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.

Anonymous wrote:I hope the dog is all right.

It should be dead.

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?

Their insurance company needs to find out about this.

I would press charges (or hope police did). Dogs kill babies.

This dog is aggressive. If they do not leash it, it may be put down.

Report to animal control ASAP.

Can one of the lawyers here say if the attractive nuisance doctrine applies here, I.e., the dog owner should have taken measures to prevent the child from supposedly trespassing on her property to see the dog?

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

I hope the dog is all right.

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.

Anonymous wrote:The issue here is whether you were on public property or the dogs property.
If as you say you were on a sidewalk and the dog came out then you are totally in the right and they should pay your expenses. You did what you needed to do in kicking the dog to protect your child
If your kid went in the dogs yard though, fenced or not, then you are in the wrong. A dog is allowed to be loose on its own property.

Nope. Never set foot on her lawn. All on the public sidewalk.

Anonymous wrote:Lawyer here.

Feel free to get a lawyer if you have money to burn and just want to spend it to prove a point. Your child didn’t suffer enough damage, so you’d end up paying the lawyer more than you’re ever going to be out of pocket on medical bills. And you’re not going to be able to get the dog “put down” either. You have no where near enough injury or evidence to make that happen.

Also are you 100 percent sure that your toddler didn’t inadvertently trespass on the dog owner’s property? Sounds like the neighbors said the toddler did. That doesn’t make it right that the dog bit your toddler but from a legal liability standpoint it complicates things.

Bottom line is you’re wasting your money if you get a lawyer. You might not even find one wiling to take this on it’s so petty. It’s time to move on.

No. We did not trespass at all. We were on the sidewalk.

I don’t want the dog to be put down (I never said I did, that was others within this thread). We still haven’t looked into obtaining a lawyer, letting all emotions settle. Yes, damage to DD was minimal.

My concern is that the neighbor is making the false claim that we went onto her property and I just ran up and kicked her dog, which incited the attack. We are worried she’s going to take legal action against us.

We are asking for ring camera footage just in case that ends up happening.

Anonymous wrote:So sorry, OP. I'd send that neighbor the hospital/clinic bill and ask for reimbursement. I'd also get a lawyer, just in case.

Neighbor will counter-sue…just in case also.

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 $$$.

Anonymous wrote:Also, you are a POS if you sue or try to get the dog out down. Get a damn grip.

This

Anonymous wrote:Idk what happened in this situation, but I have a small dog and parents regularly let their small kids run up to him to ‘pet the cute doggy’. He freaks out.

Nope. We are also dog owners. DD knows to never pet an animal without explicit permission from the owner and myself or DH.

We did not attempt to let the dog. We did not even see the dog until it was attacking DD.

Anonymous wrote:Little Coco my a$$.

LOL. +1.