What happens now?

[Dogbiteboy]

My DS was bitten by a dog on Wednesday. He’s 12 and was walking along the street with three friends when a Labrador type dog ran out of it’s garden barking and growling. It bit my DS three times on the leg leaving one quite nasty cut. The owner came out of the house, dragged the dog off DS and shouted at him for walking past her house noisily.
I took him to A&E and he was cleaned up, dressed and given antibiotics.
My DS was keen not to report the dog as he didn’t want it to be put down. Considering how much worse this could have been had it been a toddler passing by or had the dog knocked DS over we did call the police.
They came round tonight and seemed pretty unconcerned. Said they’d go round and have a word with the owner but that they probably wouldn’t prosecute.
I just want to know if this is normal procedure. I find it hard to believe that a dog can run into a public street, attack a child’s
leg and nothing happens. No order to keep it on lead or muzzle it or anything.
My son is really quite shaken up. He’s even been a bit jumpy with our dog.
Can this really be right?

Oh gosh, your poor son. I hope he’s ok.

My 11 year old nephew was bitten recently in almost identical circumstances. My sister took him to hospital and because he’s a child, their protocol was to inform the police. My sister was very grateful for this as it took the decision out of their hands. The police did go round to the dog’s owners and they had to agree to some conditions. I can’t remember exactly what they were but along the lines of keeping the dog muzzled and on a lead in public places etc.

I would expect the same in your situation tbh.

Was he actually bitten? As in teeth sank into his skin? I would have thought the police would take 3 actual bites very seriously.

@Middlesboroughgirl yes he was bitten. The first bite didn’t break the skin, the second scuffed the skin on his ankle but didn’t draw blood. The third on the back of his calf bled and needed cleaning and dressing. He’s on antibiotics for that one.

I’m really shocked if the police don’t take that seriously.

There are legal measures the police can take which reduce the risk of future harm but do not involve putting the dog down.

I'd be pushing for measures such as these
www.gov.uk/guidance/control-dogs

How did the dog get out of the garden? Fixing fences is explicitly one of the things that can be ordered, and I would imagine it should be possible to specify a gate with an automatic closer and latch that locks automatically.

@Puppalicious I know, I was surprised at their response. Got the impression they just thought as he’s a 12 year old boy he must have been goading it. They must have asked 3 times ‘are you sure you weren’t teasing it?’ He wasn’t teasing it. We have a dog. He knows how to behave around dogs.

@DeathByWalkies thanks for the link, yes the dog came out of it’s front garden. It’s just a small patch of grass alongside the open driveway, no gate or anything. The police went to have a little chat with her last night but she wasn’t home. It didn’t sound like they were going to give her a warning or anything. They’re going to let us know I think when they’ve seen her.

If she’d come out and said how sorry she was and she didn’t know how it got of out the house and it’s in the process of being trained I wouldn’t mind so much. The fact she came out and shouted at my son and his friends for walking past her house loudly is what’s annoyed and worried me. It could be a screaming toddler next time!