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?

It launched at this woman unprovoked!!! I wouldn’t have this dog around my kids at all anymore. Can you 100% say it wouldn’t bite your kids especially if say they accidentally stood on its foot etc? In my opinion the lady should have still called the police and dog should be PTS. Sorry if that’s a hard truth.

Knowing most men, the husband was just saying what he needed to say to stop the stress so he could have a nice day. If my husband told me the same story I'd probably just say "oh well it's not like she can chase after you"

With it being a small dog does negate the severity. I've been bitten by a small dog and a large dog. The larger dog was a worse bite unsurprisingly so there's your difference.

OP muzzle your dog and stop overdoing it. Kids don't behave these days so adding a dog to the mix was always going to go wrong

Tetanus? Go and read up how it enters the blood stream from a dog bite.

Dog bites can give anyone an infection. It's nothing to do with the dog being 'healthy' itself.

That's why you have to go to a dr and have a tetanus jab.

How did you know she had capacity and not early stage dementia?
You go back to your Sunday but having had to take an elderly relative to appointments for repeat dressings due to a minor wound and being told by the TRAINED MEDICAL staff that it really COMMON for minor grazed and scrapes to break down in an older person causing months of worry and misery I’ll stick with those facts….

@Chenecinquantecinq
But you don't even understand the transmission of tetanus.
It's not us who are the 'crazies!

You need to report it to the police or local dog warden as it is a legal matter
You should also have exchanged details with the victim

I wondered that. No idea of the official rules but I'd let the local pcso know incase a complaint has been submitted.

Sounds awful op, you have my sympathies. We have a dog and I'd obviously be horrified if they bit anyone.

As others have said you need to consider what to do as you have young kids. Once dogs bite then often do it again.

Utter utter ridiculous made up facts!!! All of these posts are insane. Go enjoy your Sunday OP stop letting MN (which is not at all representative of a normal opinion btw) bay for blood. Some people enjoy upsetting others particularly on line. Wow they should be ashamed.

Your dog needs putting down, OP @Milliemoons

That poor lady it bit.

What planet are you on?

It's no different to a car accident. You exchange details.

Read my post about how my DH was bitten.

He took a phone number, had the inconvenience of going to a GP for a tetanus jab, contacted the police who said they wanted the owner's details, went to see her and said had it been a child bitten or someone's face the dog would be destroyed .

This is the LAW not silly women on MN.

My friend had a similar situation with her dog and was sued. The dog was PTS to prevent it happening again.

I would not, under any circumstances, have this dog any where near a child. This is impossible to impose without the risk of error. I’d rehome or PTS.

I’m sorry this has happened - how traumatic for everybody. I really hope the old lady is ok.

I hope you’re not a dog owner.

I think this should be a lesson that all dog owners should understand the protocol for a dog bite, and that’s to check the person is up to date with tetanus vaccinations and to strongly encourage them to seek medical attention.

Saying my dog is vaccinated you’ll be fine is hugely irresponsible, particularly when the other person seems worried or panicked and clearly doesn’t know what to do about a dog bite.

Our dog has never bitten or drawn blood, but has nipped accidentally when aiming for a toy in a hand - and if she did drag blood in that scenario I’d be as close as possible to demanding the injured person got medical attention.

Not made up facts at all, the law requires you to keep your dog under control in a public place, you are by law required to report a dog bite FACT
Elderly people skin takes longer to heal and often wounds lead to complications FACT
I know you’re about to head off and enjoy your Sunday, hope you don’t encounter any off lead and out of control dogs where you are but if you do, I would advise you brush up on the law so you know what to do…

@Ally886

“If my husband told me the same story I'd probably just say "oh well it's not like she can chase after you"

WTF?! Why so callous and heartless? One day you’ll be old and I hope you reap what you sow…

@Chenecinquantecinq i was in the park once and a little puppy dog was running around and we were playing with it whilst chatting to it owners. In its over excitement it ran into my leg and its tooth caught and took off the top layer of skin. Small minor looking injury that you would think nothing of.

5 days later I was on two lots of antibiotics with a nasty skin infection. I was young and recovered quickly but yes it could be very dangerous for the lady - the infection I had older would cause a lot of issues with healing

A perfect illustration of why dogs should be on leads in public...

The dog needs to be put down.

It isn't even a debate.

Your dog bit someone completely unprovoked. It's dangerous and needs to be put down immediately.

@Chenecinquantecinq

the dog needs putting down. End of. It’s dangerous.

And owners need to learn how to train their dog although it doesn't cover all eventualities.

That is way OTT, frankly.

Seriously OP, you need to consider rehoming your dog. Take it to a rescue centre - or maybe it needs putting down. I don't know if RC take on dogs who have bitten someone.

Your child is not safe around this dog.

@Theroadt

it isn’t. It needs putting to sleep. It’s attacked someone completely unprovoked, the little shit.

@StormingAmish

who is gonna want a biting dog though? It needs pts.

It's not really OTT. The dog bit someone, unprovoked.
It could do it again.
Have you missed all the cases where the 'lovely family pet who'd never hurt a fly' suddenly bit a child's face and killed them?