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Original poster

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

482 replies

Villanelle · 14/04/2021 14:03

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?

OP posts:
Poorlykitten · 16/04/2021 19:53

@MagicSummer this is hardly the same. If you are innocently walking along or in a play park minding your own business and a dog runs up and bites you??? Not the same at all as mercilessly reading a dog for no reason, then I would expect a retaliation, Digs shouldn’t be off lead in or near play parks. End of story.

Poorlykitten · 16/04/2021 19:53

dogs!

SneezyGonzalez · 16/04/2021 20:07

As a dog owner, I agree please report this to the police - the dog has chased and bitten a child, this is totally unacceptable. The police need to deal with this to make sure it doesn’t happen to another child.

Violinist64 · 16/04/2021 20:16

Magic Summer, please show some compassion for the OP's child. There is no comparison between your injuries due to your own fault and what happened to this poor child. He could have been traumatised for a long time as well as very badly injured through no fault of his own. This dog was out of control and dangerous. Thank goodness it was not even worse. I am a dog lover and owner and I agree with others that have said that you should report it to the police. Do not ring the dog owner.

eastegg · 16/04/2021 20:19

@lljkk

What do folk expect the police to do? What is the outcome (those of you who recommend police) would like to happen?
Prosecute the owner for having a dog dangerously out of control in a public place.
AwFeebs · 16/04/2021 20:22

You've done the right thing OP.

I'm glad your son is OK.

Like you said could've been much worse.

Travelledtheworld · 16/04/2021 20:44

@AyyX

Why don’t they make dog areas for dogs to play in? It seems like these dogs get too excited over strangers sometimes and even if they mean to harm, someone might be petrified of them.
Do dogs actually need to "play" with other dogs ? Aren't you just anthropomorphising them ? Surely they are more interested in sex or retrieving something ?
boomboom1234 · 16/04/2021 20:51

I am so So sick of Dog owners. Constantly big dogs running up to my three and four year olds and we are told they are friendly. I don't give a damn if you think your huge dog is friendly if it's as tall as my child it's highly unpleasant for a child to have to charging towards it. It's like an adult having a horse bounding up to it to jump up
Or lick our faces. Terrifying. I now say that's great it's friendly but it's as tall as my child so we don't want it near us. Why of why can't they stop being so arrogant and deluded and keep them on leads in busy places?

ginoclocksomewhere · 16/04/2021 20:58

Absolutely a dog lover here, but do not contact them- leave it to the police.

Hope your DC is ok, might be worth having a friend with a friendly dog spend some time with him in case he develops a phobia (if you don't have your own, of course!). I have a friend who was bitten as a child and he's now a 26yo man with a crippling phobia of dogs, he'll drive a 5min walk in case he crosses paths with one!

So sad that the poor dog is likely to be euthanised because of irresponsible owners.

LakieLady · 16/04/2021 20:59

@SchadenfreudePersonified, your poor dog, that's horrific. I'm amazed your dog didn't have a go at them.

My first dog was a saint among dogs and never put a paw wrong. He adored children, never chased cats or livestock (or anything other than a ball), had excellent recall and was incredibly easy to train.

He was snoozing under the table in a pub one afternoon and there was a man in there with a toddler who was toddling about. All of a sudden, the dog's lead jerked and I heard him snap. I hung on to the lead and yanked him close to me and started to tell him off, when a man sitting at the bar told me to hang on. He went on to say that the toddler had crawled under the table and tried to stick a straw up the dog's nose!

I was mortified, but I don't think the dog had done anything wrong. Neither did the landlord (who was a dog lover and knew me and my dog well), he told the man who was with the toddler that he wasn't to bring his child to the pub again.

That could all have ended very differently, all because some twat wouldn't keep an eye on his child.

lazylockdowner · 16/04/2021 21:05

Op this wasn't at a park in a little village on the Thames was it? Only asking as been problems around here with the same day and owners recently.

I know England is a huge place and it isn't but if by any chance it is I can advise not to deal direct with the owner and get police involved, a friends child was attacked by the same breed (different owner) a couple of years ago and the dog was removed

Poorlykitten · 16/04/2021 21:28

Honestly I think turning this thread in to discussions about what nasty things children do to dogs is minimising , diverting and de-railing the actual crux of the thread and what has happened to this poor child. It’s not helping, if you want to start another thread on the subject please do.

Luddite26 · 16/04/2021 21:42

I hope you have given the police the owners details by now.
Giving children the responsibility of a dog in a public place is so outdated now. It's not fair on anyone. As a kid from 6 years old i had to take our dog out who was temperamental and vicious. Had some right scrapes with other dogs.
You just can't leave kids with dogs like that today we are supposed to have become more responsible.
I hope your child can get over this psychologically as well as physically.
Do let the police deal with it.

mindutopia · 16/04/2021 22:01

My 3 year old was bitten today (about 3 times) by a dog in the playground. A playground which very clear says in big signs all over 'NO DOGS!'. There were at one point FIVE dogs in the playground. The one that bit him, literally pinned him to the ground and was on top of his face. His face is all scratched up. I pulled it off and chucked it about 5 feet away. The owner just say there, continuing to chat with her friends. It bit him two more times, on the arms this time, thankfully he had a thick jumper on. Then it bit a friend's daughter on the hand. The owner finally came and pulled it off them. I found out it had bitten someone else's child yesterday. Ridiculous behaviour. The owner just didn't care at all and didn't even speak to us after.

h1nch · 16/04/2021 22:40

What do you envisage or hope the outcome of this situation to be? Do you wan the dog to be euthanised; do you want compensation from the dog owners; do you want them to apologise; all of the above or something else?

Original poster
Villanelle · 16/04/2021 23:31

@mindutopia How bloody dreadful! Report it for sure! I hope your DC is OK.

To reiterate, DC saw a doctor, details have been passed on to police, I did not reply to owner. I don't believe for a second they wanted to apologise, especially since I saw the kids walking the dog again. If I were them my very first message would have been an apology.

As for the absolutely ridiculous suggestion that my child didn't come to any harm? Biscuit
He did not antagonise or bait the dog in anyway. He knows how to behave around dogs. He's still upset and worried and the wounds are still painful and the bruising is dreadful. It stretches from the back of his knee up to his shoulder.

The police contacted us again today and asked what we would like to happen. We asked about some sort of control order or whatever it's called now (can't remember, sorry) and the police officer actually told us he would like to "push it all the way" because what happened was completely unacceptable. It definitely sounded like we are not the first people to report this dog.

I love dogs. I have dogs! I hate shitty irresponsible owners who ruin it for the good ones. If this dog ends up being PTS it certainly won't be my fault, it will be the owners. It's not the outcome I really want but I doubt they will change and be responsible and that dog will remain a bite risk who could do much worse next time.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I appreciate it.

OP posts:
ExpatAl · 16/04/2021 23:33

I’m really glad the police are taking it seriously. Your poor boy. I’m glad it wasn’t worse.

beginningoftheend · 16/04/2021 23:42

I'm so glad the police are taking it seriously, it is serious.

beginningoftheend · 16/04/2021 23:42

@mindutopia

My 3 year old was bitten today (about 3 times) by a dog in the playground. A playground which very clear says in big signs all over 'NO DOGS!'. There were at one point FIVE dogs in the playground. The one that bit him, literally pinned him to the ground and was on top of his face. His face is all scratched up. I pulled it off and chucked it about 5 feet away. The owner just say there, continuing to chat with her friends. It bit him two more times, on the arms this time, thankfully he had a thick jumper on. Then it bit a friend's daughter on the hand. The owner finally came and pulled it off them. I found out it had bitten someone else's child yesterday. Ridiculous behaviour. The owner just didn't care at all and didn't even speak to us after.
I hope you have reported this Shock very shocking incident
Enough4me · 16/04/2021 23:53

OP this is in no way your fault and if the police are encouraging you to take further please do so for the sake of future DC/animals. The DC living with the untrained dog are also at risk.

alexdgr8 · 17/04/2021 00:07

mindutopia, sorry to hear that. what did the docs say when you took him for tetanus etc. hope he's recovering. must be traumatic.
please do take photos of wounds and report it to police.

Miljea · 17/04/2021 00:08

I know what I would like to happen. Unfortunately it won't end well for that dog.

Divebar2021 · 17/04/2021 00:09

Having walked very frequently in public parks over lockdown I’m pretty terrified by the large increase in puppies that I’ve seen being walked. To my mind there are a great deal of novice owners who are now walking a variety of big breeds and seemingly not sure what to do with them. I’ve seen children and teenagers being pulled around by German shepherds and what looked to me like a pit bull type dog going mental at a tree ( no sign of any wildlife in it). I just know we’re going to have a problem when these dogs get too big to be controlled and the lack of training becomes apparent. But of course you can’t say anything because we must be told instead about irresponsible parents allowing children to misbehave - as if the two things were comparable.

Divebar2021 · 17/04/2021 00:11

The dog in this case needs to be destroyed - which I understand is upsetting but realistically is entirely the fault of the owners who have allowed this situation to occur.

alexdgr8 · 17/04/2021 00:11

really this situation is getting/ gotten out of hand.
and it's not fair on the dogs either.
a woman killed in her own back garden recently, and other serious injuries every day, many to children.
we should bring back dog licences, with strict conditions and enforcement. the licence fee could pay for more dog wardens.

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