got bitten by a black dog today

[thetyreman]

I was going for my regular walk which involves walking through a small park/field, when this dog came and bit me on my thigh, the owner did not have it on a lead, if I had not stayed calm it would have been a serious incident, the dog saw red and it was not a pleasant experience, I managed to remain calm but the owner was NOT calm at all, it pierced the skin slightly, but wasn't quite a full on bite, but it was pretty scary, and very unexpected. I was close to kicking the dog in self defence, very close. The owner did drag it away, but it had already bitten my thigh once. He was then very apologetic and said the dog is normally not like this....

Should I do something about it and report him? He has kids who will love the dog, and I really don't want to see it put down, it's not the dogs fault for having such a knobhead of an owner who doesn't understand how dogs work, but still, I've not been attacked like this before!

thankfully I'm ok and feel fine, just slightly saw with a couple of teeth marks where it pierced the skin.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ouch! Make sure that your tetanus is up to date.

 

[Andrewf]

I think you should report it. How would you feel if I bit someone else, and the result was worse.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

+1 he'll only be told to muzzle it in public, they wouldn't have the dog put down (rightly).

 

[sunnybob]

Report it, get a police incident number, go to the hospital and get it seen to and a tetanus injection,and get a copy of the report.
Then go to a no win no fee lawyer and sue him.

That'll make him keep it in check in future.
I've been bitten (a long long time ago) and I have no tolerance whatsoever for people who whinge about "oh , hes normally so peacefu, he's never done that before"

 

[finneyb]

Report it, get a police incident number, go to the hospital and get it seen to and a tetanus injection,and get a copy of the report.
Then go to a no win no fee lawyer and sue him.

That'll make him keep it in check in future.
I've been bitten (a long long time ago) and I have no tolerance whatsoever for people who whinge about "oh , hes normally so peacefu, he's never done that before"

+1 for report it and tetanus.
Sue him? only if he has insurance or sufficient money !

Brian

 

[sunnybob]

Line two of my post....no win, no fee.

You dont care if he gets all the aggro. he deserves it.

 

[Alexam]

It may be a child next time............. You have a duty to report itwhatever happens, but do make sure you get treatment for the bite as it could be very serious, with complications later on. Don't risk ignoring it.

Malcolm

 

[Bm101]

I think you should report it. How would you feel if I bit someone else, and the result was worse.

Not sure you should be going out and biting random people in some retaliatory way like some kind of 1980s canine form of Edward Woodward in the Equaliser tbh.
The dog that bit tyreman won't know will it. Unless you made it watch you bite people under specific scientific control methods and it faced a sudden moral awakening. Or it might see you on TV live on the news of course as the police taze you and feel a great wave of deep seated guilt for it's actions. It's a tricky one.

After all, two wrongs don't make a bite.

Glad you're ok TM if understandably a bit shaken.

 

[MrTeroo]

Imagine this scenario.

You don't report him and two or three weeks from now you hear on the news that a five year old child has been attacked by that black dog in that park.

It never normally does it....

 

[sunnybob]

Its a DOG.
DOG's bite, its in them.
If the owner cant be bothered to control the dog, then tough.

Dont anthropormophise it. its a DOG.

 

[BearTricks]

Did it actually attack you aggressively, and what kind of breed was it?

My dog is completely docile, and has never bit anyone aside from the normal couple of accidental nips when he got overexcited as a puppy and hadn't learnt not to yet. It's always in the back of my head, though, that he could be out in public one day and get spooked, or over excited and bite someone by accident, or out of what he thinks is self-defence, even though he's a big baby. I don't think it will ever happen, but if it did he'd be tarred with the dangerous dog brush no matter the circumstances and that's scary.

You're right that it's not the dog's fault, it's the owner. Did the owner seem like the irresponsible type, or the type who'd train a dog for defence and was it a breed that you'd generally associate with that type of thing? Sometimes older dogs will be more likely to bits just because they get confused easily. The fact is that even though the dog isn't at fault, it may be the dog who sees the greater part of the consequences should you report it to the police. I'm not excusing the owner at all in this, but it's worth considering.

 

[rafezetter]

+1 to report and sue, the owner should have some form of insurance, household etc and if he doesn't he'll have to make some sort of out of court settlement offer.

I love dogs and most other animals, but if one bites enough to pierce skin; even if for the first time, it's one too many.

Did he tell you to go to the hospital to get it checked or offer to drive you there himself, did he offer to pay for the trousers, did he at least give you his details in case you needed it for ANY reason? If it's "no" to these, he's not a stand up guy and deserves what's coming.

My younger brother had a small dog, a jack russell iirc, and they had a son; about 4 months later it bit him, not hard more of a nip but enough to bruise Dexter's arm. They took the dog to the local shelter the same day and they had had the dog for about 5 years.

 

[RobinBHM]

What triggered the dog to bite you? -if it just simply ran over bit you with nothing to trigger it, that seems like a most unpredictable dog.

A dog running up to somebody and biting them must be pretty unusual. Chasing another dog and attacking, yes ok, attacking a postman could be territirial. Just randomly, not good!

You must stop going for walks with raw steak in your trouser pockets!

Unfortunately the larger, more aggressive dog breeds are those that are the most popular with those people less likely to research the breeding history when buying or properly training the dog. Im always worried about my tiny dog being attacked by a large breed dog, theres a guy in the next street that walks his 2 large pitbulls and hes always got them in 1 hand whilst the other is used to permantly hold his mobile up to his ear.

 

[Rorschach]

Report and sue, absolutely. Personally I think all dogs should have to wear a muzzle when out in public, no excuses. I have been attacked or come close to it many times now. At least if a dog is muzzled it can't do you much harm and it doesn't hurt the dog to wear one at all.

 

[Bm101]

Why muzzle all dogs? I had a 6 stone alsatian bear mastiff cross some years ago. I only had to click my fingers for him to come to heel. Lovely friendly dog. The little kids in the village used to ride him like a horse. Same dog also pinned some scrote to the wall who tried to harrass my Mrs and scared her half to death late at night while out for a walk. Same dog used to come to work with me in North Wales, at the end of the day we'd wander up to the hills and sit down and I know for a fact he was enjoying the view. The dog was intelligent and knew his place. More intelligent than a lot of people I have met tbh. Issue is with idiots who shouldn't own dogs. Always has been.

 

[Rorschach]

Why muzzle all dogs? I had a 6 stone alsatian bear mastiff cross some years ago. I only had to click my fingers for him to come to heel. Lovely friendly dog. The little kids in the village used to ride him like a horse. Same dog also pinned some scrote to the wall who tried to harrass my Mrs and scared her half to death late at night while out for a walk. Same dog used to come to work with me in North Wales, at the end of the day we'd wander up to the hills and sit down and I know for a fact he was enjoying the view. The dog was intelligent and knew his place. More intelligent than a lot of people I have met tbh. Issue is with idiots who shouldn't own dogs. Always has been.

As has been said many times here before "never normally like that". It only takes one time for a dog to do something and the consequences could be horrific. In public, all dogs should be muzzled, doesn't do them any harm at all. If you don't want to muzzle your dog that's fine, just keep it at home and exercise it on private land.

 

[dynax]

This should make things clearer, https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/overview

 

[RobinBHM]

Issue is with idiots who shouldn't own dogs. Always has been.

=D> =D> =D> =D>

The sad fact these days is that the macho breeds are the most popular amongst those parts of society that take the minimum amount of responsibility for them. They dont get them from the best breeders, dont train them, feed them on the cheapest food and dont walk them enough.

There are of course many owners of potentially dangerous breeds that have their dogs very well controlled and trained but they get unfairly sterotyped.

Small dogs can also be very aggressive and dangerous but they are much less likely to have the strength to kill people. There are too many dog attacks on people and far far too many dangerous dogs killing other innocent dogs, something that always worrys me.

 

[finneyb]

Line two of my post....no win, no fee.

You dont care if he gets all the aggro. he deserves it.

No win no fee doesn't give the full picture, more accurately know as a CFA ( Conditional Fee Arrangement). Being a cynic I would say no win no fee is the legal profession marketing to get clients through the door.

It is correct to say that there isn't a Solicitor's fee if you lose. BUT regardless of win or lose you will have to pay disbursements ie anything other than the Solicitor's time eg Court costs, medical report etc. If by chance you do win then the Solicitor gets a Success Fee from you that is not recoverable from the other side ie your compensation is reduced by the Success Fee.

Then you will have the situation of the compensation being paid at £10 per week because his kids are allegedly going to be without shoes/mobile phone/spice/crack if he has to pay a lump sum.

Brian