Dog bite, owner responsibility?

[Guest Anonymous]

Hi everyone. I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so I thought the training board was the best place. First of all, I would like to say that I am a dog lover and have always had a dog and don't blame the dog at all, I think that he is probably going through something that has made him lash out like this, but do believe that he should be taken to a professional trainer.

About a month ago, my 6 year old son and I went to my sister's house for my nephew's 14th birthday. When we got there, the birthday boy came out to greet us and my son followed him into the house. I was behind them by a few feet and they got into the garage before I got there. My nephew was told to put the dog(a year and a half old lab mix from a shelter) in his pen outside and my son went with him. In retrospect, I should not have let my son go with his cousin, but he had been around the dog before with no problems. My son comes running out of the garage crying and holding his arm. My nephew put the dog away and came out and told us that he had the dog by the collar and my son was just standing there when the dog lunged at my son and bit him in the arm. He had two puncture wounds in his arm, one was pretty deep and the other was not, but both broke the skin. I took him to the ER where they cleaned the wounds, xrayed because of how deep the one was, and stitched up one and steri-stripped the other.

The dogs vaccinations were not updated like they should have been, this was July and the dog should have had his shots in March, so while the dog was not quarantined(sp?), he was in his pen outside with the neighbor watching, feeding and walking him while my sister and her family went on vacation. The local animal control department called me and I expressed my concerns and he said that he would check the dog immediately and then on the 10th day to make sure the dog was ok. He said he would call if there was a problem and he didn't, so I assume everything was ok.

Now is the sticky situation. My husband owns a small business and I am at home with my children. Our health insurance is strictly a catastrophic one and we pay out the nose for that as it is. The medical bills for this incident are over $1000(our deductible is $2500). I waited for my sister to contact me for a month to offer to pay these bills, but she never did. So, I sent her a letter enclosing copies of the bills. She called me and said that she did not believe this was her responsibility, that it wasn't her fault that we didn't have better health insurance. Do I just have to bite the bullet and pay these bills on my own? Thanks for your help! :-?

[JudyHoffman]

Yes a dog bite is the owners responsibility. Her homeowners insurance should pay for it.

You can tell your sister to rehome that dog. She is an irresponsible dog owner and you can insist the dog be put down.

If your sister was having company it is her responsibility, not her son's to make sure the dog and guests are safe.

If that dog bit your son for "no reason" (which I doubt) he is a danger and needs to be assessed by a trained animal behaviorist.

As you can see, I have ABSOLUTELY NO TOLERANCE for dogs who bite children for no apparent reason.

[rotten_two]

personally i think this topic is gonna get everyone a little hot under the collar and for lots of different reasons. maybe it should go into the debate section!

my thoughts are as follows:

the dog parent . . .
1) should at the very least offer to pay the medical bills that the insurance does not cover

2) should not leave a 14 year old boy in charge of an adolescent shelter dog

3) should probably rethink her ability as a responsible owner -- get your dog up to date on shots for pete's sake or get a more suitable pet -- hmm how bout a fish?

4) hello -- spend the vacation money to get your dog the training it so very obviously needs


as a proud momma of 2 "VICIOUS" (that is total sarcasm people) rottweilers i would not put my family or guests in that situation. the dogs would be put away BEFORE the guests arrived and would be kept busy in their crates with interactive toys. if they were brought out they would be well supervised by me. unfortunately not everyone shares my thoughts about always keeping two eyes peeled! i feel you can not trust your dog 100% in any given situation. 99% maybe but there is always something that could push the dog to bite. dogs bite, period. every dog is capable it is a matter of what it takes to make it bite.

the child parent
1) hindsight is 20/20 -- of course your child should not have been unsupervised with this dog. unless taught otherwise -- children are a bit inept when it comes to reading doggie body signals. i am sure there were warnings before the bite but likely the kids did not really pick up on them. for one thing the one kid had the dog by the collar. the dog likely felt it could not escape from a stressful situation. at a birthday party kids are excited, loud, exuberant, etc all things that can be construed as aggressive type displays. i'd say count your lucky stars it was not worse!


this is a very unfortunate situation and so easily prevented. happens everyday and many a good dog has suffered for our stupidity!

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I think I will try to write my sister another letter and see how she responds.

rotten_two:
You are absolutely right. I am kicking myself everyday for letting my son go without me right there--we were very fortunate that my mistake did not result in a worse bite for my son than it already was. I am very sorry for that mistake and it will never happen again.

[Guest Anonymous]

Your sister is responsible.

Lateef

www.dog-bite-prevention.com

[IYPChrissie]

I echo everyone's reply, it is most definitely your sisters responsibility for the medical bills. I would be feeling so bad if that was my dog and that happened to my nephew that I would have offered paying to begin with!

I hope you get it sorted out in *your* favor!