Dog bite

[evenstar]

I would be grateful for anyones input here. My neighbours have a rottweiller/german shepherd cross. He was outside the front of our houses with his owner. My grown-up daughter arrived, parked her car and got out with 2 carrier bags. The dog approached her and bit her in the groin area. She was dreadfully shocked, as were we all, scared he had done some internal damage. She went to casualty where she had the punctures treated and the deepest one glued together.Luckily there was no internal damage. She has reported it to the police and we are waiting for them to investigate. Meanwhile my neighbours were very apologetic, but they have told me that they rang the RSPCA to question his behaviour and were told he was being over friendly!!! This doesn't seem right to me! They have assured me the dog won't ever be outside again. I would appreciate anyones opinion on this. Thanks

[mattie]

Firstly, I am a dog lover, and have always had dogs.

However, if a uncontrolled dog walks up to someone and bites them hard enough to leave puncture wounds, then the owners should consider voluntarily having it put to sleep.

If it had been a toddler, that would be about head height.

If you daughter and the police don't pursue the issue, then they must keep it shut away and muzzled at all other times.

[evenstar]

Thank you, that is what I think. We are a family of animal lovers, and my daughter has an insane springer spaniel! If any dog of mine did that I would have them put to sleep immediately. If she had been pregnant she would have lost the baby, as it was she was scared he had damaged her body. If it had been my youngest son it would have been his throat! Its good to have opinions from people not emotionally involved, many thanks

[happy_face]

How old is the dog?

what I think the RSPCA is referring to is that most puppies have mouthing issues where they will nibble and if owners don't teach the puppy that this is unaaceptable behaviour it can carry on into later life. And there's a big difference between a puppy mouthing/play biting to an adult dog!!!

Is the dog a rescue dog? I was just wondering since the owners rang the RSPCA for advice.

Regardless of the breed, the dog should never have been allowed to approach your daughter. I drives me insane the way that some dog owners assume that everyone are dog lovers and just let their dogs do whatever. I've got two staffies and I never let them go up to people and I never let people pet them unless we're all in agreement. Although I know my dogs are safe and wouldn't hurt a fly, you can't be too careful and I don't want my dogs to get scared if approached in a wrong way and neither do I want to add to the ever increasing opinion of Staffies being dangerous dog.
As a dog owner you should know that you can NEVER trust a dog 100%.

I feel for your daughter and I hope she gets better real soon and that this hasn't made her frightened of all dogs

[bananie]

I can sympathise with both sides of the arguement. I have a x Alsatian/Mastiff 15 months old and she bit someone a couple of months ago - the man only walked past us and put his hand down to let her sniff his hand and she went for him. I now have to keep her on a harness and muzzle whenever I take her out. Luckily the man didn't want to press charges, but I will never, ever trust her without a muzzle again or let her be around children. Remember the owner has Strict Liability under the Dangerous Dogs Act and not only will the dog be destroyed, the owner will be charged as well. It's a shame because she was always and is such a lovely, friendly dog. But can't take the chance of her doing it again. Maybe it was a one off, which I hope it was with my dog, but can you be certain that they will be as responsible as they need to be so that their dog NEVER has the chance to bite again?

[evenstar]

Thank you for your reply. Its an adult male dog which they have had since a pup. My daughter is fine thank you, she works with animals and has an animal science degree so is used to animals, but as you say it could have given another person a lifelong problem with animals. I agree with you, no dog however lovely can be trusted 100%, especially a big dog capable of doing serious damage. We were just thankful that she wasn't more seriously hurt.
I have just had the police on the phone and they are taking it further. I appreciate your replies
Many thanks

[kita1]

If the police are involved then it is probably out of your hands now as they will decide what action to take and which law to prosecute the owners under.

Was the dog on a lead?

If it was free then they could well prosecute under the DDA. The dog was dangerously out of control in a public place. There is only one outcome if they are charged under the DDA - the dog is put to sleep. Under the other law the dog can be ordered to be muzzled in public and always on a lead.

I have a giant guarding breed and he is NEVER free on the street, in fact I keep him on a long line in most areas - even where other dogs run free. I understand that not everyone is confident around dogs, especially such big ones. I always walk him in a halti as well as it gives me more control over his head/mouth - which is about a foot in front of the collar! I can actually turn his head/mouth away from a person if I want to rather than just pulling him back on a collar.

Hope your daughter is OK - it is a terrible shock to be bitten so badly and so out of the blue. It may take a few days before the shock sinks in, so tell her to take care.

[evenstar]

Thank you everyone for your responses. The dog wasn't on a lead and didn't growl or give any warning, just bit her in the lower abdomen!
Thankfully the police are taking it further, we just couldn't take the risk of it happening again to anybody, even if we do upset the neighbours!
It was the nature of the way it bit and where that concerned us more than anything, and the fact they told us he was being 'over passionate' because he recognised her! As he didn't growl his owner had no warning until it was too late, we are just thankful the injury wasn't too severe.
Many thanks again

[wildwood]

I hate to say it but yes, the dog can never be trusted again and should be put down. If it would bite an adult to that degree it would do very serious damage to a child.
It obviously had an issue sometime earlier in its life and has not been trained/treated properly. People's fault, dog has to die - the sooner people (instead of the dog) have to be tested and registered to own a dog, the better.

[Twinkle17]

I am a huge huge dog lover and I find it so sad that this poor animal is now (more than likely) going to lose its life, due to its owner.

[lankeela]

No dog is allowed a 'free' bite, under the Dangerous Dogs Act the owner can be prosecuted and the dog ordered to be destroyed, unless representations are made to show that this was totally out of character and there may have been extenuating circumstances. An order to keep the dog under control and muzzled in public can be made instead, provided they can make a good enough case for the temperament and control of the dog. However they would need a very good defence team, who would have to carry out extensive temperament tests and in view of this unprovoked attack I think they should be planning for the worst.