My dog Has just bitten a puppy

[Houselikeashed]

Omg.
I'm mortified.
My 18month old dog has just bitten a puppy in the park.
I admit he was off the lead and running free. He is a well behaved dog until now with good recal.
Today he ran off and bit a young puppy on the nose. It bled a bit.
I stayed to check the puppy over and it didn't look bad. But there was a lot of barking and aggression from my dog.
What do I do now? Do I have to report it? I feel awful.

[GobblersKnob]

What will that mean? Are there any further conditions?

[houselikeashed]

Detoxpup - thanks. There is no evidence that my dog bit her. No witnesses. Just her word. I really really don't think my dog intentionally bit her. I think she may have put her hand into the mele and got caught by one of the dogs. Possibly even her puppy.

[SingingSands]

Do people forget that dogs are animals, with animal instincts? Not "fur babies" or whatever anthropomorphised term is currently being bandied about.

It's an unfortunate incident, but to have gone to such lengths and report you to the police is going a bit far, no?

[houselikeashed]

XmasPost - Thankyou. That is exactly what happened. A moment of error on my part. I can reassure everyone my dog has not been off lead since!

[RedHelenB]

Seems odd that she didn't say she was bitten at the time. I'd be more worried about a bite to me than my dog tbh.

[GoodTidingsWeBring]

Have you already signed it? Did they explain that you may want to consult with a solicitor (and if you can't afford one, one will be appointed to you yada yada). I'm not an expert by any means, but if this is an offence which could show up on a DBS, surely they have to follow usual protocol? Sounds really weird. Hope you can fight it op. Like you said - could well have been her puppy that did it.

[Wolfiefan]

You stayed to check the puppy over. If a person was bitten did neither they or you notice the blood?

[houselikeashed]

Wolfie - It is all rather strange to be honest. I did hang around for quite a while and she said nothing about her hand. There was a gap of three days between the incident and them reporting it.

My husband was properly bitten by a dog and he was sent to hospital for treatment and off work for a week. We still didn't report it to the police though.

[houselikeashed]

Wolfie - thank you for your support. I appreciate it. x

[Wolfiefan]

I’ve had times where my dog has been playing with another and I’ve been concerned my leg might get in the way of their “bitey face” play.
Surely any bite worth mentioning to police would be dripping blood. I know you were shocked but surely one of you would notice? Grabbing a dog and noticing your blood ended up on it?
Weird.
Honestly? I’ve had a couple of situations lately where I worried my dog could get bitten. I more than likely would put myself
In the middle. But that’s my choice and I understand it’s quite likely I would be bitten.

[Wolfiefan]

Bless you OP. X post.

[DawgLover]

I find it so strange that she didn't mention the bite or report it at the time. Not much you can do about that though by the sound of it.

Is there any follow up or restrictions to the order?

[BiteyShark]

I would take legal advice but unfortunately that would have been better before you had signed anything. Do you have legal cover with your house insurance?

Unfortunately your dog did bite the puppy and I know I would use my hands to try and break up a fight. Yes that means I might be injured but when you see your small dog being attacked your instinct is to rescue them.

They may or may not have been injured in the attack with their dog but presumably you admitted your dog ran up and attacked theirs so it isn't a far cry to assume your dog caused them injury. They may not have noticed if their puppy was bleeding and in the heat of the moment adrenaline tends to stop you noticing some minor injuries.

However, even with that you should really have been given time to understand and take advice before signing anything so I would follow that up.