My dog bit an old lady.

[Milliemoons]

And I feel so awful about it. He’s a chihuahua, he’s tiny but he still drew blood. He’s never done it before. It was super windy, I had my newborn in a pram and my three year old who was running off and I took my eye off him for one second and he just launched himself at this poor lady.

He was off lead but he usually is and I’ve never had a problem (he’s 7). We were in a public park where dogs are permitted off lead. Needless to say I won’t be risking that again.

She was really worried about needing to go to the doctor to be vaccinated (I assured her he was fully vaccinated and healthy). I apologised over and over but the poor woman was shaken up.

I just keep thinking about it. DH says not to worry, I apologised and I reassured her I would not be allowing him off lead again.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Where do you live @Loconos - are you outside the UK? It is totally unacceptable for any dog to be lunging and barking at passers by!

Why on earth is this bite incident being downplayed and normalised here? It's just insane for it to be considered a trivial incident.

You're conflating two different things. The bite was towards a stranger not a member of the family. Some dogs are loyal family pets but not good with strangers. Of her own admission, the OP was busy dealing with her toddler and wasn't focused on the dog. She didn't see what happened immediately before the bite took place. I strongly suspect something carried by the wind hit him and spooked him which caused him to lash out. I'm not condoning the bite, that should never have happened. I'm also firmly of the view that dogs should be walked only when the owner can fully focus on the dog. But it's not appropriate to generalise a one off bite to a stranger to the dog's home situation without due cause and in 7 years the dog has previously given no cause.

Just for future reference. Small dog bites can go septic really quickly. My mum was bitten by a dog through no fault of her own. She ended up in hospital for two weeks with sepsis and needed a lot of work with debriding. Hopefully there won't be. But if there is. Always recommend medical treatment.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet - but it’s very easy to say ‘it’s just not acceptable’ when your dog doesn’t behave in a certain way. My dog does bark at the postman. I’ve tried a million things attempt to train her out of this - but a combination of being a bit of a highly strung breed and puppy years during the pandemic (so no visitors coming to the door) means that she feels a need to alert us. Even a behaviourist said that we ultimately need to accept this is her.

I just get a bit tired of the posters on here who suggest they have a perfectly behaved animal, and anything less must be the fault of the owner. Breeds and circumstances may result in less than impeccable behaviour - dogs are all different, just as we are!

Sorry @LandSharksAnonymous I was out and about, and I know you'd have been waiting to see if you'd really hit home, quite excitedly. I remember one of the things you were most angry about when I posted was that I said I had a mobility problem and had to hold the bannister going downstairs and I think that spite really took away any weight your post, and subsequent posts, might have had. I like the way you've purred over another poster "thanking you".

Anyway, I've posted here for the OP that I've had good advice from an authority on dog behaviour, which is not you BTW @LandSharksAnonymous - I imagine that stings a bit. But this is someone else's thread so I'll leave it there (and I know you will be keen to have the last word - treat yourself!)

That's over the top harsh. People don't think clearly when they're upset and shocked. She's not the 1st person to wish they'd done something different at the time once they've had the time to take it all in. Also saying a dog has to be PTS when you know nothing about them or their medical history is callous.
My dad had a beautiful natured dog that lived to 17 but she started to have seizures and they caused her to act out of character try and bite people before she died.
My friend has a very happy dog that tries to attack one person who has something wrong with them, apparently for some dogs this generates extreme anxiety because they can smell the illness.
You would not put an adult down for doing something bad. You'd punish them and make sure they never repeated it. For lots of people their dogs are to be treated with the same compassion.

Ah, yes the whole ‘please poppet don’t maul the newborn’ response is what is required here!

I was never rude about your mobility issues

I was rude about your negligent ownership though (letting your dog bark and lunge at people is negligent and you're damn lucky your dog hasn't been reported) and will continue to be so. People like you are the reason so many dog owners have such a bad reputation.

But thank you for letting me have the last word. I do hope you manage to resolve, or help find a way to manage, your dogs issues. No dog should have to live in an environment that makes it unhappy.

Says anyone with one iota of common sense, especially if they’re also in charge of a toddler and a baby.

Always kept our dog on the lead in public places, unless deep woodland populated by wild animals with no-one else around. Apart from anything else, how can you pick up the crap if they run off out of site?

I hate it when cynophobes with poor comprehension skills bully strangers on the strength of a one paragraph post.

Learn to read!

You are entitled to your opinion which I am sure some people share.
However by the number of positive reactions on this thread alone to my post many agree with me.
Anyway, I suspect in the case of the OP we are wasting out time as she seems to have done what she is best at and run away. Perhaps she is 'upset and shocked' again.

I didn't say it was "not acceptable" @Goldsandal I said it would not be acceptable from my dogs, which is a very different thing. Nor have I claimed to have a perfectly behaved animal, however it is an indisputable fact that people are far less forgiving of antisocial behaviour in a gigantic dog than in a small one. I get a bit tired of aggressive behaviour in small dogs constantly being downplayed.

It is the law to have your dog under control everywhere. Out and about or at home.

A dog biting someone (or even acting such that someone reasonably thinks the dog could bite them) is classed as a dangerously out-of-control dog.
www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

Even if you are in the same room as your dog and your children at all times you cannot stop your dog from reacting and biting. It will happen in a split second .

As far as I'm concerned any dog that bites, that's it. Pts. There will be horrified people on here, but maybe that will be the incentive for people to actually mind and train their fking dogs.

Dog ownership is out of hand. Controls are needed now. Maybe its about time the large percentage of non-dog owners got some relief and support.

I like dogs and my comprehension skills are fine, thank you.

As I said, I don’t like people minimising dog attacks, or victim blaming for that matter.

“My small dog grazed a postwoman…She got compensation and time off work so she spun it out”

Do you have any idea how scary it is to be attacked by a dog? Or care? It can have long term effects for the victim.

Yes, I'm fully conversant with the law, thank you. My post was in reference to dogs being on lead which is NOT a legal requirement other than in the circumstances I've already outlined.

A well trained dog, which is under good control, doesn't run out of sight, that's a fairly basic part of dog ownership.

Yes @AcquadiP, but I think it might have been better to clarify in your post that dogs need to be fully under the owner’s control if not on lead. Otherwise your statement could mislead, taken on its own.

a giant guarding breed has a much bigger bite force , is a lot more powerful and can often overpower their owners. They are more dangerous

You sound like a really nice person who feels really bad . Don’t let it eat away at you now- it’s happened. There is lots of good advice here , such as take it to the vet, keep it on a lead ect ect and possibly if you can , don’t take it out with the other children as it’s hard to keep an eye on all three at the same time - I’d be worried also about bigger dogs becoming aggressive toward it whilst your out with your kids if it’s off lead , what will you do then - I’ve seen it happen . The lady will be ok . Just see it as a lesson learned

Talk about stating the obvious there and spectacularly missing the point 🙄

Somebody can die - or lose a limb - from sepsis caused by a bite from a Chihuahua or a Great Dane. Same end result. I'm pointing out that calling the dog "territorial" is irrelevant and is not an excuse for biting, regardless of size of dog.
A bite is a bite. An unpredictable and aggressive dog is a danger even if its tiny. Jack Russell's have caused fatalities.

As a dog owner of 50 years, I’m afraid that’s simply not true. Squirrels, rivers, ducks. Every “”well-trained” dog has its limit.

I still think pts is extreme measure when other precautions can be taken like leads, muzzles etc. It didn’t seriously injure or kill anyone. Nor could it even if it wanted to

If you need to muzzle a dog in your home to protect your children, is that any kind of life for the dog?