If your dog bit someone...

[LittleSkeletonSailor]

What would your immediate reaction and then course of action afterwards be?

If it was someone known to you, not close but you know their address and phone number etc..

Dog bit because it was startled.

Thankfully I have no idea.

I just read my policy every renewal (as in all the T&C's ) and it is very clear that you mustn't admit liability or you risk not having the insurance cover you- motor insurance is the same, it also says you must never admit liability.

I would give you my name/address/number ultimately I would assume you would wish to claim compensation in which case I need my insurance to pay out.

I think it is odd that you wouldn't call the police if someone apologised but would if they were planning to go through insurance.

I'm not saying it is rational or well thought though. I just came across your post and realised I have no idea what it would mean.

The thing is those conditions are between you and your insurer, and I'd be afraid that - as you are their client, not me - they would have no reason to not fob me off. So I'd want to have an institution on my side as well if it comes to it.

I suppose it depends on the damage - if it is bigger one, the police should be involved anyway.
But if it is a scratch and I have no intention to claim any compensation, I don't want to hear about your insurer and I don't care about your policy, I want you to apologise and do better.

Apologise and offer the person your dog bit some kind of compensation. Or don't be surprised when they choose to take it further

Your dog will need to be muzzled in future around anyone who isn't you

If someone’s dog ran out of their house and bit me so badly I needed to go to the hospital and they didn’t so much as apologise, I’d report them to the police.

If they were really apologetic and came to check on me etc. I probably wouldn’t bother reporting.

Insurance will often cover medical bills and legal costs.

Actually, @K0OLA1D has a point. I was walking with my lab, along a quiet street. Dog on lead walking next to me. A child ran across the road, arms out stretched, shouting, across to me and my dog. There was no reaction from the parent, not even to stop the child running across the road. My dog got scared. Fortunately, he hid behind my legs, and this is a lab who usually assumes everyone is their new best friend. This child (or parent for that matter) had no dog etiquette at all, and I had to explain that ‘ my dog was shy’, and ‘didn’t want to be patted’. In retrospect, I should have said something to the parent about having better control of her kid, and regret I didn’t say so at the time. (Can you tell I’m still cross about the incident).

(Obviously a vicious , out of control dog is different, but kids aren’t all angels either).

Yes I guess it would depend on the severity - I guess I was thinking more of a bite than a scratch.

I just find it interesting that you are more concerned with someone trying to do the right thing than someone who just apologised and walked off. If the insurance was aware then likely to be consequences for the dog (lead only, or always muzzled etc) so someone who involves their insurance is much more likely to 'do better' in future than someone who just apologised and probably says 'he's never done that before ' (usually a sign he most definitely has) but I understand what you mean about not rational or thought out.

Imo 99% bites are the fault of humans, virtually always the owner.

I just don't know whether contacting your insurance is doing the right thing for you or doing the right thing for me.

The policy rule saying you shouldn't apologise/acknowledge anything is about controlling their (yours) costs and liability, making it potentially harder for me to get the compensation, not easier. So I'd want the police record to make sure I'm not missing something important.

I suppose we are just imagining different situations and would be more aligned in real world. If it is a serious bite and the owner half mouthing an apology and "he's never done it before", of course I'd want an official record.

Legal costs of which party?

I agree. People don’t seemed to have grasped that it is not a question of ‘fault’ but that a dog that has bitten a person or animal should be put down that it can’t do that again.
If this were law, might actually make owners keep their dogs under control.

Depends on the policy.

Have you read the entire thread. The op was the one bitten

My dog has never been out of my control. But the times kids have snuck up behind us and made him jump??

No way would I have got him pts for that. He never did. But some dogs could and the parents are the irresponsible party that caused the bite in those circumstances

That isn't really useful for the bitten person.

Which leads back to: the dog owner's "no comment, will go through insurance" translates as a kind of "fuck of" to the bitten person, and the only reasonable response is calling the police, because there is no reason to expect the insurance company would do anything for the bitten one unless ordered by some authority.

The sense of entitlement shown by some parents is appalling. The amount of idiots who allow their child to run up to my dog is unreal. Make sure your damn kids stay away from my dog, and I will ensure my dog stays away from you!

Oh no no. Only dog owners can be entitled!

No, it’s not the dogs fault. It’s the owner of a potentially dangerous animals fault for enabling the situation to occur and put the animal and people at risk in the first case. Either don’t let people near the animal, or don’t let the animal near people. What you don’t do is hope that an accident doesn’t happen, and if it does seek to blame the dog surely?

If it was a piece of dangerous machinery it would be no defence to say that the person shouldn’t have gone into the room in which the machine was kept. The employer would be at fault for having an unguarded machine and for not preventing an untrained / unqualified individual from operating it. The onus has to be on the owner of a potentially dangerous animal to have the appropriate mitigations in place. Otherwise it’s not fair on the animal or the people.

Ah I see. I think if the owner has a dog that might bite the responsibility is on them to have a secure fence in the first place. I don’t see how you can blame someone who does out a hand though; sure, the owner might be there sometimes to ask them not to. But they won’t be there all the time, and not everyone will hear or follow the instruction. So the risk should be designed out altogether.

A dog snapping after being startled awake is not dangerous.

This and a bite does not always equal an attack! An attack is a completely different thing

The PP to whom I was responding set out the circumstance where a sleeping dog was disturbed, and someone got bitten, and that in that situation it wouldn’t have been the dogs fault.

If you are saying that snapping never result in injury then there’s nothing for a dog to be blamed for. I am however dubious that that’s the case. For the person on the receiving end, whether a bite is as a result of snapping or attacking is irrelevant - the injury is the injury. And if there’s an injury then there must have been a dangerous situation that wasn’t prevented surely?

If I am walking down the road, and a man grabs me from behind, I would probably turn and whack him. Pure instinct, and self defence. That does not mean I attacked him.
Some people on MN seem to be of the view that dogs should act like robots with no emotion, display of discomfort, not allowed to show warning signs that they don't like what is going on, or to defend themselves after a perceived attack, or they should not react at all to being sat on or having their ears pulled.

I have been stupid at times and leant on my dog when she has been on the sofa. She has growled at me to say to get off. So I do. According to some on here, she should be PTS.

Exactly this!

Was it me? I said in a PP that I knew someone who had their dog PTS after a child sat on them. The dog was asleep, and also deaf.
The dangerous situation here was the parents not watching their child. A beloved pet lost their life as a result.

So is that what you would think it someone crashed into you in their car?