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.

If it is a car on car crash, my insurance company will be involved. One organisation will have another organisation as their counterpart. If a car crashws jnto me as a person, it would be a case for the police.

I'm now wondering whether dog on dog attack would be solved between their respective insurance companies.

And I am hoping some dog owner will come with a specific example of what would calling their insurance mean for both parties. It sounds quite vague so far.

I wasn't being deliberately vague - the specifics just depend on the policy and the circumstances around the bite. There's no one answer to what calling insurance would mean.

Generally, insurance is there to cover injuries to your dog as well as injuries caused by your dog to a third party (be that another dog, a cat, or a person).

If the bite "only" means the injured person needs antibiotics and stitches, then likely insurance won't do much, but if you end up in hospital because that bite leads to sepsis and you end up off work for two months, the insurance could pay for your lost income, for example, or for any ongoing therapy you might need if you ended up with muscle damage.

If your car is damaged because a dog lunged into the side of it, for example, the dogs' insurance could pay out for that too.

Dog on dog attacks generally go through insurance, yes.

But what exactly do you do when you have a car crash? (I'm talking shunt, not serious)

You exchange details, name, address, insurance.

My dog was bitten by another. A nip on the neck but it was gaping and we could see everything. On a bank holiday too.
The owners of the other dog gave us their contact details and said they were insured. I am not sure how other people's insurance would cover vet bills to be honest. We were insured anyway, so ended claiming on ours. The other dog owners were lovely though and were keen to know our dog was ok.

By the way, it was not a case of an aggressive dog attacking mine. My dog tried to get the other dog's ball, and the other dog was clearly obsessed with their ball and gave our dog a nip. Our dog is a greyhound so known for thin skin that gapes open at the slightest thing.

The owners of the other dog gave us their contact details and said they were insured. I am not sure how other people's insurance would cover vet bills to be honest.

Dog insurance policy have public liability - so you could have claimed through their insurance, if you thought they were to blame (in reality, if their dog bit, even if provoked by your dog)

@EmmaD11 The sense of entitlement of a parent with a young child is appalling. No one was even talking about a child being bitten, you made it about your dc. As I said, it’s not black and white, which is the part you chose to ignore. All circumstances are different, if a dog is on lead and your child runs up to them, and tries to stroke them (unwanted) jump on them, stick their fingers in their eyes, pull their tail, and then gets bitten, then this is your fault for being irresponsible. If however, a dog runs up to your child and bites them, you have very valid case. “ so you don’t care what a child does” very ironic, I guess you one of the irresponsible parents that lets their dc go up to dogs without checking, actually you sound like a dog hater, so your child is probably scared of dogs already. Again, not always a black and white situation!

We didn't bother in the end as it was less than £400 and our excess was most of that.

@LittleSkeletonSailor With the extra information, you are owed an apology. Also, owner needs to put something in place to make sure dog can not get out again. Does sound like a one off, lessons to be learned from this incident. You sound reasonable and glad you are not blaming dog. Hope bite heals quickly.

@EmmaD11 so what your saying is a child can attack a dog and needs to be put down but that’s ok, because the child trumps the dog, regardless of the child’s behaviour.

@Wrenjay you sound like a lovely person 🤔lets hope you haven’t owned a dog since that’s day.

The dog should be sent to the vet to be checked to see if there are health issues which might have affected its behaviour.

Ha, or have a kid that shows aggression too.

They’re absolutely right. If a dog attacks a human being they should be put to sleep. You are the one that needs to check yourself. Animals do not come before the health and well-being of humans.

As has been said, there is a difference between attacking and biting. Dogs are allowed to defend themselves.

I visited a former friend a few years ago with another mutual friend. Mutual friend had told me that this person had 2 dogs that could be aggressive. Small and snappy if you will. She couldn’t take them out because they were so reactive. As we entered the house, one of them escaped from the back garden, ran up and bit me on the leg. She managed to pull the dog off me but it still had time to draw blood and leave a hole in my jeans. She briefly apologised and that was it. After I left I thought she might have texted to make sure I was ok but nothing, never heard from her again. As far as I know the dogs are still around.

I was delivering village newsletters with my young daughter. A dog walked up to us and I thought it was going to sniff my leg. It bit me, broke the skin and drew blood. I was glad it bit me not my daughter as at that height it would have been her face.

I debated for a while whether to report to the police. In the end I did because a) the dog was on the street not in their own garden and b) dd was with me and would have been bitten on the face.

When the police got back to me the dog had been really ill and so bit me as a warning to keep away. It was put down a couple of days later anyway.

They are not ‘allowed’ to defend themselves by biting people. It not a case of blame or punishment or retribution, simply that a dog that bites must not be allowed to be around people after that.

@EmmaD11 it’s your job to make sure you parent your child properly as much as it is a dog owners job to parent their dog/dogs.
No one is saying that it is right for a dog to bite a child or anyone actually but if you as a parent aren’t watching your child and they approach a dog and said DC gets bitten, that is on you and your bad parenting. What if a child bit your DC, how does that work ?You really don’t like dogs do you.

@Screamingabdabz That’s a very black and white view isn’t it. So say a dog that’s being abused (animal cruelty) by its owner and then the dog bites them in defence, does your view still stand. Not all humans should come before dogs.

I love dogs, I have 3, but when my son was little he was literally just walking along with us in a country park and a dog lept out at him from under a picnic bench and bit him on the leg hard enough to rip his trousers and draw blood/ bruise him. So it’s not always enough for your children to ‘be controlled’!

@SusiQ18472638 this is why I’m saying it is not always black and white, in this case, this was not your fault or DC fault whatsoever, and you’d have had every reason to be angry. It’s just the automatic response of dog haters on here. Every case is individual. I have dogs and children, I’ve been bitten by someone else’s dog, my dog was bitten by someone else’s dog.

And that is not the situation I was talking about was it.

I have owned a dog since then for 17 years. I could put my hand in it's food bowl when he was eating and there was no aggression: he just licked my hand and sat down. Totally trustworthy around anyone or any other animal.