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Original poster

Dog bite story - who is at fault?

88 replies

ArtichokeAardvark · 09/06/2025 15:42

Heard a story on the grapevine today - friend of a friend of a friend scenario. Family with young daughter go to the house of an older couple (no kids) who have a rescue dog. Daughter is nursery age.

The couple know that their dog isn't safe with children so secure it in another room, and warn the girl and her parents not to go near the dog. Fast forward a couple of hours, adults are all chatting and there is a scream from the dog's room. The girl has gone in to pet the dog and been badly bitten.

Who is at fault here, morally but also legally? It's obviously an awful scenario but I feel just as sorry for the dog owners as for the girl... They will likely lose their dog now and they did everything right. You can argue it from every angle but I think the fault is with the parents for not supervising their child in a strange place... 😣

OP posts:
MrsSkylerWhite · 09/06/2025 15:43

Agree with you.

EllatrixB · 09/06/2025 15:44

My first thoughts, in no particular order, would be a) that if the nursery-age child was able to get to the dog, then the dog wasn't secured in another room, and b) the parents should have been keeping a closer eye on the child, dog or no dog.

jljlj · 09/06/2025 15:46

I think the child’s parents are at fault. Their child is very young and they weren’t supervising her at all. Even if there wasn’t an unfriendly dog in the home, a 3yo child could find some medication and eat it thinking it’s sweets, could play with laundry pods etc - both these things are fatal!

Maverickess · 09/06/2025 15:52

I think both parties are at fault here because they had a shared responsibility that the dog and child didn't interact and as they did, both failed in that responsibility.

If I were the dog owner and the child disappeared I'd be ensuring they weren't heading for the dog, regardless of the parents being there - should the parents be doing that?
Absolutely! But my primary concern would be stopping the child and dog interacting because of the risk and if that meant stopping the child wandering off alone then that's what I'd do.

So if it happened then I'd be feeling my share of the responsibility because all the adults here knew the risks but the child and dog still ended up together and the child got bitten.

ETA - legally I'm not sure who would be held at fault, however I suspect that bit would be bypassed and the dog deemed dangerous anyway and the owners deemed unable to keep proper control of it. I don't think that's necessarily fair but just my opinion of what would happen.

Bingbangboo · 09/06/2025 15:53

It's a tough one - I wouldn't really blame either side. A simple slide bolt or latch at head height would have prevented the child entering the room at all, as would better parental supervision. Perhaps it was inevitable and could have been foreseen that the parents would relax and the child would wander. Ultimately, it would have been better to meet out of the house without the dog. I am a dog lover and have a dog-reactive rescue myself, but I am not sentimental at all and would have the dog PTS.

SilenceInside · 09/06/2025 15:57

All the adults are responsible, fairly equally. Dog owners for not ensuring the dog was actually securely separated, child’s parents for not supervising their child sufficiently. The child should not have been able to get to the dog even if left unsupervised.

It was a poor initial decision to visit a house with a dangerous dog, regardless of promises to secure it away.

LandSharksAnonymous · 09/06/2025 15:57

100% the parents. Piss poor parenting at best to let your child wander off unsurprised - even in someone else’s house (and rude!!!)

Kids and dogs do not mix. Poor dog.

LemonTURDs · 09/06/2025 15:58

Both IMO.
Primarily the blame lies with the LO's parents as they clearly aren't keeping a close enough eye on the child however, I have to agree with PP who said the dog isn't secure enough if the child could get to him.
The child's parents did have fair warning though that the dog is a bite risk and well unfortunately did get bitten and will have to be PTS.
This might not be the worst thing in the world, the dog can't have a good quality of life being this distressed and aggressive.

Lighteningstrikes · 09/06/2025 16:03

Extr slack parenting, but have to say if there was a toddler in my home (particularly if I had an untrustworthy dog), I wouldn’t let it wonder off unattended.

Megifer · 09/06/2025 16:04

Parents only ones at fault here.

Poor dog may be ok if the parents tell the truth about what happened but that would mean admitting they were neglectful.

AmelieSummer25 · 09/06/2025 16:06

Legally I don't know, but does it actually matter? & if so, why? How? What for?

Morally. The parents predominantly. They were told not to allow their child in that room (for whatever reason. It could have been an entirely different reason!) and they didn't keep an eye on their child!

However, if the dog has to be regularly shut away from visitors they should have a bolt on the door.

I hope the wee one makes a full recovery & I hope the dog isn't PTS because the humans let it down. 😢

BeNiceWhenItsFinished · 09/06/2025 16:07

Nobody was watching the child. So they are all to blame in a way, but I'd say it is mainly the parents who are at fault.

The only ones not to blame are the dog and the child.

ShesTheAlbatross · 09/06/2025 16:08

Parents should have been supervising. However if a nursery age child could get to the dog, it was fairly obviously not securely shut away.

DeSoleil · 09/06/2025 16:13

Parents are responsible for the child.

Take away the dog and change it to swimming pool, deep bond or busy road that the child has wandered off and encountered.

StooOrangeyForCrows · 09/06/2025 16:18

LandSharksAnonymous · 09/06/2025 15:57

100% the parents. Piss poor parenting at best to let your child wander off unsurprised - even in someone else’s house (and rude!!!)

Kids and dogs do not mix. Poor dog.

100% this.

The dog owners were upfront about the dog and shut it in a room. The parents, knowing this and the conditions surrounding it, by staying, were accepting those terms.

The parents job is to parent under the conditions set out by the dog owner.

The parents are 100% at fault.

Yes, going forward, a lock on the door at adult head height is the way to go paid for and fitted by the parents.

Original poster
ArtichokeAardvark · 09/06/2025 16:23

DeSoleil · 09/06/2025 16:13

Parents are responsible for the child.

Take away the dog and change it to swimming pool, deep bond or busy road that the child has wandered off and encountered.

This is a clever way of looking at it.

OP posts:
Original poster
ArtichokeAardvark · 09/06/2025 16:30

All those suggesting a bolt at head height on the door... The couple don't have children themselves. Should they have been expected to make alterations to their home just in case a child decides to go off and explore?

This is a hypothetical question- I don't know anyone involved in this story so not invested in either side! But all the different angles have been playing in my head since I heard it.

OP posts:
MalcolmMoo · 09/06/2025 16:42

100% the parents! I don’t let me child near my rescue dog unless supervised. The parents should’ve followed the child around the house as soon as she left the room. I can’t imagine going round someone’s house and not knowing where my child was.

LandSharksAnonymous · 09/06/2025 16:42

@ArtichokeAardvark No. They shouldn’t have had to make alterations.

But, that being said, I’d have never had the child in my house to start with. I don’t let my children have their friends (DD1 is 12 and DD2 is 10) over, because I have dogs (even where those friends have dogs). It’s a blanket rule.

My dogs aren’t dangerous or a risk to children, but other people tend not to teach their kids basic dog etiquette (or even parent their children) and I refuse to let my dogs suffer as a result of someone else’s bad parenting.

Dogs and kids do not mix - and that’s a basic concept that any parent, and any dog owner, should know.

Hedgingmybetching · 09/06/2025 16:48

I agree that both at fault although weighted parents fault 80/20. If you have entered a house with a known dangerous dog (which you shouldn't bloody risk in the first place) my child wouldn't leave my sight. 20% dog owners fault because if you are going to invite a child into your home when you know you have a dangerous dog you have to make sure that dog is 100% secure and that a child couldn't just wander into the room they were being kept in. (As the dog owner I would also be keeping an eagle eye on the child)

That child was let down by 2 sets of adults who should have been making sure the kid didn't interact with the dog!

Flossflower · 09/06/2025 16:57

The parents are at fault but nobody should be keeping a dog that bites/attacks. You are responsible for the dog, even in your own home. What if your house was on fire and a fire fighter came in to rescue you or you had a heart attack and the dog attacked the paramedic that came to your house.

Dearg · 09/06/2025 16:58

Parents at fault for not keeping their eyes on the small child. Dog owner shares blame for not muzzling the dog while the child was visiting .

That said, dogs who bite humans are generally pts for doing that, and rightly so.

MILLYmo0se · 09/06/2025 17:12

100% the parents, they choose to take the child into the home of a dog they knew couldn't be trusted around children, and once in there didn't even keep her in the same room as them. The dog was secured in a room it couldn't escape from but the child wasn't kept secured from entering that room.
Aside from the dog though who let's their small child wander off in a home that wouldn't be child proofed? Anything could happen, a fall down the stairs, get into the bleach or medication, get out the front or back door....

legoplaybook · 09/06/2025 17:27

4 adults in a house which they know contains a dangerous dog and none of them bother to keep an eye on the small child?
All adults are at fault.

Parents should have ensured their child was safe.

Owners should have ensured the dog was nowhere near the child.

ERthree · 09/06/2025 17:28

What type of parents take their child into a house that has a dog that isn't safe near children.