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?

Yes, it could kill. Any dog (or cat) can kill if they hit an artery or the bite cause sepsis.

And where did I mention pts?

If a dog's obedience goes out the window because of a distraction (Squirrels, rivers, ducks) then clearly it isn't well trained.

I’m sorry but that’s nonsense. Every dog has a blind spot, training aside.

But I don’t think we’re in disagreement? It’s a serious situation which needs firm handling and real caution round her children, being exercised on a lead. My only point really is I don’t agree it should be PTS. Not sure what you are taking issue with in my response?

She needs a tetanus tour dog may have all it's jabs but it also locks it's own ar$ehole and eats shit (possibly litteraly) from the floor. Oh and she needs to call the police, this is actually a violence offence.

Not acceptable for dogs to but humans… EVER!

Muzzle

I would rehome this dog before he bites your Baby or child

This has got to be the most bizarre thing i have ever seen on mumsnet 🤯

An infection can lead to very serious injury, even if the wound is tiny. I had a small graze on my hand which got infected. It took weeks and lots of antibiotics to clear it up and was debilitating until it did.

Weird comment.

that's nothing like what the poster said

your ridiculous post just highlights the absolutely OTT response the doghouse gets these days (like a good few years ago then MN had a bit of a clear out & it's been ok until fairly recently, when it's ramped up again)

Not a weird comment at all. You’re agreeing with the input that essentially this dog just needs to be on a lead - how will that work in a home? Is it a risk you’d take with a newborn? Really?

Your ridiculous posts just highlights the absolutely low bar that is set for people being able to acquire dogs and take such irresponsible measures rather than protect the safety of others.

Weird.

Genuinely did add to the thread earlier that I am scarred for life from a small dog bite

it was unprovoked and out of the blue attack from an unknown to me, off lead dog that ran up to me on a beach I was walking on and bit me on the leg and left puncture wounds. I had antibiotics and tetanus but if I had been a small child and that was their face, could have been their eyesight gone or needing reconstructive surgery.

@dontmalbeconme

what a stupid comment.
a dog is not on the same level as a child. A dog is just a dog and itll get put down if it hurts people. Cos humans are more important.

That’s awful. A dog owners decision has left you with a lifelong scar. I think we need some dog free areas - both indoors and outdoors.

I’m already wary of the outdoors because of the sharp increase in dogs and poorly trained off leash ones at that. I don’t think it’s fair that I should have to avoid parks, beaches or feel wary while walking around them while dogs roam free.

Aside from the biting there’s the matter of shitting and peeing in the sand and rocks.

I understand not everyone feels the same but I’m not alone in my thinking either which is why I feel we need some (NOT ALL!) dog free businesses and areas. So everyone is catered to.

How does the OP know how the victim is? Have they contacted the other party? Infections might not show immediately. Is the dog insured? Has OP got house insurance which includes pets? Lots of information is needed by the victim. And yes they are a victim of an unprovoked attack by a dangerous out of control animal which, at the very least, should have been on a lead. What if the dog ran out into the road and a child was hit by a car avoiding it? Lots of scenarios here and all need to be considered.

It's not in character for the dog - so the dog needs vet attention to work out if there is a physiological reason.

My chihuahua wouldn't dream of doing it, and neither would my labradors. But small dogs are more likely to be defensive because people think they're cute and ignore their warning signs that they're not happy being approached or mauled by the monster human, so they learn to go straight for aggression in an attempt at self-defence.

Plenty of sensible working breed dogs have changed personalities and attacked somebody because they have developed eyesight or hearing issues. In the case of my darling old yellow lab it was because she had a brain tumour that hadn't yet been diagnosed.

I’ve never been scared much of dogs before but it happened so fast! Only a lead would have prevented it happening to me. I knew what to do to treat it, but it was SO PAINFUL at the time I was shocked how much it hurt from just a small dog!

The owner said she ‘hadn’t seen me’ walking along which means I think she knew her dog bites but she took a chance to let it off lead thinking no one would be there. It was very windy and I was far away from their group but the dog was guarding the family, saw me and ran up to me barking aggressively. I stopped walking as I could tell the dog was agitated and thought more movement might make it worse, then BAM it struck my leg.

I was not even close to this dog when it went for me I think once they have done it once they will do it again sadly

@WeNeedToTalkAboutIT I just saw your post blaming people for their own dog bites. Nice bit of victim blaming there! I wasn’t near or interacting with the dog that bit me. It sought me out to be aggressive. I was just walking along quite far away on a beach, near to the cliff and the owner was by the sea shore section. The dog saw me and chased me. Dogs biting humans shouldn’t really be blamed on the victim of the bite it’s wildly inappropriate

@tiredangry how do you know that’s all the hospital will do? Do you know this elderly lady personally? Have you seen the wound? Doubt it.
this is a really sensitive subject for me OP my dad was attacked by a dog the other day completely unprovoked. He had to have surgery on his leg, self employed so loss of earnings , caused his MH to decline and just so upsetting for our whole family, tbh it’s made me and husband never want to get a dog while our children are young

Bit rubbish OP you can’t be bothered to reply.

This could have happened anywhere. The dog in the coffee shop wasn’t an issue, the dog was an issue.

I think they replied quite early on in the thread outlining what they were going to do, so hopefully they will follow that through.

Actually looking back at the updates I stand corrected, the OP didn’t really state definitively what actions they’d take.

They did vaguely suggest muzzling and finding the woman via Facebook group.

But not super clear what steps they’ll take and they seemed stuck on the idea of if it was a bigger dog it would have required police, but really this incident should be reported irrespective.