Who is at fault? Unleashed dog came upto my son and bit him

[BlueBunny23]

My son was playing in our front garden. The neighbours dog was running loose and came into my garden and upto my son who put his hand out to stroke the dog and it bit him. He has a hole in his hand and we are off to see if we need cleaned / stitches. Who is at fault? My 10 year old son for attempting to stroke the dog that came up to him? The neighbour for letting her dog loose? Tried to talk to her, she slapped her poor dog in the face and said when it bites her kids she puts this antiseptic rub onto them so offered some for my son, so like she knows it bites and still just let me roam the street when there are kids playing

If it’s a nervous dog I’m surprised it approached your son. Either way she is in the wrong.

It's the owner's fault of course, tho as PP's said it is worth talking to your son about being careful around dog's he doesn't know. Nonetheless what a scary experience.

I am however surprised at how many people on here immediately report their neighbours to the police without trying to resolve the incident between you first - clearly you all live in a different type of neighbourhood from mine!

Nontheless you have reported her now so what's done is done. I hope that works out well for all of you and proves to be the right choice. As so many people on here are suggesting it, I am happy to concede that maybe it is the right choice and it's me who is unusual!

Best wishes to your son - hope he isn't too shaken up and I hope it heals ok.

If the dog is nervous and prone to biting then is should be under her control in public spaces.
Get treatment for your son to stop infection and tell your neighbour that if the dog is seen roaming on your property or in public without a lead you will report it.

Ignore any comments about yellow collars and previous form. The dog owner was not in control of her animal that was a) unleashed and b) on your property. It's a legal no-brainer and I would be furious.

Report it, it's your duty.

Your poor son!
I absolutely detest bad dog owners. I wish more could be done about people with out of control and/or dangerous dogs. It’s awful when you know there’s a dog about harming people and other dogs and your just waiting for them to do something so bad that something will actually get done about it.

A harness with 'anxiety' 'nervous' etc helps some adults, maybe older children, but not younger and just a collar is daft. Unless someone is a dog owner, why the hell would they know what the colours mean? Or even that the 'mean' something?!??

@BlueBunny23 I hope your DS is feeling a lot better today, poor thing.

I don't blame him for going to stroke a fog that's wandered into your garden, it's a normal, natural reaction.

I'd report her for slapping the dog & mention her casual reaction to it biting DS & her children.

the poor dog probably thought DS was going to hit it 🥲it was a warning, not an attack. Thankfully.

What a stupid, selfish woman the owner is.

I'm glad you reported this ad it sounds like she's also neglecting her children if she hasn't sought proper medical attention when they've been bitten either. Antibiotics are always recommended if the skin is broken AFAIK and if she's just dabbing antiseptic on then she's lucky one of her own kids has not been more seriously ill.

I'd probably go further and report it to the NSPCC as well, it seems the dog keeps biting the children in their home as well, that's totally unacceptable.

I can understand that dog owners know a coloured collar is some sort of message; but I imaging most other people wouldn't have a clue and just think it was a coloured collar.

@DysmalRadius maxes a really good point. Her poor children must be being bitten regularly if she’s got a cream she usually uses.

@Ilovelurchers
What exactly would you say to resolve the situation with this fine upstanding member of the community who lets her dog bite her children, attack an elderly neighbours dog, roam free then make excuses when the thing bites a child on their own private property?

Sorry, missed that earlier post.

Yes yellow is a thing, but along with that the dog should be kept close, on a lead, not roaming etc. She is at fault, the poor dog is probably living a horrendous life being slapped regularly. She is not a responsible owner. I hope your son recovers and it doesn't put him off dogs for life.

You are well within your rights to inform the police and they may take the dog away and have it PTS (in the long run). I'm sorry about your child that they got hurt I'd be angry with the owner myself in this case.
Personally I couldn't report I would be worried about having the dogs death on my conscience. I would be warning the neighbour that if the dog is put again unsupervised and not on a lead that it would be being reported. Yes you could argue about the chance of the dog hurting another child but as you say it's a small dog and if the neighbour truly loves her dog she will follow the rules.

I'm glad you reported it to the police. I would also report to ss if I've understood properly that she lets it bite kids too. I would also sue her because she sounds like the sort of person who only cares about herself so she won't stop until it's hit her properly.

I don’t think the dog needs to be wearing a muzzle or pts as suggested upthread… I think the owner should.

It is definitely the neighbours fault. Strange that a nervous dog would approach your son in his own garden. Although not a strange as someone with a nervous dog allowing it to roam about! Not your son’s fault at all, it’s likely he wouldn’t approach a dog in a park at that age but it is different that it came up to him in his own garden.

Also very worrying that your neighbour seems to accept her dog biting her children, how awful for them. Report it without guilt - pp have suggested that having the guilt of a dog’s death on your head would be bad, but it wouldn’t be a patch on the guilt of one of neighbour’s children being savaged.

If she had been apologetic and seriously concerned about her dog biting I would not have reported her, because she blamed your son then she needs educating.
Yellow collar, I’ve never heard of that and it’s no get out, my dog was unpredictable and snappy with other dogs not children.

It is serious, children are badly injured and killed by dogs.

You'd be worried about the potential loss of a dog over the potential harm or loss of life to a child?

So glad you’ve reported OP. I really hope appropriate action will be taken, it’s scary how poor some people’s judgement is around this issue.

Both are at fault. There is no way her dog should be roaming unsupervised with or without a bite history. If it bits doubly so.
your son should know better than to pet a strange dog without the owners permission, if there no owner around he should walk away and get an adult.
the owner is ridiculously irresponsible, but there are dogs in this world and we don’t seem to teach “dog sense” to children.

I agree that ‘dog sense’ isn’t taught much nowadays, but the boy was In his own front garden. He’s not to blame.

Also, been buying stuff for new pup, and there’s no obvious indication in the local, National pet shops I went to, about different coloured collars having different meanings. Lots on different sizes, styles, purposes etc, but not colour.