very agressive dog... could i be sued or something???

Question

i have a medium sized working dog, very sweet and gentle around family, but EXTREMELY aggressive towards strangers. we live in the country, on a ranch. she rarely sees anyone but us, i think that's how she got this way. the dog has her own half-acre pen, strong fencing, with plenty of "Beware of Dog" signs on fence and gates. whenever someone comes over, we also make sure to warn them about her.

even though the dog will be snarling and drooling everywhere ready to rip them to shreds, some people will still try to mess with her when we turn our backs. once a friend of mine thought it was funny to stick his boot under the fence, only to have the dog rip holes in it. he was very angry at ME even though he was clearly warned. several times we've stopped people in the nick of time when they actually reached their hands in the fence.

if someone (someone pretty dumb!) were to get bit by her, could i still get in trouble?

she is a trained & valuable livestock working dog, and also a part of the family.

mostly i wanted to know if she could get me sued, but also is there special training to correct this? is it pricey? i live in Texas.

yes the gates are locked on her pen...

and when shes out to work livestock the fences are secure

thanks everyone... im gonna see what the laws are in my county... and look for a trainer... things just aint how they used to be lol

Answer 1

It depends on your state's laws. Check with your local animal control. In many states, YES you would still be liable for your dog's actions. It certainly sounds like you are trying to keep people and your dog safe.

Retraining her is possible, she is probably so aggressive due to not being socialized as a puppy. She may never be totally trustworthy around strangers.

Unfortunately Beware of Dog signs can actually increase your chances of being sued in some states.....it can be taken by the judge to mean you know your dog is mean and you still allowed someone to get bit.

Could you shock your rude guests with a cattle prod ??? j/k

Answer 2

YES, YES and YES. I work in personal insurance, one large portion being liability, and you can most definitely be sued regardless of precautions that you take. Your best course of action is to keep the dog away from strangers, as you are doing, and possibly some good training, but I would recommend that you have a personal liability insurance policy that will cover your dog (if you own a home w/a homeowners policy or have a renter's policy you might already have coverage for this). Don't take this as some sort of "advertising" for what I do, I'm just saying... Liability insurance is pretty affordable and it's a good investment when you have an exposure like an aggressive dog. I can tell you for a fact that if your dog bites someone and they sue, no jury will care how high the fence was or what signs were posted, they will ALWAYS (with very few exceptions) rule against the dog. Tens of thousands of dollars are awarded to plaintiffs with MINOR (not even requiring stitches) injuries, so you can imagine what you could be held responsible for if, God forbid, your dog seriously injured anyone.

I personally am a dog lover (and owner!) and believe that people should take more responsibility for themselves in terms of avoiding these injuries (i.e. if there is a fence and a "beware of dog" sign, stay out!), but you can't be too careful in this lawsuit-happy society.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

Actually, there is training to help, and you can also read a few books such as "The Dog Listener", "The Orginal Dog Whisperer", "Ceasars Way", and any of the book by the Monks of New Skete. The most important thing. Start socializing her. See the biggest thing is that you are telling everyone how dangerous she is, and in a way, they are scared. Dogs can sense fear, and they feed on it. And the more afraid someone is, the more crazy it makes them. Believe me, if I lived any where in the Great State of Texas I would be more than happy to come help you, but I am not. So what you will have to do is find someone that isn't afraid of dogs and have them start. When she shows that she is not going to "attack", praise and reward her. Bring other strangers around and do the same. Also, another thing can be the pin. A lot of dogs can become crate or pin aggressive. Once you have her to where she is getting better and she has not bitten anyone in a long time, start taking her once a week to petco, petsmart, your local feed store, hell even McDonalds. Show her that good things come from other people too.

Answer 4

It's hard to say. Legally, you have taken proper precautions (strong fencing, signs, dog secure on your property). You'll also want to have your dog properly licensed and vaccinated for rabies as well.

There is a chance you could run into some trouble if a child entered the enclosure or if the dog somehow managed to escape and get off your property. With an aggressive dog, there is always some risk. As you've said, there have been some close calls.

We live in a litigious society. Even if you do everything right and some person ignore the warnings and gets bit they could try and sue you. They may not win, but you will have to deal with it and possibly ending paying legal costs and run the chance of losing your homeowners insurance or paying much higher rates.

I'm not saying to get rid of your dog, but just saying that yes, there is always some risk associated with having any dog, especially a known aggressive dog.

Yes, working with a professional trainer may help, but she will probably never be 100% safe.

The best way to prevent this with future dogs is to socialize them with lots of different people when they are young puppies and early obedience training (tough I know to get to classes when you live in a rural area).

Answer 5

Absolutley! Actually by posting warning signs you are admitting to having an aggressive and even dangerous animal. If anyone is bitten and reports the animal to the authorities you may find yourself in court and your dog in the pound facing a poor fate. Due to the amount of attacks and even fatalities with agressive dog attacks most communities have very little tolorance or forgiveness. Check with your county animal control to find out what the laws there are. In any case having such a volitile animal around could even be harmful to you or your own family . I've worked in the Veterinary field for over 10 years and have heard to many people say" I never thought he'd bite me!" Take action now. Get a dog behaviorist involved. Ask your veterinarian to recommend someone for your situation. A behavior consultant can work with you to socialize the dog and make sure you will have her as a "pet" for a long time.

Answer 6

Three things.

1. You might be able to get in trouble, even if someone does something dumb. However, the circumstances do effect what happens. If your friend sticks his foot in a pen with you standing right there telling him not to, your odds of success in litigation are better than if he is innocently walking up to the house and gets attacked. It depends on the court, your ability to speak for yourself, and the dog's history. A good lawyer could get you out of it, but you just never know.

2. Is your yard and the dog's pen clearly labeled as being dangerous? That is a MUST if your dog is aggressive. It could be the difference between winning and losing your case if something happens. No guarantees you'll win, but it IS guaranteed you'll lose if you don't have signs posted.

3. Your dog likely does not have to be that way. You should consider talking to a professional dog trainer about trying to tame the beast, so to speak. If it can be done, you'll won't have to worry. If it can't, at least you will know.

One last thing to consider. Ultimately, you are responsible for that dog, no matter what happens. I say above that it is possible to get out of it, but the odds are stacked against you. Do whatever you have to do to prevent any accidents! Good luck!

Answer 7

Damn why do people do stupid things like that? That happened to me once too, my dog also is aggressive towards strangers, not as bad as you describe your dog luckily.. but I also have beware of dog signs on my fence and still one day a woman tried to pet him over the fence even though he was barking growling and basically warning her. I was also telling her to stop, hes gonna bite you etc and she just wasnt listening kept trying to reach around his open barking mouth and pet him.. finally I said well then when he bites you dont blame me we both warned you.. that got her attention and as there were witnesses it was ok, my dog didnt bite her but he did mouth her arm while growling. Stupid wench shes lucky I didnt bite her.. Anyway back to your questtion... I think that as long as you have your dog properly confined, and warnings placed around as well then if someone is idiotic enough to disregard the warnings and get bitten you wont be at fault. But what happens if the dog gets out and confronts someone away from your property? you will be in trouble then and your dog could lose her life. I have been working with my dog to cure his fear/stranger aggression and he has improved tremendously. I think you should do the same, if you can consult a professional trainer it would help, but some other things you can do are to tell the people who visit how to act in a non-threatening manner because provoking her will only worsen her aggression. They need to be told to not stare into her eyes, dont look at or talk to her stuff like that only makes the dog more upset and aggressive. I think it would be best if you really work with your dog on this and perhaps purchase a muzzle to use in the training to make sure people are safe. But you have to work on this problem, it may not be your fault if someone causes her to bite on your property but if she gets out you could have a problem.

Answer 8

Remember that anyone can sue anyone for whatever stupid reason they can come up with. The question is, can they prevail? This answer would depend upon the vicious dog laws or lack of them in your state and county. Because your dog is contained and you have clear signs, you would not be in violation of "dog running at large" laws . And as long as your dog is tagged and UTD on rabies you are ok on that too.

In some areas in dog bite is the fault of the owner even if the stupidity of the victim causes it. And in some areas any dog bite deems a dog a vicious dog. You will need to check up on your own laws where you live for this answer.

The dog is obviously a vital part of your livelihood as well as a pet. If you are acting responcibly then even if the victim would sue you, you should eventually prevail. Your dog is simply defending its territory from invaders. That is actually part of its "ranch job". He just does it really well and aims that aggression at humans instead of predators.

Answer 9

wow.. ummm... Idk? I think if you have your dog in a pen with beware of dog signs all over it and you tell people not to pet the dog because it doesnt like strangers, they shouldnt be able to do much if they get bit. They might try to take you to court, but I think as long as you can prove that you are a responsible owner, the dog is in a pen that it cant get out of, there are warning signs all over the pen AND you told them that they will get bit if they mess with your dog, you should be fine. You would also probably need to say that it is a working dog and it wasnt trained to be agressive to people, thats just how it got because there isnt many people around the dog all of the time because of where you live.... It might be hard to prove all of this to a judge but I think if you can, you should be fine. Its not like your dog got loose and ran up and attacked someone and its not like you didnt warn them not to mess with the dog... It sounds like you pretty much did everything a responsible owner would do with an agressive dog and if someone gets bit even after all of that, they deserve it! lmao!.. but like I said I dont really know if you could get in trouble for that or not... I do know, with alot of dog, you can train them to be a little nicer. I dont know if you can make them love eeryone though.. lol.. and it would take alot of time and work!... Good luck! : )

Answer 10

You can be sued for pretty much anything.

Whether or not one has the grounds to sue you, and whther or not you will be considered liable, is up to the judge that hears the case.

It sounds like you have taken all appropriate cautions (Other than one, which is to have the dog put down). You have warning signs, a strong fence. Regardless of all of that, if she were to somehow get loose and bite someone, you would definitely be held liable. In the case of someone ignoring your signs, disregarding your warnings, and intentionally trying to make contact with a decidedly aggressive dog, I doubt that you would be found negligent if you were sued. Unfortunately, that depends not only on the specifics of the situation and who has the better attorney then who is right or wrong.

Also, some people are just plain stupid. A judge may decide that if someone is able to stick their hands through the fence to get it bitten off, the onus is on you to make a fence for your dog that will prevent even that. If the person lies and says you never warned them about the dog, and can make a reasonable claim that he or she didn't see the warning signs, it's your word against theirs. The only foolproof method you have to avoid any liability is to have everyone who visits your property sign a waiver. You should have that waiver drawn up by a competent attorney to avoid any loopholes.

If a young child or a mentally handicapped person were to go over and get bitten, you would definitely be held liable. Similar incidents have been upheld that if you choose to keep a dangerous dog, you have the sole responsibility to make sure that even people who are unable to read warning signs and fail to understand the danger of approaching that dog will be unable to injure themselves by their own stupidity. It may seem unfair, but that's how it is. And I doubt that the fence you use to keep your dog confined is escape proof. Anything less that a kennel with thick-guage wire, a concrete floor, and a roof isn't 100% escape proof.

I know you don't want to hear this, because the dog is sweet and lovable to you, but the best option, other than calling the Dog Whisperer and hoping he'll answer your plea, is to have that dog put to sleep.

Dogs get loose. It is a fact of life. If you have 100 dogs, and only one of them is a maneater, you can safely bet that will be the one to find freedom and hurt somebody. If that somebody or their family sues you, they will win. You may not only lose everything you have trying to pay their awarded damages, but you may also be criminally prosecuted, and in the end, your dog will still wind up being destroyed. On top of all of that, you will have to live the rest of your life with the guilt if that dog kills or permanently maims someone. Especially if the victim is a child.

It just isn't worth it.

Any dog I own that demonstrates a propensity to harm a human being without a darn good reason has just signed his own death warrant. It doesn't matter how sweet and lovable he is with me. It doesn't matter how much I love him. It simply isn't worth the risk. Even with training and rehabilitation, the dog will still have that tendency. Unlike Cesar Milan, I don't have all day long, every day, to dedicate myself to making a bad dog good.

So, my advice...
Get rid of the dog. Put it to sleep. Don't give it away and make it someone else's problem.
or...
Get a release drawn up by a good attorney and make anyone who comes onto your property sign it. Then, hope and pray that nobody takes it upon themselves to come around that dog without your knowlege.

Also, don't breed that dog. Behavior is known to be potentially passed on from parent to offspring. I've had plenty of dogs that had never met anybody but me and were still friendly with any stranger.

Yes. You can and will be sued. Even though you have taken precautions to keep the dog confined and people away from him, a judge might decide you still didn't do enough.

Keep the dog if you want to, but you are taking a big, and unnecessary, risk.

EDIT:
Any dog that tries to attack a stranger that has been welcomed onto the property by its owners isn't "protecting" anything. Such a dog is a menace and a liability. It's complicated that you need this dog to help you work the ranch, but other dogs can be found to do as good of a job, and won't land you in jail.