<p>I was out for my walk this morning. It was really pretty out, so I was walking down a street, admiring the scenery, listening to Vivaldi on my headphones and basically “in the zone” when suddenly I heard a growling animal and felt a sharp scratching pain on my leg. Turned around and two dogs were on me. Saw a man running up and calling them off but not before one of the dogs clamped down on my left calf. I was shaking and mad. I told the man one of the dogs bit me, he looked at my leg and apologized and said they should have stayed with him in his back yard. I told him he should keep his dogs on a leash and left.</p>
<p>Back home I studied the wound and it didn’t look as bad as it felt. Basically two purplish light puncture marks, no blood but bruising was definitely there. I cleaned it with anti-bacterial cream and put on a bandage. </p>
<p>Called our city’s Animal Control department thinking I would like someone to have a conversation with this man. I’ve been walking daily for ten years and have never been attacked by a dog. The woman on the phone said not only will the police talk to the man, the dog needs to be quarantined for 24 hours. We left it that a policeman will stop by and leave paperwork for me to fill out. I sounded hesitant on the phone, but she assured me that it is in everyone’s best interest to quarantine the dog. </p>
<p>Six hours later, I’m worried I overreacted. This sounds stupid, but I didn’t even ask why the dog has to be quarantined. My original purpose was to have someone go talk to the man so that I can safely walk down that street without worrying about loose dogs chasing me. I don’t know the man personally, but I know he has a wife and 3 kids and seems like a decent enough family plan. I’m thinking I should withdraw my complaint.</p>
<p>I don’t think you overreacted. The owner of the dogs must be held accountable for the dogs’ behavior. I’ve never heard of dogs biting unprovoked. I would be very concerned about that. I also don’t like the owner’s cavalier attitude. Please followup on this so no one else has to experience the same thing.</p>
<p>If anything, I think your reaction is too accommodating. This is not a criticism. It’s more to say, please pursue this to the end.</p>
<p>Get a tetanus shot unless you are positive you had one not long ago. Sorry this happened to you. I am afraid of dogs and I would have been so shook up.</p>
<p>I’d be concerned about the dog and owner as well. Normal dogs do NOT attack unless provoked. I work with abused pits and something like that would be a major red flag. You did the right thing. You’re not only ensuring your safety but you might be saving the dog as well if he’s in a less than desirable living situation.</p>
<p>Normally from what I understand, the dog is quarantined so that they can see its baseline behavior as well as make sure it doesn’t have rabies or any other type of disease that would cause this kind of unprovoked attack. I agree that this is serious–most dogs will never attack without reason, and the owner should be given a talking-to. What if it was a child walking down the street, or an elderly person? Or someone who already had a fear of dogs? It could have been much worse.</p>
<p>Okay thanks all. I hadn’t considered a tetanus shot, just called my Primary Care doc with whom I coincidentally have a checkup appointment. He will take a look at it.</p>
<p>I don’t really have a fear of dogs, but I don’t like them either. I also don’t get people who think rules are for everyone else – but not their own pets. But these comments, especially the point that the attack was unprovoked, make me realize I should definitely pursue my complaint. Ugh.</p>
<p>If the dog is not up to date on its rabies vaccine or they have any reason to think that it has rabies, they’ll probably want you to get the full cycle of shots, so I’m sure that they animal control people will contact you again if they find that to be the case.</p>
<p>You did exactly the right thing. Notify the people whose job it is to deal with the situation, and follow instructions. Don’t try to form your own assessment of what the right thing is that should happen, step by step - there’s a procedure in place to address the situation which has been carefully thought out by people who have studied the matter.</p>
<p>It’s actually not your place to pass judgment - one way or the other. Whether the dog owner is “a good man” or a lowlife scumbag actually isn’t even relevant. Outside of the dog and why it bit you, he’s irrelevant. If a dog bites you you should report it, and follow the instructions you’re given. Failing to do that would make you potentially responsible for the consequences of your inaction - which could include a more serious event victimizing someone else. If it was “just one of those things” I’m sure the process that’s in place will be able to deal with it appropriately.</p>
<p>One reason to report it is then they can track if a dog has bitten others. My dog bolted out my front door several years back and barked at a lady who was leaning on my van. My dog thought she was protecting the car, but still she didn’t backmoff quickly enough. The lady was obviously not a fan of dogs, I know the signs. Anyway. After like ten seconds of barking, my dog stopped. The lady ran away totally freaked out. My dog never got within five feet, but she didn’t know that. </p>
<p>At midnight the cops show up our door to talk to us about the incident and controlling our dog. My dog licked the cops hand. They saw she wasn’t a killer or out of control, warned us she had a Mark on her record.</p>
<p>Anyway, for the next sox months I looked out the window and made sure no one was on sidewalk when we went to the car and I always made sure she was leashed even if just getting in the car. As she got older she settled down but I was always vigilant if anyone was near my car when I was with the dog and we worked a lot on stoppng her protective tendencies. The cops weren’t wrong to check it out, nd the lady wasn’t wrong. I just wish she didn’t scream and flay around as that made the barking worse as my dog thought I was in danger.</p>
<p>Don’t withdraw your complaint. This dog might have bitten before or it might bite again and the next time might be much worse. The dog was not provoked, but was growling before biting you. Something definitely isn’t right and the aggression of that dog in combination with its lack of restraint is really cause for alarm.</p>
<p>The quarantine is usually to ensure rabies is not an issue, though I thought that took longer than 6 weeks.</p>
<p>A lifetime ago we had a dog who we restrained by a cable across the opening to the garage door, she happily watched us work in the garage and front yard. A girl from down the street, probably about 8-10, used to roller skate by all the time and one day she decided to skate up the driveway, up a hill, around the front of the cars which were parked just outside the garage. She basically ran out of room and ran into the sleeping dog which, startled, snapped. There was a tiny scratch, no blood, no puncture, like a glancing blow. The neighbors called animal control on us and we had to quarantine our dog for 6 weeks. That was annoying and caused much disgruntlement in our home, we talked about charging the kid with trespass in retaliation (I said it was a lifetime ago, we were in our early 20s)</p>
<p>What I am saying is if you ever had or wanted a relationship with that family, you will likely ruin that. It is difficult to accept someone calling the authorities instead of just talking to you. Perhaps a walk down to talk to the people before filling out the report would be good, but that really really depends on the personalities involved.</p>
<p>It sounds like he was not out walking them off leash, but had an escapee situation. Has he addressed that? Fixed the access? Does he realise you actually had a puncture? A true bite, not just a scratch in the middle of snappy dogs? If he seems like a nice guy with a nice family, you could try a conversation, show him the wound and bruise and let him know if you see the dogs loose again you will call it in.</p>
<p>Also, have any other neighbors had this problem with those dogs? If they have bitten others or roam freely, then yes, fill out the report.</p>
<p>Don’t they only have to do the quarantine if the dog has not had it’s shots? </p>
<p>It is too bad that the dogs got out and bit you. Sorry about that…I know my dog would run up to someone and bark at them like seahorses describes if they were on our property. That is what dogs do.</p>
<p>Your fears are irrational. Just wait for that to come out. Dogs don’t bite unless provoked.</p>
<p>And if you believe any of the above, then I feel sorry for you. You absolutely did the right thing! You should be able to walk down the street without that concern…</p>
<p>With all due respect, somemom, your situation with the rollerskater and your sleeping dog was a very different situation than a pedestrian minding his own business and being attacked by a dog who has escaped from his yard. What if this had been a small child?
I think the poster is doing the only correct thing by calling the authorities. This man’s dog bit the poster, and all the man did was say, “Sorry,” and make an excuse for his dog.
Totally unacceptable.
I’m a dog lover. I have no patience for dog owners who don’t take responsibility for their dogs. Which this man did not do. YOU, on the other hand, did take responsibility even when there was no fault on your part at all. Two entirely different situations.</p>
<p>I agree with the others who have said that normal, healthy dogs will not attack a human being unprovoked the way this dog did–not even on his property. Another animal, maybe, but not a person.</p>
<p>somemom–in your case there was provocation (unintended, but still). OP was on a public street doing nothing at all to provoke the dogs. That is not normal or acceptable. I would not have a conversation either–dogs should be well enough trained and contained that they can’t escape. And given the owner’s flippant attitude, I doubt a conversation would prove successful.</p>
<p>ETA: Completely agree with moonchild. I’ve been around dogs all my life (my family has always had Labradors and most of my friends have dogs of all breeds, shapes and sizes) and love them…which is why I know that this man did something wrong. He needs to be held accountable by someone, since he clearly can’t be bothered to be responsible for his animals.</p>
<p>At this point, you can’t withdraw the complaint. A dog bite goes on the dog’s record and animal control will track it. It’s out of your hands. Just think if you had a toddler with you - think where the bite would be on them - likely their face. </p>
<p>We had a pair of large dogs (rhodies or dobermans) in our neighborhood a while back that the owner walked on leash, but could barely control them. He told all kids to stay away, as they bit. One day, they lunged and he lost control and they ripped *(literally) apart our neighbor’s little dog. A few weeks later they bit a neighborhood child. Animal control destroyed them, as they were deemed to be aggressive dogs.</p>
<p>JustTry - Don’t withdraw your complaint. IMHO you did the absolute LEAST that civilized societies require. You notified the right authorities, who will check out the animals to see that there isn’t something wrong with them. An unprovoked attack is very unusual, and needs to be looked into. You did the right (and necessary) thing. </p>
<p>BTW, in my area a two-week quarantine is standard in these cases. 24 Hours? What kind of assessment can be completed in that time frame?</p>
<p>RE: rabies. The only time that a series of rabies shots is advised is if one is bitten AND you can’t find or identify the dogs. The authorities have the responsible animal(s). They know if the animal involved is up to date on shots. Even if the dogs aren’t up to date the quarantine process will tell if the dog has rabies (if this is an area that has rabies.)</p>
<p>That being said, as the mother of dogs, I will chime in and say that normal dogs do not bite without provocation. And many won’t bite even with provocation. Most dogs who get out will explore, freak and run, or like my dog did when the gardener left a gate open…jump into the neighbor’s car (with the neighbor in it)…sort of a “Take me home James.”</p>