Anonymous wrote:Our dog bit a stranger that reached down suddenly to pet him. We put our dog down even though he was up to date on shots and we felt he was provoked in the situation.

Depending on the severity of the attack/bite, I would put my dog down too. My old boyfriend's dog bit him badly near the eye ripping the skin down from the lid. I would have put that dog down, but he didn't.

If my dog had done what happened to the OP's son, I absolutely would have put the dog down. No question. I would be sad. But human safety must always come first.

I’m confused. Where was the dog? On a leash and owner walking him? Tied to a tree on their house? Escaped a fenced in yard? Your “long story” is missing key details. Regardless, yes, the owner is at fault. If it was me, I would call animal control and see what they recommend but I wouldn’t ask for medical bills or anything mainly because we are pretty covered.

OP, we have always had German Shepherds. We have two now. In my 30 years of owning and training Shepherds, we have never had a dog bite. Not one time. There is nothing at all ok with what you describe. That dog could kill the next person who runs by the house. German Shepherds are wonderful dogs when properly raised, trained, and socialized. They are very dangerous when they are not.

You absolutely should call animal control and report the bite. Call the police and file a report. Call a personal injury attorney and sue the owner. Sadly, the dog should probably be euthanized.

No, my beagle has never bitten anyone. If she did of course I would pay the medical bills.

No, my dog has not bit anyone .....it is not normal dog behavior to bite someone. A German Shephard will bark like crazy, and it is scary, but biting? I agree about animal control. They need to have this in the dogs records in case it ever happens again.

Anonymous wrote:My dog was attacked by a German Shepherd and we held the dog owners 100% responsible because they were. Don’t deal directly with the owner. Only deal with the police and animal control.

+1 shifting blame? Seriously? I would be furious! Keep putting the pressure on and have a nice lawyer friend write up your medical bill expectations.

Your son is allowed to run free. Dogs aren’t.

My dog was attacked by a German Shepherd and we held the dog owners 100% responsible because they were. Don’t deal directly with the owner. Only deal with the police and animal control.

Anonymous wrote:Our dog bit a stranger that reached down suddenly to pet him. We put our dog down even though he was up to date on shots and we felt he was provoked in the situation.

Oh no, you're an awful person!!

Responsible dog owners keep vaccinations up to date. If he was shifting blame, i would give him hell.
What did the police do? Did you involve animal control?

It all depends on whether the dog owner is a person who is willing to be objective, instead of reverting reflexively to a tribal, "protect my own" at all costs.

My puppy used to nip before he learned "gentle mouth", which is a normal stage of development in puppy socialization. I cannot imagine him actually biting someone because he loves people and has never shown aggression, but the truth is that you can't be sure of ANY dog (or any human). Any dog can bite, with the right provocation!

So upon such a report, with a witness to boot, I would apologize and offer to pay for the medical bills. Period. I would internally be very surprised that my dog had bitten anyone! However in the context you mention, with children running, which to a dog can trigger the chasing prey reflex, the story passes muster and is believable.

If I were you, I would file a report with the police, and I would request that the dog-owner pay for the medical bills. My understanding is that alerting the police means a visit by them to the dog-owner, and a warning (also maybe a fine if the dog was not up to date with vaccinations). It also means that this dog bites someone a second time, it will be put down.

Our dog bit a stranger that reached down suddenly to pet him. We put our dog down even though he was up to date on shots and we felt he was provoked in the situation.

It could have been a smaller child from the neighborhood.

Owner needs to learn proper responsibility required when you own a dog.

Call animal control.

Very sorry. Did you ask the owner to cover medical bills? This is where it hurts short of law suit.

My son was bitten by a German Shepard while running (he’s 12, running with his sports team, they had gotten spread out but there was a witness behind him). A long story but the dog was identified and his vaccinations not up to date. Bites were in arm and upper back thigh and are healing fine but definitely a lot of stress as we had to identify dog, medicine to prevent infection, consultation about necessity of rabies vaccine, etc etc).

We spoke to owner who expressed concern about our son but hasn’t apologized or really acknowledged fault that dog was out of control and vaccinations not up to date. He also sent a follow up text message to my husband which was pretty incomprehensible but seemed to imply that our son wasn’t telling us the full story of how the bite happened (although there was another kid running behind my son who corroborated his story plus he’s told the story 7-8 times to school, police and medical professionals without variation, plus he has absolutely no reason to lie bc even if he was trying to pet the dog or anything we wouldn’t have gotten upset with him and he loves dogs and certainly would not have been harassing it or anything even if he had the time - which he didn’t bc he was trying to get back to school bc it was a timed run).

I guess my question is for dog owners, how would you react in this situation? We certainly don’t want to sue and my son is fine, but I am pretty angry that there isn’t more remorse and that now the owner is trying to shift blame. Am I wrong in thinking / wanting a different response? I also feel some sort of obligation to figure out a repercussion for the owner so they are incentivized to take steps for this not to happen to another kid.

Input or comments? Is there anything that we can / should be doing that isn’t over the top like a lawsuit?