Small dog attacked toddler while in walk

[Anonymous]

Could be this isn’t the first bite, so the neighbor is lying in an attempt to mitigate the ultimate penalty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you kicked the dog, you assaulted it.

If dog is biting my child I’m going to what it takes to get it off. Sorry not sorry.

Agree with you and I'm a huge dog lover. We have 2 big dogs and 2 small.

In case of the dog attacking your kid you can go to court for medical fees and lawyer fees. They will be liable definitely.

Has this dog been aggressive before?

We don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you kicked the dog, you assaulted it.

If dog is biting my child I’m going to what it takes to get it off. Sorry not sorry.

Agree with you and I'm a huge dog lover. We have 2 big dogs and 2 small.

In case of the dog attacking your kid you can go to court for medical fees and lawyer fees. They will be liable definitely.

Has this dog been aggressive before?

We don’t know.

Since they're uncooperative and most dog owners of aggressive dogs are that way they will fight back and you'd have to take them to court for any pay outs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you file a police report and state what happened? Scumbags like these dog owners always try to scare you from suing. I would absolutely sue for damages - in VA you get paid even if insurance covered. I wouldn't worry about the "trespass and assault" counter suit since you were protecting a human child.

OP and her husband are the ones wanting to sue.

My husband wants to sue. I am on the fence.

My husband wants the dog owners to pay for medical expenses.

The neighbors also filed a report saying I trespassed onto the yard and kicked their dog which made the dog react and attack my toddler. This is false.

Why didn't you call animal control saying their dog was off leash?

The dog is currently being monitored by animal control. It’s apparently standard after attacks that break the skin.

DH took DD to urgent care where they told us we needed to obtain the dogs vaccine and medical records. The neighbor said no, so we had to file a report and the police (or animal control, honestly not sure which one. Possibly they worked together?) went to the home to get the vet records for us. The records were then faxed to us and our Peditrician. This was to make sure the dog was up to date on vaccines (it was). Then animal control took the dog to be monitored for I think 5 days. They’re probably not happy about that, but we did not tell them to do this. They said that’s how dog attacks are handled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you file a police report and state what happened? Scumbags like these dog owners always try to scare you from suing. I would absolutely sue for damages - in VA you get paid even if insurance covered. I wouldn't worry about the "trespass and assault" counter suit since you were protecting a human child.

OP and her husband are the ones wanting to sue.

My husband wants to sue. I am on the fence.

My husband wants the dog owners to pay for medical expenses.

The neighbors also filed a report saying I trespassed onto the yard and kicked their dog which made the dog react and attack my toddler. This is false.

I wouldn’t worry about that. No one is going to believe that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you file a police report and state what happened? Scumbags like these dog owners always try to scare you from suing. I would absolutely sue for damages - in VA you get paid even if insurance covered. I wouldn't worry about the "trespass and assault" counter suit since you were protecting a human child.

We did only because the owners would not willingly give us the dogs vaccination record. The police had to visit the home in order to obtain the records and thankfully the dog was up to date on vaccines.

I hope you provided your child's medical records to them. Who knows what that poor dog was exposed to.

The outsole of my Hoka.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If op sues, she should be prepared to be counter-sued by the neighbor. The neighbor will say op was on their property and can ask for reimbursement of their legal fees, etc. OP, this can easily backfire and neighbor can actually say your child aggravated the dog. Without evidence (ring camera, etc) both sides will be hard to prove. Plus child not seriously injured enough to collect $$$.

Yes, this is our worry.

Which is why we are in process of getting Ring footage from across the road neighbor.

I think we’ve decided to sit and wait. If she’s going to go after us, we will go after her harder and with video proof (hopefully).

We can handle DDs medical bills. We don’t think she’s traumatized. What I don’t want is for her to go around telling people I randomly decided to go into her yard and kick her dog.

The unfortunate reality is that there's a not insignificant percentage of dog owners who are horrible human beings. This happened to my child as well. Public sidewalk. Just walking. Dog owner with a leashed German Shepherd walked by and the dog snapped and bit my child, breaking the skin. The dog owner immediately became very aggressive. The dog too of course was completely out of control now. And so we chose to extricate ourselves from the situation as quickly as possible. We got no info about the dog and since my child was bleeding we had no option but to get rabies shots. An unpleasant evening in the hospital and several thousand dollars down the drain

My recommendation is to go full maximalist. Lawyer up. Get the Ring videos. Sue for everything. Demand the dog be put down. Only when dog owners know there are consequences for biting children will they change their behavior. And your actions will save other children from that misfortune. I certainly wouldn't worry about your neighborhood reputation. You know very well that a woman like this is telling everyone that you trespassed and her dog saved her life. Go to war

The problem with "full maximalist" is that there's just not that much to sue for here. I don't know what jurisdiction OP lives in, but in Maryland, this wouldn't be a "put-down-able" offense. I mean, you can be loud and demand whatever you want, but if you have no legal right to those things, all you're going to do is spend a lot of time, money, and energy for nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If op sues, she should be prepared to be counter-sued by the neighbor. The neighbor will say op was on their property and can ask for reimbursement of their legal fees, etc. OP, this can easily backfire and neighbor can actually say your child aggravated the dog. Without evidence (ring camera, etc) both sides will be hard to prove. Plus child not seriously injured enough to collect $$$.

Yes, this is our worry.

Which is why we are in process of getting Ring footage from across the road neighbor.

I think we’ve decided to sit and wait. If she’s going to go after us, we will go after her harder and with video proof (hopefully).

We can handle DDs medical bills. We don’t think she’s traumatized. What I don’t want is for her to go around telling people I randomly decided to go into her yard and kick her dog.

Then you tell people you were on the sidewalk, dog ran up and bit your child, and you did kick the dog to get it off your child. Why do you need an attorney for that? How much are the medical bills?

Under $300 but I guess possibly more as some is still going through claims.

You will pay more in 1-2 hours of attorney fees and court costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you file a police report and state what happened? Scumbags like these dog owners always try to scare you from suing. I would absolutely sue for damages - in VA you get paid even if insurance covered. I wouldn't worry about the "trespass and assault" counter suit since you were protecting a human child.

OP and her husband are the ones wanting to sue.

My husband wants to sue. I am on the fence.

My husband wants the dog owners to pay for medical expenses.

The neighbors also filed a report saying I trespassed onto the yard and kicked their dog which made the dog react and attack my toddler. This is false.

Why didn't you call animal control saying their dog was off leash?

The dog doesn't need to be on a leash if on their property.

[Anonymous]

Don’t retain a lawyer unless the neighbor sues or is positioning to sue (e.g. by having a lawyer issue a formal demand letter). You’ll pay far more in legal fees than $300.

You should try to get any Ring footage while it still exists, in case you need it to defend yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If op sues, she should be prepared to be counter-sued by the neighbor. The neighbor will say op was on their property and can ask for reimbursement of their legal fees, etc. OP, this can easily backfire and neighbor can actually say your child aggravated the dog. Without evidence (ring camera, etc) both sides will be hard to prove. Plus child not seriously injured enough to collect $$$.

Yes, this is our worry.

Which is why we are in process of getting Ring footage from across the road neighbor.

I think we’ve decided to sit and wait. If she’s going to go after us, we will go after her harder and with video proof (hopefully).

We can handle DDs medical bills. We don’t think she’s traumatized. What I don’t want is for her to go around telling people I randomly decided to go into her yard and kick her dog.

OP said Animal Control took the dog away. So, they will decide what to do with it.


The unfortunate reality is that there's a not insignificant percentage of dog owners who are horrible human beings. This happened to my child as well. Public sidewalk. Just walking. Dog owner with a leashed German Shepherd walked by and the dog snapped and bit my child, breaking the skin. The dog owner immediately became very aggressive. The dog too of course was completely out of control now. And so we chose to extricate ourselves from the situation as quickly as possible. We got no info about the dog and since my child was bleeding we had no option but to get rabies shots. An unpleasant evening in the hospital and several thousand dollars down the drain

My recommendation is to go full maximalist. Lawyer up. Get the Ring videos. Sue for everything. Demand the dog be put down. Only when dog owners know there are consequences for biting children will they change their behavior. And your actions will save other children from that misfortune. I certainly wouldn't worry about your neighborhood reputation. You know very well that a woman like this is telling everyone that you trespassed and her dog saved her life. Go to war

The problem with "full maximalist" is that there's just not that much to sue for here. I don't know what jurisdiction OP lives in, but in Maryland, this wouldn't be a "put-down-able" offense. I mean, you can be loud and demand whatever you want, but if you have no legal right to those things, all you're going to do is spend a lot of time, money, and energy for nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you file a police report and state what happened? Scumbags like these dog owners always try to scare you from suing. I would absolutely sue for damages - in VA you get paid even if insurance covered. I wouldn't worry about the "trespass and assault" counter suit since you were protecting a human child.

OP and her husband are the ones wanting to sue.

My husband wants to sue. I am on the fence.

My husband wants the dog owners to pay for medical expenses.

The neighbors also filed a report saying I trespassed onto the yard and kicked their dog which made the dog react and attack my toddler. This is false.

Why didn't you call animal control saying their dog was off leash?

The dog doesn't need to be on a leash if on their property.

But it was not contained by the property fences, so yes, it did need to be leashed in this instance. What kind of moron are you anyway?

[Anonymous]

My teenage son was bitten a few months ago by a neighbor's dog. He was walking down the street and the dog was being walked in the opposite direction and it just jumped on him and bit him. Tore through a heavy sweatshirt and sweatpants and broke the skin. We got the records, called animal control, and saw the ped - which is apparently standard simply bc as they told us dog's mouths can carry lots of germs that infect the wound. I'm sure the neighbors think we overreacted - they kept insisting that the dog NEVER bites, as though that negates the fact that it did bite my son! I wanted there to be a record in case the dog bites again. I wouldn't sue for something like this, but if the dog owner is behaving badly, I might consider it.

Oh and OP, fwiw I was bitten badly by a relative's dog when I was a kid, and I'm told that my very calm kind grandfather kicked the dog down the stairs while I was being taken away in an ambulance. Both the dog and I survived.

[Anonymous]

I hate irresponsible dog owners so much. Glad your kid is ok. My son was bit by a relative’s dog when he was 4. He was just playing in their backyard, nowhere near the dog/not engaging w the dog at all. Dog had just been lying 20 feet away and suddenly ran up and bit my son. Relative immediately took dog away and my son was fine but it just made me feel like you can never know when something like that’ll happen and as a result I’ve been very nervous around dogs since.

Your situation is worse bc your kid was injured enough to go to urgent care but mostly your situation is worse bc of your crazy neighbor!

I don’t know if you need a lawyer but keep all medical records, police report, animal control report, photos of your kid’s injuries, etc just in case and I hope you get that ring camera footage. I think 99% of people will believe your story over crazy dog owner lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you kicked the dog, you assaulted it.

WTF, the dog was attacking a baby

seriously.

OP, the cops will likely sort this out. They can't be stupid enough to believe psycho neighbor.