<p>ellebud–we had gardeners leave our gate open twice. The first time, our older black male Lab went around to the front door and whined/barked until we let him in. The second time, both the older male and the younger yellow female wandered around the neighborhood (the female stuck to him like glue, as he was the older and therefore “alpha male”) peacefully until two neighborhood kids found them and went door to door knocking to see whose dogs they were.</p>
<p>The best story: once our first family Lab (who we had from before I was born until I was in the third grade, was the sweetest Lab I’ve ever met and was an amazing dog) got out. (She was a true escape artist…despite a very tall, locked-at-all-times gate in the back she would sometimes find ways out). Usually she would wander around the corner to a neighbor she really liked who always had four or five Burmese Mountain Dogs in his house. He would call and let us know that she’d come over to “visit” and we would go pick her up. On this occasion, she wandered down the street to the high school that our street dead-ends into. One of the students took her home, fed her and kept her until she could locate us. This was after the principal had told her that she was going to the pound. The student scoffed “no, she’s not”, and took her home. I will always have a special place in my heart for that young woman.</p>
<p>What kind of dogs were they? Most dogs don’t bite without provocation, however, herding dogs will sometimes nip. They are trying to herd you. Could this had been the situation? </p>
<p>As for the dog owner, I imagine he was horrified and embarrassed. Sometimes good people don’t know what to say in these kind of situations. He did apologized. What was he suppose to do at that moment? It sounds to me (and I could be wrong) that the OP didn’t make a big deal of it at the time.</p>
<p>While it’s true that whatever authority is responsible in a case such as this will investigate what the current vaccination status is for this dog, I would suggest that you follow up and confirm this information with them. The likelihood of rabies is very slim but it isn’t something you want to treat lightly.</p>
<p>I am not trying to promote biting dogs and I live in the country now, not the city. We walk our dog in an off leash area and you see all sorts of behaviour and attitudes from both dogs and owners. A responsible owner whose dog got out and who immediately fixed the problem may not need the authorities involved.</p>
<p>With two dogs running up to you, is it possible they were playing rough, biting at each other and ‘accidentally’ bit you or did they seem after you? If the dog came up out of nowhere and just bit you, yeah, probably a report is smart, though a conversation might also be helpful to neighborhood harmony. But I watch some of the dogs where we walk and if you filmed them and add dog fight sound tracks, you could post them on youtube as a vicious dog fight, but they are just roughhousing.</p>
<p>No flames please, everyone seems very supportive of the report and I am trying to consider what the other side might be.</p>
<p>My DH and I both got dog bites, same dog a month apart, with punctures and bruising, so I can relate to the frustrations. This was a rescue dog we knew (and did not like) and it belonged to friends. It was “protecting the other puppies” near the spot we were walking. In that case the owners were idiots…or perhaps DH & I were for returning to the same spot and expecting different results! The worst was we each had a pair of pants torn.</p>
<p>somemom-I get where you’re coming from. I’ve seen my two labs play together and it does sound/look very scary if you don’t know they’re just playing. But I think there’s a difference between “accidental” and growling, scratching and THEN biting. I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem likely to me.</p>
<p>Herding dogs don’t growl before they “herd.” I bet anything this was no “herding” breed. The OP was simply walking down a street.
The OP was very angry! He told the owner that his dog bit him! The dog owner made excuses for the dogs, " Sorry. They should have stayed with me in the yard."
The poster, not being a dog person, really didn’t know what to do. But he was “shaking mad.”</p>
<p>Ok. If this had been my dog (quite a stretch if you knew my dog), first I would have contained the dogs and then asked the man to sit and let me see the wound. I would volunteer to drive the man to the doctor, and insist that he have it examined. I’d pay for all expenses. Then I would tell the poster that I was taking my animal in for examination, I’d give him my name and address, and tell him I’d let him know what I found out. I’d get his number and follow up.</p>
<p>If my dog had done this, he would definitely have to be ill. But even if I had a more aggressive dog, and it turned out to be medically healthy, I couldn’t take the chance any longer with him. I couldn’t keep him.
There are dog trainers in some parts of our state who live on large parcels and take dogs who have had aggressive incidents, train them and keep them. If I was unable to find a suitable home where I could be assured that he would never have the opportunity to bite a human again, I’d put him down. I know that sounds harsh, but the risk is simply too great. I love dogs, but I love kids more.</p>
<p>It is absolutely the right thing to report this. What would happen if animal control were not involved, and somehow the dog disappeared (ran away from home, the owner took the dog out of town, etc.). Then the OP might be faced with getting a series of rabies shots, as the dog responsible for the bite is unavailable for observation and testing.</p>
<p>I love dogs - we currently have two. I was once bitten by the German Shepherd owned by a good friend of mine. When I went to the Dr. to have the bite looked at, they automatically reported the dog bite. My friend’s dog had to be quarantined for a period. Fortunately, the dog checked out OK and I didn’t have to get rabies shots. I am still good friends with that dog’s owner.</p>
<p>There are quote normal dogs, and then you have dogs that have a history we may not know about but need a kind of retraining. My new border collie is seven but had been kept on a deck for four years, a terrible situation for any dog, but for a neurotic border collie it was the worst. Anyway, he spent six months in doggie sanctuary ti get him used to the world. He did have issues, but nothing we couldn’t work with. We worked with him and now he is a silly gentle boy. However, if someone else had adopted him and didn’t know how to work with him he probably would have gotten in fights with other dogs.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose little dog, a terrier mix, has bitten several people, and those bites have been reported. Dog is not allowed outside without a muzzle.</p>
<p>Some of the most vicious dogs I see are small ones whose owners are like, come pumpkin, stop it…then they laugh. They think because the dogs are so small, they can’t do any harm and are able to get away with any real training. </p>
<p>We are right know working to keep my new dog calm wi horses at the park. We have police horse and my dog gets so excited, spinning around on his harness. We he first saw the ducks and geese at the park he tried to chase them, almost pulling me into the lake the first time he saw them. Now we walk right past them and he pays them no heed.</p>
<p>Once I had a workman clean our gutters. My dog knew him for years. The guy approached me carrying a ladder and my dog bit him on the calf.
I then…“contained the dogs and then asked the man to sit and let me see the wound. I would volunteer to drive the man to the doctor, and insist that he have it examined. I’d pay for all expenses. Then I would tell the poster that I was taking my animal in for examination, I’d give him my name and address, and tell him I’d let him know what I found out. I’d get his number and follow up.”
My dog was a gentle soul but she thought her first duty was to protect us. She defended us against squirrels, chipmunks and deer. I was naive about the workman and the ladder. My dog was always up on her shots but it really was an assault on the poor guy.</p>
<p>OP here. Just came from the doctor’s office where the bite was examined and I was given a tetanus shot. No oral antibiotics are needed, but of course I should watch the wound for the next 24 hours.</p>
<p>Just for the record, I am a fairly small (110 pound) female, and this dog was also small but its sharp little teeth packed quite a punch. And just to clarify, I was not in this man’s yard or on his property but was walking down a public street by his house.</p>
<p>It sounds like dogs are like people in many ways – they come in all different personalities and temperaments. And like people, if a dog is abused or handled wrong early in life they can end up acting inappropriately later on. I don’t know this dog’s history, but enough posters have made the point that it is not my job to determine if the dog is a neighborhood threat and that I should leave that decision up to the authorities. That certainly makes sense to me!</p>
<p>A friend has a Brittany spaniel. about four years old, not my favorite breed, barks quite a bit. They have a large fenced double lot,so usually he has the run of that, but he is also taken for daily walks, on a leash.
He was out with her husband on a retractable leash, and spied the postman sitting in his truck with his leg sticking out. Apparently too delicious to resist. He didn’t give any warning, just lunged for the postman and snapped at him. Didn’t break the skin or do any apparently damage,but he had to call it in . Dog was up to date on all shots, but was quaratined for two weeks or so.</p>
<p>My dog never bit anyone, but the post person maced her anyway. ( she had gotten out when I was signing for a package).Excitable Labrador.</p>
<p>In my experience small dogs are the snappiest. They seem to have a sense of personal space that moves with them Larger dogs may be territorial at home, but not out, say at a park.</p>
<p>^As was said earlier, a lot of people seem to be okay with their “small” dogs being aggressive because it’s “cute” or “how much damage can they really do?”.</p>
<p>But really, it’s never acceptable for a dog to be aggressive towards people. Especially because it could end up harming a child or small adult (such as yourself). A bite hurts no matter what the size of the dog is.</p>
<p>I can’t stand small dogs, TBH. Or maybe it’s just the mentality their owners seem to have–that they’re a precious little angel and the rules don’t apply to them. We have several small, VERY yappy dogs in our neighborhood. I feel badly for them because their owners leave them outside 24/7, so they yap at all hours (no doubt because they want more attention). Sometimes I long to call Animal Control…that has to be some form of neglect, leaving them out all the time like that. Granted, we live in Southern California, so it’s not like they’re freezing at night. Still, what’s the point in having dogs if you’re never going to pay attention to them?</p>
<p>Isn’t that too late? This is a digression, as the OP’s risk of rabies seems really really minimal, but…</p>
<p>I had to get the series of shots once. Ideally, they want the first shot to be administered within 24 hours of exposure, but what I was told was that 48 hours was the maximum time after exposure while the shot would still likely be effective. I had to get the shots because my dog killed a raccoon and I put a leash on the dog. It turned out that the raccoon was rabid, but they didn’t know that the raccoon was rabid when they told me to get the first shot – they wanted to make sure that I got a shot in that time frame just in case I had an undetected cut on my hand that got raccoon saliva in it and the raccoon was rabid. I imagine if they tested the raccoon and it was not rabid, I would not have had to finish the course of shots.</p>
<p>I was assuming that they’d be quarantining the dog until they could determine that it was up to date, but hopefully the owner should have that paperwork, so it could be determined pretty quickly, so that’s probably not the reason. Just an FYI – my dog, after killing this raccoon (up to date on shots) had to be quarantined for three months – only my father could interact with him, and in order to do so, my father had to get the full course of shots as well. The things with rabies is that once symptoms appear, it’s not treatable, so they really don’t take any risks.</p>
<p>So it was a small dog? How small? As I said before, its often the small dogs who attack for no apparent reason as they have been able to get away with it. My friend has a chihuahua who barks and snaps at everything, little brat of a dog. But her owner is like, ah well, she kind of says honey stop, but it’s not real training.</p>
<p>There is a neighbor guy with maletese mix and we go past him and he snarls at my dogs, so of course my snarl back, then he yells at us, and picks up his mean little dog, who then barks and snaps even more, he blames us and we were minding our business. Je has basically trained his dog to bark and snap and charge other dogs, because when the dog does, he pick him up hugs him, yells at every one else, and tells to keep away. This is when we are across the street, as we have learned to avoid this man and dog. All the neighbors avoid him now, but to him, his dog is just fine.</p>
<p>I had a rescue that tried that a couple of times. I pushed him to sidewalk and calmed him down, showed him I was in charge, and we would not move again till he was calm. Doing that a few times was all it took. No picking up and rewarding the behavior,</p>
<p>I knew a woman who carried treats around to distract her dog from eating poopy giving them s treat, so what did the dog learn? Eat poop, get a treat…</p>
<p>HGFM- Yes, I don’t know why people are “OK” with small dogs being aggressive. I have scars from where a friggin poodle attacked me when I was younger. I was most definitely not the first person that demon dog attacked. I’m also with you on that small dog mindset. Can’t stand em. Also with you on the leaving them out thing. Why the **** would you have a dog if you’re not going to pay attention to them? They’re not lawn accessories!</p>
<p>Talk to any vet- very, very, VERY few have ever been bitten by large dogs but almost every one I’ve met has had terrible experiences with small dogs. </p>
<p>OP, I’m glad you’re doing OK. Seriously, do NOT feel bad about this. As others have said, even though you were a small woman- what if you had been a child? It’s not OK and it might be a wake up call to the neighbor.</p>
<p>I just had this happen in October. Now I will say my bite was deep, to the bone, and secondly, the dog was 5 months behind on rabies vaccine. So I wound up with tetnus shots, rabies shots and two days later, a VERY infected leg two days later requiring IV antibiotics… . I am told that with ANY dog bite you have to start AUgmentin immediately, even a little bite, which I did and still got infection. Cellulitis gets away from you quickly, so I would A, make sure the dogs shots were currrent, and B call your doctor. The dog owner should pay for your meds and MD visit etc…</p>
<p>I’m sorry that happened to you. I probably would have done what moonchild says especially if it was a small issue and I knew my dog was up to date on shots. Dogs generally get used to people that live on their street. Small dogs depending on breed can be nippy. My H is not fond of small dogs after growing up with one that would bit him around the ankles all the time when he was moving. Hopefully, if it is a neighbor it doesn’t stir up a pot of trouble. In our home area dogs are required to be licensed and they can’t get a license without an up to date rabies certificate from a veterinarian …I don’t think they quarantine licensed dogs. It probably depends on the locale what the rules are. We don’t have an animal control officer, just the local police people and they generally just sort things out before they start handing out tickets. What time of day was this. I know that in the winter our neighborhood is much “loose” about getting in and out of cars and early in the morning, but in the summer we have to be careful because vacationing joggers come through starting really early in the morning sometimes before 6 AM.</p>
<p>You have the right to walk down the street without being attacked by an out-of-control pet. Of course you did the right thing. Send them your medical bill. Some folks would be calling a lawyer. . .</p>
<p>I was once bit on the leg while walking down the street–no warning, no barking. Medium-sized dog charged out the gate and was on my leg before I saw it. I did get rabies shots. . .but this was in another country. Where I live now, folks often walk their dogs to school with kids–my D got her leg cut by a leash when two dogs went after each other on the sidewalk. A child was holding the leash that was let out too far. No apology from parent–only the excuse, “It’s not our dog!” Meaning, they were dog sitting and the kid was unfamiliar with the dog?–so why let a little kid hold the leash when the dog is encountering other dogs/people and you don’t know how it will react?</p>
<p>I am not a dog person. If owners would take care of their pets, keep them quiet, obey leash laws, and clean up droppings there would be no problem. But so many people fail to do these things.</p>
<p>I think homeowners’ insurance pays for dog bite costs. I have often heard that your insurance usually gives your dog one bite. </p>
<p>I am a dog lover. I have one of those rotten Brittanies cited above. He is unpredictable with other dogs and we are careful with him. He has never growled at a human other than when he is playing with the other boys in our house. As a bird dog, he does give everyone who enters our house a goose.</p>
<p>The OP did the right thing. It might have been nice to tell the dog owner that she would be reporting it, but the dog owner really did not handle the situation particularly well.</p>