Dog bit someone in my garden

[lovelilies]

Shit. What happens if he reports it?

Was it your dog? Was the person supposed to be there?

I believe you could be prosecuted under the dangerous dogs act. Are they likely to report it? How bad was the bite?

Police are unlikely to prosecute. More likely to come round, make sure it’s not a snarling pit bull and possibly tell you to muzzle it in public.

My dog, man just walked in the closed gate (canvassing for window cleaning work) I was in the garden but didn't get to her in time

Why did the dog bite? Be proactive and seek help from a behaviourist as that will not only look good for the police but also hopefully prevent such a situation.

How badly injured was he?

She'd already barked at him when he went next door so I'd have thought he'd ask before opening the gate!

It drew blood, puncture wound to his arm

Front garden? Back garden?

Can you keep dog in the back garden from now on where this is less likely to happen? If it was in the back garden can you get a bigger gate to stop people coming in?

Oh dear!
Did he say that he would report it?

My dog went for a postman in my garden. The postman was very nice about it.
We now have a post box outside of the gate.

My ex childminders dog bit her window cleaner. He didn’t report it.

He was really good about it to be fair, I apologised profusely and cleaned and dressed the wound when he went next door (terrace).
He said not to worry but I am.
I got bitten by a random dog out walking a few weeks ago (it was off lead and just ran up and but me on a public path so a bit different) and it really shook me up.

I didn't take any action

What did he say?

Front garden, we'd literally just got home and I hadn't taken her in yet.

I would put a sign on the gate to avoid this happening in future. How does the dog react to the postman/delivery drivers normally?

She does bark at delivery drivers etc but is always inside when they knock and can be kept away with commands

This happened to my in laws!
The dog got an 'ASBO' and basically they were told if dog bit anyone again would more than likely be put down. Sorry it's not the best story

I had similar and the police came and I had to give them my name and the details of the dog. They didn’t want to see her. He said I had to make reasonable steps to make sure it didn’t happen again. Maybe a sign on your gate in your case.

I don't think it's ok you have a dog that bites people. Regardless of where it is - you can't always be sure it's locked away and surely better to train it not to bite?

Surprised your only question is about being reported and not how to retrain your animal.

I would be very concerned that my do behaved like that. I think you need to see a dog trainer. What if it had been a child looking for their ball or something. Your dog is dangerous and you need to address this immediately before someone else is hurt.

Thank you for all the replies. Yes I will be looking into a dog behaviour expert. She was mistreated before we got her and apparently had a thing for men, but obviously can't go around biting.

Its a bit of a grey area in the law - the DDA now covers 'private areas' so in theory the police could prosecute for having a dog dangerously out of control/causing injury - it could go to court, and as a one off incident you would probably have to muzzle the dog/keep on lead when in public- but that would not have helped in this situation anyway. So it would be hoped that the police see sense and just ask you to make sure it doesn't happen again - by a sign on the gate for example.

However if he isn't going to report it, I wouldn't worry too much, just be proactive in what steps you are taking to ensure it doesn't happen again. That will be looked upon favourable if it is reported.

Dog was barking, gate was closed and the numpty decided it was ok to walk in......sorry but I am with the dog on this one, he is a fool and shouldn't have entered the garden. If he does report it then the likelihood is you will be visited, had a 'chat' to and it marked down, if it happened again the dog may be taken away. As PP have suggested get a sign on the gate to warn people.

He shouldn’t have entered your property! A closed gate and barking dog should be enough of a message not to enter. It could have been worse than a small bite (hopefully he’ll recover quickly).

We now having gates put on the front of our driveway as our postman insists on opening our front door to leave the post rather than using the letter box or knocking. I find it so intrusive. Also, our neighbour helped her teenage grandson unlock the side gate to our back garden to retrieve a ball that had gone over the hedge. Apparently he had knocked but as I was hoovering I couldn’t hear so they just let themselves in! Luckily my dogs are used to strangers but they don’t know that! They could have an off day as they get older so we’re now having to resort to gates, padlocks etc. Just to stop people entering our home without permission 🤦‍♀️

I am also with the dog. She was defending her Home from a intruder.

I have a husky with a bite history. He would probably have reacted in the same way. We have signs up and have told the neighbor.

Since moving to the USA the law here is that a dog is a family member and can therefore defend and be defended by us as such.

Assuming you are in the UK op? Otherwise the Dangerous Dog Act won't apply and I don't know the laws regarding dogs in other countries.

It was silly of the person to come in to the garden, but what if it had been the postman? Or a delivery man? They have to come into the garden to deliver the post.
I would install an external letter box so that it can't happen again - the Royal Mail have become very proactive in the past few years in protecting their workers from this sort of thing and wouldn't hesitate to report or refuse to deliver if it happened to a postman.