Dog attacked mine - how to report?

[northernballer]

I know I'm.not being unreasonable but need some advice.

I'm looking after someone's dog and on a walk yesterday he was attacked unprovoked by another dog. My dog was on the lead and totally under my control, the other dog ran up to him and got his jaws round him and the then the owner came round the corner apologising, saying he didn't get him on the lead in time.

My dog has bite marks and blood was drawn which has now clotted and the fur is all matted. Other than being extremely anxious he seems OK, he is eating fine and has had a walk today.

I am absolutely devastated this happened while I was looking after him, I was so shocked I just walked off as I wanted to get us away from the other dog asap. Should I report it? Who to? And what could they reasonably do?

I'm.not sure what breed it was as i am no dog expert, it looked like a polar bear with a pit bull face!

Have you been to the vet?
There could be internal injuries.
As for reporting it you could try a local dog warden but without more information there may not be much they can do

Dog bites (or any animal bites really) have a tendency to get infected (as mouths are full of bacteria). At the very least the area should be shaved and cleaned so it's easier to monitor for any signs of infection (pus or other discharge, swelling etc). As it's been over 24 hours, I would try and make an appointment with a vet tomorrow, as the dog sounds to be doing fine at the moment (so no need for emergency fees).

As for reporting it, the correct authority is the police (if you feel the dog is an imminent threat to other animals/people at the time of the attack) or the dog warden, but without more information (not even the dog breed), they won't be able to do much more other than log it as an incident to perhaps help if another incident by a similar looking dog is reported to prove a longstanding issue with that dog (and again it would be hard to prove it's the same dog).

If the skins been broken, your dog probably wants antibiotics. That's what out vets suggested when ours was attacked by 2 dogs, resulting in a puncture wound on his side. At the very least keep an eye for any heat or redness over the next few days. Sorry this has happened to your dog!

I am taking the dog ti the vet first thing, I am so cross with myself I didn't spot it yesterday, but he is very hairy and I didn't see anything obvious when I toweled him down from the rain.

He is a rescue so already anxious, this will just set him back again, am livid.

So it will be 2 days before the dog you are looking after will actually get to see a vet? Have you told the dog’s owner about this?

As others have said, he might need antibiotics. Have you checked properly for any other puncture wounds?

Also, as it's dog on dog nobody (police etc.) will be particularly interested.

I think it is probably a waste of time reporting it, as far as I'm aware dog on dog attacks aren't viewed as seriously as those on people, and presumably you don't have any details from the owner. The dog needs his wounds flushing and cleaning and possibly antibiotics. If you can I'd trim off the matted hair and gently was the wound with dilute hibiscrub or saline solution (1 tsp salt to a pint of cooled boiled water. ) something like Vetericyn can be useful if the owner has any until you can get to the vet.

I hope it turns out okay, it's so distressing when unprovoked attacks happen.

You won't get anywhere by reporting it unfortunately - nobody is really interested in dog-on-dog attacks unless a human was injured in the process.

The dog needs to see the vet though.

Why are you treating this person like it is their fault!! It absolutely boils my piss when people have Dogs off the lead which they have no control over. There was a guy in my local park today with a Doberman, it was on the lead tbf but it was barking and snarling and pulling him all over. I had my Daughter in her stroller, I said to the guy "if you don't get a better hold of that Dog and it comes near my child I will boot it into the fucking Pond".

The police won't be interested in dog on dog attacks only when a person is attacked. Dog needs to be seen by a vet asap.

It was 24 hours ago, but thanks for making me feel.shitter than I already do.

And yes, I have told the owner (who is my sister who has broken her leg, hence me looking after him in the first place) and she has taken him home. I am taking him to the vets asap tomorrow to get it looked at.

Thanks to everyone else for their useful advice.

It’s not their fault obviously, but they have a duty of care to take the dog to the vet and report the incident to the owner.. the owner may have advised them to take the dog to the vet out of hours and stood the cost.

it’s not an unreasonable question to ask imo, I’d want to know straight away if this happened to my dog in someone else’s care, because as proven in OPs posts they had no idea the wound could become infected or how to treat it at home to reduce the risk, they don’t seem to have done anything about it yet.

So….. you had a pop at someone who had a dog on the lead and then threatened to “boot it into the fucking pond”? Well done you. As an aside, anyone who is caring for a dog which gets into an altercation with another dog should at least tell the owner so they can decide what to do. It’s common sense. I haven’t said anything to suggest the initial incident was the OP’s fault either.

Sorry if you feel shit about it, but I think you should have acted sooner. That’s just my opinion though.

Yes I absolutely did because people get big Dogs and do no research about the breed. This guy clearly couldn't handle that Dog at all, it was barely on the lead and could have pulled him over in a second. It was an aggressive Dog and was a risk to my child's safety so I 100% would have risked being bitten to boot it if I had to.

It does read like that because the OP is upset and you've jumped to "why have you done nothing about it". They're probably in shock and not sure what they need to do.

Report it to the non-emergency number, there may have been other attacks (or maybe attacks in the future), and it’s all good intelligence

Your local authority might have a dog warden. Be worth letting them know.

You don’t know whether or not people have researched their breed. That’s such a generalisation. Your comment to the Dobermann’s owner added no value to the situation and would have put the guy under more stress.

And…the reason it reads like the OP has nothing about it is because..….she’s done nothing about it in practical terms. The dog still hasn’t seen a vet and is at risk of infection.

Report to the council ddog warden. Enough complaints and something will be done. Walk ddog another route altogether.. Change of route should quash any association with the walk =bad things.

This happened to my daughter a couple of weeks ago. I reported it to the police online. It was recorded as a crime but no action taken.

From my own experience, I’d say not to expect any further action to be taken from either police or dog wardens. A few years ago my dog was attacked in our garden (my neighbour’s collie grabbed hold of her ear through the gate and ripped it off - I found it on the pavement after she came in bleeding), but despite reporting it to the police, they said dog on dog attacks weren’t pursued as in their opinion the dog wouldn’t go on to attack humans. Not sure how they work that one out, but…. The dog warden said there was nothing they would do, despite me telling them I knew the dog and this wasn’t the first time it had been aggressive. My poor dog now only has half an ear on one side and an aversion to border collies. Oh, and my neighbour just shrugged and refused to contribute to the not-inconsiderable vet’s bill.

I hope your dog will be ok, these things happen so fast.

It's fine, it can wait until tomorrow, the dog is absolutely fine in itself, doens't need to see a vet asap, antibiotics will work if she starts them tomorrow just as well as if she started them 12 hours sooner. The OP has already said the owner is aware and the dog is seeing a vet tomorrow, so no need to keep harping on about it!

I’m not harping on, I was responding to someone’s post. Not sure why that causes a problem for you.

It doesn't, it causes a problem for the OP who has already said you made her feel bad. You made your point, several times in fact, even directly to the OP, so maybe just stop saying how the dog is at risk or how the OP should have acted sooner. The important part is the dog is fine, it's being seen to and the owner is aware.

Well, it obviously does bother you, so why don’t you stop dragging it out by replying?