What to advise owner wrt dog bite.

[GobblersKnob]

Deliberately non inflamatory title, doggy people prefered, frothing beserkers - I am really not in the mood 'kay? Kay.

Ds has been badly bitten by someones dog, he is a walker I am familiar with and have walked with several times, I do think he is a bit crap with his dogs training wise but that is by the by.

When I see him I am usually dc free, but today strike, so both dc's with me, ds asked him if he could stroke the dogs, he said fine, ds just extended a hand for the dogs to sniff, (he is very dog savvy) dog leapt growling at his face and sliced his nose in half down to the bone.

What do I tell him, I feel he need to see a behaviourist and take steps to keep the dog away from children in public, how should I approach this.

I just home from A & E am very shakey, just off to have some tea then will come back.

Your poor ds ,

I am a dog person and i have to say 'if my dog did that to a child i would have to have her put to sleep' it wasn't just a nip, this dog went for your ds's face , i would be tempted to phone the police, what happens if this dog attacks another child and they come off even worse than your ds?

oh lovey. WTWTW Here is what I would do with sensible, calm head on.

1 - Call the owner, have pen and paper to hand and ask him what he has done regarding this incident. Ask for his name and address (could say hospital asked)

2 - Depending on what owner said would decide how I would react.

3 - If he has done nothing I would be calling local police as it doesnt sound like this is a 1 off thing.

I need to PM you re something else.

Yes that sounds sensible, I may phone tomorrow and report back on what he says and see what people think.

If this was someone else in this situation I'm sure I would be brimming over with advice, but I can't think straight.

Is is much harder as I have met the dog on numerous occasions and would never have expected it, he had been badly bred and not brilliantly raised from what I have gathered. I want this to never happen again but I don't want him PTS.

Oh and pm away, can't think what over

The dog needs to see a behaviourist and also a muzzle asap before it is walked again. Poor DS, stupid stupid dog owner. I have no idea about police- would they push for PTS?

PS Also dog lover here.

I'm not sure what the police would do, but you could ring and ask them. If there have been previous similar probes with the same dog then the police would be aware of it. Also if the owner is an idiot who won't look at a dog behaviourist, etc (and it sounds like this may be the case) then I would think the police could lean quite heavily on him to make him sort it.

Police wouldnt rush for a PTS, no.

A muzzle, an appointment with APBT behaviourist. Or is is ASAB behaviourist?

Either way dog needs help. Owner needs a bollocking.

The dog will almost certainly be PTS as you cannot have dogs around chomping at the faces of children. At least that is how they will see it. It was stupid of the person in charge of the dogs to let a child near if the dogs were on a lead. You have been let down by the dog walker. Stupid, stupid person. Although many children can be used to being around dogs, most are not able to recognise the warnings that dogs give out.

I wrote a long post and the gremlins flippin ate it.

OK, I'm not the biggest dog person on earth but I like pointys.

I have a DD who's terrified and a DS who loves dogs. My DS is much like your DS in his approach, and your story chilled my blood.

Let the police deal with it. Do you have to contact this man or can the police do this.
I'm [shocked] he hasn't phoned you to check your DS is okay.

The dog might get away with having a muzzle order. If it's not his first bite then maybe PTS is his only option.And if it's not reported then no-one knows, the dog might do it again.

You sound like you handled it very calmly, I'm sure because you were in shock.
I would have swung for him.

Have you taken photos of your DSs injuries?

oh yes photos. good thinking soupy

We took pics of DD bite - just for our records. Did the hospital give you some antibiotics for your son?

silentcatastrophe they wern't on a lead we were in the middle of a huge park all dogs off lead, I have just been discussing how incredibly unusual this makes this with dp. There was not one single waning sign, dog was standing near to ds, totally relaxed posture, ds asked owner, then very slightly extended one hand towards dog, dog leapt at face growling as he went, the growl did not come first.

SoupDragon yes we have pictures, I wouldn't have done, but ds asked as he wanted to see them when he was better, he was too scared to look at the time So dp took some on his phone.

Yes, he is on Penacillin and has to go back daily to the gp/walk in clinic for the next 7 days to check wound healing.

It sounds like your DS has been very lucky. The next child might not be :(

It doesn't sound like the owner is bothered or worried at all.

This is quite a nasty bite OP. Not a 'superficial' wound at all. And totally unprovoked with no warning.

It took my DD a while to get over her bite, she was fine with our GSDs but quite nervous around dogs she didnt know, especially larger dogs. Lots of praise for DS, saying how brave he was etc. more slobbery kisses from here.

The owner needs the shock of the police at his door, IMO.

GK - my DS3 was bitten by a dog fairly recently (not nearly as badly) and when I posted I was given some really useful information by DBF re what would happen next etc - my thread at the time is here - look for the DBF post.

In my case we left it - the policewoman visited the owner, owner wrote a letter of apology etc - and I'm still not sure that we did the right thing. I still wonder whether the owner really would have got her act together and retrained the dog etc. That's what you have to think about - this isn't just about your poor (brave, from the sounds of it) DS, this is about other kids who come near the dog in the future.

I am a big dog person but what you describe is a very dangerous dog (not even a potentially dangerous dog, actually dangerous). There are few excuses for a bite, but in this instance your DS did everything by the book and the dog reacted in an entirely unprovoked aggressive manner.

It's still difficult to know what to do. Do you trust the owner to take steps (muzzle 100% of the time and long term specialist training) to prevent this from happening? If yes then try to deal with this directly with him. If you don't trust him or if you don't think this is a responsibility you should have to take then I think you need to report the dog to the dog warden who will take it from there. I am not sure if the dog would be necessarily PTS but it is a possibility. Given its level of unprovoked aggression this may not be the worst possible outcome though.

The more I think about it, the more shocked I am, am quite dog savvy, it is just taking a while to process.

At the time could only think about ds, on return from hospital realized I had to do something about the dog and owner but too shocked to think straight, hence coming on here.

I can't actually believe it has happened.

I think I need to curl up, drink lots of tea, sleep on it and try to process again in the morning.

Thanks for all the advice, I will not just be leaving it.

You poor thing. The owner has almost certainly committed a criminal offence and you should tell the police. It is up to them and the magistrates to decide what to do, taking into account all of the background circumstances, such as whether the dog has a history of this sort of behaviour. You can't ? and shouldn't have to ? take the responsibility of that on yourself.

Jesus. OMG you poor poor things. Poor poor ds. He is sounding like a sterling and brave chap, chip off the old block eh? And poor you. Massive massive hugs for you mate

I would go with what Jax is saying. Not sure of the legalities tbh.

Take care of yourself xx

I did wonder how you had his number, but you used his phone to call your DH.

And he has your number (or DHs) so he could phone you to check on your DS ,as you would expect any decent person to do.Or maybe he thinks it's an admission of guilt, rather than not giving a monkeys. But it sounds like the latter.

Give the number to the police, let them deal with it but don't let it lie dormant.

to your DS.

Firstly, big hugs to your DS. Hope he recovers very soon.

Secondly, you will need specialist legal advice very quickly. There are a number of different criminal and civil routes open to both the police, the local authority and to you as the owner. Many of these options depend very much on what you would like to see as a positive outcome in the long term. There is also an issue of what you feel about taking out legal action against the owner. To be honest, this may actually be more effective than a police prosecution. You might want to see if you have family legal protection via your home insurance policy, for instance - many of these policies do. It may also be that you have legal protection for your own dog via your pet insurance.

I would recommend acting swiftly. A specialist solicitor would be useful. They can talk you through the various options. Doglaw is a well known one - Trevor Cooper & Co. though there are many others. It's particularly important you act quickly because otherwise, if your dog was off the lead too, it's possible the other owner may feel that attack is the best form of defence and makes a complaint about your dog or lies and says your child provoked the attack. Do you have any other independent witnesses?

What I would also do is a formal letter to your Dog Warden asking how many other dog attacks have been recorded in this park? They are obliged to provide this info under FOI rules. One option may be in the longer term to press the Council to instigate a Dog Control Order in the park or to step up their Dog Warden patrols. If there is a pattern of dog attacks in this park, your solicitor may advise on whether the Council itself should have done more.

Best wishes to all your family and hoping for a speedy and acceptable resolution.

How is your DS this morning?

I've been thinking about it and, IMO, you absolutely have to report this and get it all documented. Until the injury has healed, you have no idea whether it will require further treatment like (god forbid) plastic surgery to minimise the scar.