (including similar breeds) who are not fans. They have a bit of a rep for picking fights and snapping.

I’m very much a believer in ‘deed not breed’ but the worst dog bite scars I’ve ever seen were on someone attacked by their own Weimaraner, and I’m yet to meet one that is ever fully under control, even working ones in the field.

They fall the wrong side of the too much strength/not enough brain curve for me to ever fully trust one

@SofiaMichelle Because I would want to know what they had to say for themselves. Some people might not want to and that's fine, but I would. Especially as they have threatened to come to her house, I would need to make it very clear that if the husband comes near my house I'd be calling the police.

I wouldn't contact them. Let the dangerous dog police branch deal with it. They may just want to talk you out of it as are worried their dog will be put down.
Also talking to them makes it personal etc so I'd leave it to the relevant authorities to sort out.

as are worried their dog will be put down.

Yes, how awful if a dog who randomly bites a small child several times for no reason should be put down. Of course it should live to bite another day.

@HoppingPavlova

Please don't jump on me as I'm not excusing what happened but I have a 4 month old puppy who gets very over excited around children, especially if they run and scream, she jumps up and bites. I take her to the country park, on a lead and she really pulls towards the play area which isn't fenced. I dont let her off the lead but I have no doubt if I did she would run straight to the children. Just wanted to give a different perspective as I see comments saying the dog should be destroyed. Def sounds like it should be on the lead and it may be the children let it off when they shouldn't have and the owner may want to explain and apologise to you.

And that right there is the problem. What an arsehole dog owner you are.

Your perspective is that everyone should excuse dogs that chase children, jump up on them and bite them as long as it’s because the dog is excited and not vicious! Outrageous.

As for it may be that the owners want to contact to explain. Explain what! That it’s okay their dog does this because it’s excited and not vicious so all is good, hey ho.

There should be a test before owning a dog that prohibits entitled fuckwits.

This poster is talking about a PUPPY>

Like children, dogs have to learn how to behave, and they can only learn by being put in the situation. Nowhere did she excuse bad dog behaviour - just explained that rushing towards children isn't necessarily aggression. The poster has her dog on a lead and doesn't let him run up to the children - how is that being an "arsehole"? She's training her NOT to rush up, and to be calm.

I wish many parents would do the same with their children - there are so many of them that run screeching up to dogs, and grab at them. Parents excuse it with "S/he loves animals" etc. I'm sure the child does love animals, but that doesn't mean that they can behave like this around them. And children doing this can often leave a dog frightened of children for life if it happens at an important socialisation stage for the pup.

Responsibility works both ways.

There should be a test before owning a dog that prohibits entitled fuckwits.

There should be one before parenthood, too.

Going by the comments on the FB post there have been other people who have had problems with this particular dog.

Didn't see this last night, might be worth screen shotting those comments, it builds a picture for the Police, especially if the owners try to claim it was a 'one off' incident.

I would call them with my number witheld and record the conversation.

Legally, you have to warn the person that they are being recorded. If you don't and you play the recording to a third party - ANY third party you are breaking the law. Recordings obtained like this can't be presented in court etc.

The police, with an appropriate warrant, can covertly record and use conversations. The public can't.

Why are there so many stories of dogs being off the lead and running after children.. it sounds so common now. Dog owners need to take more responsibility and control their dog properly. Especially in a children’s play area!

@SchadenfreudePersonified I agree. When kids see puppies they get all 'oh I want one of THOSE'.

I took my pup to the beach for training reasons and honestly a woman and her child walked up to us (covid was also around!), started fussing over my puppy and tried to feed it a fucking battered sausage.

''She's a Puppy''
''He's only playing''
''It's because you were running''
''It's because you were wearing a hat''
'It's because he doesn't like bikes''
''He's a 'Rescue' ''
''She's never done that before''
''It's not my dog''

All excuses used by dog owners whose dogs have bitten humans or other dogs/cats.

Socialisation is SO important.

There are many ''Rescue'' dogs who are impeccably mannered after being re-schooled by competent owners.

If a dog is at all untrustworthy around children or livestock, keep him/her on a lead.

Sadly there are way too many untrained, poorly socialised, under exercised, under stimulated, improperly fed dogs about, and the owners won't take responsibility.

Sadly the most unsuitable owners are drawn to the more 'Powerful' type of dog.

OP you are not be going to reasonable at all, the tone of the message sounds horrendous, and you are right not to respond.

Would you tell us what the person actually said. They may have been rude or you may see the message as rude as you are understandably very upset. Maybe we can decode the tone for you

Thank you for also being balanced about the incident, it sounds like the dog was at fault on this occasion. There are however many threads on mums net which dissolve into dogfighting, and comments to put the dog to sleep for doing nothing

Are you in Caterham. There is a weimaraner dog who has been attacking other dogs.

I think they will be charged and I hope they are

From you gov

'If you allow your dog to injure someone you can be sent to prison for up to 5 years or fined or both'

'A prosecution is likely to be in the public interest where a dog dangerously out of control injures a person'

'Where an injury is caused the court may order the dog be destroyed'

I was bitten by a dog as a child and it really affected me psychologically. It is outrageous that they allowed the dog to run amok on a children's play area and injure a child.
Definitely do not contact them and let the police deal with it. They just want to guilt trip you into not taking action or try to pay you off.

Like other posters have said, I wouldn’t ring- just pass the number on to the police.

Also have you got the details of the Facebook person who saw it happen? You may need to contact them as a witness to back you up if the dog owners try to downplay it.

One of my dogs was bitten by another dog. The dog that attacked mine had escalating aggressive behaviour for many weeks previously and I had spoken to the woman walking it, as had other people. My dog was bitten on a Sunday and I was able to identify both the dog walker and actual owner. I went round to the home of the owner that day so that she could apologise, pay the vet's bill and assure me this would not happen again. She was totally unreasonable and it was a waste of my time. I sent a vet bill to her and the dog walker who was also non apologetic and unreasonable.

I then reported to the police and dog warden. The dog warden was excellent but he had to spend all afternoon repeatedly explaining the issue to her. The vet bill was paid and I have not encountered the dog since.

I really hope your son is ok and the Police deal with this to your satisfaction. If there have been other incidents with this dog then hopefully other people have made reports to the dog warden.

@dragonsmoke

Please don't jump on me as I'm not excusing what happened but I have a 4 month old puppy who gets very over excited around children, especially if they run and scream, she jumps up and bites. I take her to the country park, on a lead and she really pulls towards the play area which isn't fenced. I dont let her off the lead but I have no doubt if I did she would run straight to the children. Just wanted to give a different perspective as I see comments saying the dog should be destroyed. Def sounds like it should be on the lead and it may be the children let it off when they shouldn't have and the owner may want to explain and apologise to you.

Train your dog.

FFS dragonsmoke. It's a PUPPY, just beginning training.

They aren't born fully trained, you know.

OP I think you are right to let the police pursue the owner. What happened is in no way excusable and the way she contacted you sounds a little off-hand. I wouldn't engage, personally. I'd rather let her experience the full weight of what has happened through the official channels.

I wouldn’t have called them either. Purely because of how the message reads it doesn’t sound friendly or even slightly apologetic.

We’ve recently adopted a dog. She’s reactive to other animals but not humans. Regardless I would never trust her off the lead or around other people at this moment because you just never know. Also trying to get her help from a behaviourist.

I’m sorry this has happened to you all. It sounds awful!

@oakleaffy

''She's a Puppy'' ''He's only playing'' ''It's because you were running'' ''It's because you were wearing a hat'' 'It's because he doesn't like bikes'' ''He's a 'Rescue' '' ''She's never done that before'' ''It's not my dog''

All excuses used by dog owners whose dogs have bitten humans or other dogs/cats.

Socialisation is SO important.

There are many ''Rescue'' dogs who are impeccably mannered after being re-schooled by competent owners.

If a dog is at all untrustworthy around children or livestock, keep him/her on a lead.

Sadly there are way too many untrained, poorly socialised, under exercised, under stimulated, improperly fed dogs about, and the owners won't take responsibility.

Sadly the most unsuitable owners are drawn to the more 'Powerful' type of dog.

After an out of control large dog ran up to my dad, who walks with a stick ,and put paw marks all over his back:

It’s a puppy they have to learn.... and a man of 70 with a stick shouldn’t be at the park

Really good article in The Guardian this morning about this very subject

@AyyX

Why are there so many stories of dogs being off the lead and running after children.. it sounds so common now. Dog owners need to take more responsibility and control their dog properly. Especially in a children’s play area!

It’s really bad out there. I had such a weird encounter with a dog owner last week at a playpark I had never visited before. I have DCs of 3 and 8 months. I never spoke to the owner, just asked my 3 year old to come back on the buggy board so we could go to a different area of the park. The dog owner then proceeded to berate me - saying that ‘it’s not right, this park should be for dogs too’ and proceeding to follow me. This was just after 9am and I was a lone woman with two young kids in the park. I was quite shaken and told him to leave me alone as I knew nothing about the park and I was sure there were other places to walk his dog. It was bizarre.

The dog has bitten a child. It should be PTS. God forbid it had bitten around the neck or face etc.

OP make sure you take and keep photos of the bruising etc.

I hope the police take this very seriously. I don't mind well behaved dogs but I bloody despise irresponsible owners!

I let the police handle it when I was bitten. The bloke didn’t seem to give a shit, he didn’t offer me any help at the time but I did get his details.

It turned out that it wasn’t his dog. It was his son’s. It was poorly socialised, not well looked after and probably had a huge grudge on the world.

I didn’t want it put down but I did want it to have a second chance with someone who would actually give a shit about it. The last I knew, he was going to adopt the dog. I can only hope they didn’t take me for a complete mug and the dog has actually got a better quality of life now and some training.

The bruising was amazing, like you say. The scar isn’t too bad, considering.

I happened to listen to the Farming Prog on Radio 4 the other day. More dogs mean more probs for farmers. An off the lead dog had chased a horse into a ditch who fell and broke a leg so had to be put down, chasing pregnant sheep, crapping in fields - dog poo can carry neospora which causes miscarriages in cattle. There is woodland, take your dog there no need to use fields.