Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go after this owner, OP. Next time that dog will kill someone.

That is quite a dramatic response!

[cue the "she's being hysterical" commenters because they are irresponsible dog owners who fear it will catch up with them]

Anonymous wrote:Go after this owner, OP. Next time that dog will kill someone.

That is quite a dramatic response!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was your son on public property when it happened? Was the dog loose, escaped from a fence, or what? we need more details.

That really does not matter.

This was an attack from the back on a child.

Dog should be put down.

DP here. It *absolutely, positively* matters from a legal standpoint. Did your son trespass onto someone's private property, where the dog was contained, OP? We need more details.

Go after this owner, OP. Next time that dog will kill someone.

I’m really sorry, OP, that this happened to your son. Very scary.

The ONLY thing that matters is whether your kid was on this guy's property or not. If he was on their property without permission, then MAAYYYBEEE they have a case to not have the dog be put down.

If your son was on public land (or a public easement) and the dog bit him, you should push for it to be put down. And PLEASE do that. Next time it could be a mom walking past with her baby in a stroller.

And of course you should sue them for medical bills, pain and suffering, etc. The pain and suffering part will consider in detail (in a court) whether your son provoked it and stuff like that. Depending on the level of negligence, there might even be a criminal charge against the owner.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I’m not sure. I want the owner to take responsibility and for this not to happen again and based on his responses to us that doesn’t seem to be the case. But short of a lawsuit I guess there is no way to force that to happen? Posted here bc I was wondering if there is something we are overlooking.

Okay, so what does “taking responsibility” look like to you? An apology? I wouldn’t hold your breath there. Police and animal control will the determiner of whether the dog/owner face disciplinary action. What would a lawsuit do beyond that? Are you looking for monetary damages? You’d be wasting your time.

Honestly I’m not sure. I want the owner to take responsibility and for this not to happen again and based on his responses to us that doesn’t seem to be the case. But short of a lawsuit I guess there is no way to force that to happen? Posted here bc I was wondering if there is something we are overlooking.

Anonymous wrote:To answer your question about wanting an apology—if my dog bit I would never apologize via text/email/voicemail because an apology is admission of guilt and can be used against me. Get a police report, file a claim against the owners homeowners policy, but don’t expect an apology.

This is the exact opposite of what the law says. An apology is never evidence of guilt.

OP what exactly are you *looking* for to happen? Doesn’t sound like the owner can be cited for anything. Short of having your bills paid (how much can that really be?) and the dog being put down, I guess, what exactly do you want?

To answer your question about wanting an apology—if my dog bit I would never apologize via text/email/voicemail because an apology is admission of guilt and can be used against me. Get a police report, file a claim against the owners homeowners policy, but don’t expect an apology.

Op here. Thanks for all of the quick comments.

More details to answer questions & more that have come up:

- a police report was filed (and animal control called in by police). Police were contacted by school (incident happened for during practice for a school sport).

- my son was running in a residential neighbor which is part of the running route for the team practice. He was across the street from the dog owners house on sidewalk. When he first saw dog it was running towards him from where it was being walked by someone (who turned out to be owner’s 20 year old son) without a leash.

- no leash law in our town (surprised me!) but dog required to under owner’s control

- dog owners son called out the name of the dog when it jumped up on my son but did not run after him or contact the school to see if my son was ok. Dog owner’s son claims he didn’t realize my son was hurt. May indeed have been the case. My son says he was crying as he ran away from dog (he was embarrassed about crying) but I can believe he wasn’t making as much noise as he thought.

- dog bit my son first on forearm (he put up his arm reflectively when dog lunged at him) and then jumped again at his back thigh but no puncture (just a scrape) on thigh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was your son on public property when it happened? Was the dog loose, escaped from a fence, or what? we need more details.

That really does not matter.

This was an attack from the back on a child.

Dog should be put down.

It may not matter legally but she asked how would you feel and that would matter to me whether the owner was letting him loose or what the owner was doing. So I do feel extra details would be helpful in assessing.
Not sure where you get that it was from behind except the bite on the back of the leg.

Anonymous wrote:Was your son on public property when it happened? Was the dog loose, escaped from a fence, or what? we need more details.

That really does not matter.

This was an attack from the back on a child.

Dog should be put down.

Was your son on public property when it happened? Was the dog loose, escaped from a fence, or what? we need more details.