What to do when neighbour's dog bites your kid?

Question

My 7 year old son was outside playing yesterday when the neighbour's St Bernard (unchained) rushed at him. My son took off running (he was really scared) and the dog chased after him and managed to bite his scalp and his shoulder. My son is very small for his age so when the dog ran into him, he fell on some rocks in the backyard and scraped himself up pretty good. The bruise on his leg is worse today than it was yesterday although we treated it right away.
He was never gushing blood or anything and I managed to control all bleeding etc so a trip to the emerg was not needed. The dog is never on a leash and roams the neighbourhood freely. The dog pound has been called before by other neighbours but the dog was never taken away. I called the guy out immediately and he saw what his dog did. He asked if I wanted him to clean up the blood. My hubby went over after and was told that they were building a fence to keep the dog in. I'm troubled. They seem okay with what's happened.

Thanks everyone for their concern! I kept him home half day today to keep an eye on his bruises and to check for a temperature. I cleaned eveything up within minutes of the incident but I'm still watching for infection. I took him to McDonalds for lunch today...that cheered him up a bit.
Some additional: We let the neighbour know in no uncertain terms that we have to take the incident seriously and told him that as much as we are neighbours and want to keep the peace, our little guy is way more important.
Thanks everyone for your info!

Answer 1

You should have called the cops to report the incident immediately. If you have not already, do so now. You'd want this type of thing on file in case it happened again.

The neighbor is responsible for the actions of his dog and should be held accountable for allowing the aggressive dog to be unchained in a child's neighborhood.

Answer 2

Most states would say you are at fault because your dog bit someone. I agree if these people are good friends, let them calm down, and then talk to them. You have to wait ten days to euthanize a dog tha has bit someone any way, at least in Delaware, because of rabies. On a personal note as a dog owner and lover, and a mother to a three year old boy. Any time a child is in the yard with a dog, especially a dog that is not in the same household as the child, parents should always be watching the child and keeping the child away from dogs, but you should also be keeping the dogs away from such a small child if they are not used to children that small. Please don't think I am being insensitive, but the whole situation could have been avoided on both sides. Never trust a dog, any dog, alone with small children, they will try to correct them as they would a pup.

Answer 3

I'm really sorry that an irresponsible dog owner has allowed this to happen. Even though they have not done anything in the past, you should call animal control and insist that they do something now. Since your son was attacked, I am betting they will do something this time. I am a dog lover, but the dog sounds dangerous and the owner obviously doesn't care. I hate to see the dog suffer for the owners lack of responsibility (the dog should not be free to roam), but what else can you do in this situation? It's not like he is normally fenced in and just managed a freak escape- this is normal for him to be loose, so that is very dangerous.

Do you have any dogs of your own? I hope that you will not allow this experience to make your son afraid of dogs. It is actually more dangerous for him to be afraid- he needs to learn to respect dogs, not fear them. If you don't have any dogs, maybe you have friends that do and you can teach your son how to behave around them. Children should know how to be pack leaders and to not let dogs dominate them.

Answer 4

I have two daughters. They are 9 and 11. If this was to happen to them, I would have taken them to the med stop immediately, and filed a police report from the hospital. Nomatter how much you care about your neighbor, family comes first. It means absolutely nothing to me that he is in the process of putting up a fence. He must make plans for the dog to be in a place where it can not harm others ALL the time. Someone has to teach this dog owner some responsibility. He is giving all dog owners a bad name, not to mention his breed of dog.

Answer 5

If they don't build a fence you should build a fence just to keep your kid safe. Your neighbor needs to train his dog. Suggest to your nieghbor a lead if he doesn't get a fence a lead is the next thing. You should never let your dog go around the nieghborhood either next time you see that dogg across the block you should tell the cops. If that dog lays a paw on your kid again you should call the cops tell them what happend. You should also call the cops about this and they will take care of everything. Hope he gets better :)

Answer 6

You MUST call animal control and the police. If this dog is a danger to your child(which clearly he is) something has to be done! Just b/c a St. Bernard is big and often thought of as "teddy bears" doesn't mean that they can't kill a child. My aunt was attacked by a St. Bernarn and she almost lost her leg. My uncle(who is a very big man) could not pull the dog off of her at all! This dog needs to either be put down or propperly confined to his yard! Thank God your son was okay, next time it could be worse!

Answer 7

It comes across like you understand it's not the dog's fault. Good for you. These irresponsible people are 100% at fault. This absolutely must be reported. The more this is reported the less likely this dog is to do severe damage to someone else's child. Animal control needs to step up and fine these people. That may be the only way they will actually learn to keep their dog confined. They say they are building a fence.... believe it when you see it. Don't wait to report it. I wish you luck. Supervise all outdoor time with your children until you are sure this dog is safely behind a secure fence.

Answer 8

If you call the cops the dog will be quarentined and eventually put to sleep. That happens in 90% of official dog bite cases. I would call the cops and tell them that the owner is irrsposible and make them a list of bad things this owner does but try to avoid mentioning the bite unless it seems like thats the only thing that will work. I would also suggest staying outside with your son so that you can protect him if you must. I might also suggest getting a dog whistle for yourself so if you see the dog going after anyone, whistle it for his attention, then go inside. The reason this dog went after your son is most likely beause your son was afraid of him, when he started running it either scared the dog, or beause hes so small, gave the dog an idea that your son was a toy. My collie used to kill squirles, not because he was a killer, but because they squeaked. He didn't realise that it was a real living thing, it squeaked like a toy to him. good luck

Answer 9

You should still call the police. Make a paper trail. If they have numerous complaints, eventually they will have to do something about the dog. Most states and municipalities have laws about dogs being contained in the owners yard. Your son could have been seriously injured, and if you don't fill out the proper police reports, it could happen again.

Answer 10

My suggestion will probably be an unpopular one, but I must say it. We have had several large dogs at our house over the course of my life. One of the fundamental things that was taught was to put both of your arms out in front of you and tell the dog no. By running away (even in terror), the dog was under the impression that your son was playing with him. The dog didn't understand that your son was terrified and wanted him to leave him alone. Teach your son the proper way to let a dog know that he doesn't want to play so that if it were to happen again, he would know what to do.

That being said, I would discuss the situation with your neighbors. Let them know that you are uncomfortable with them letting their dog run loose and you are afraid that someone will become injured as your son was. If they are building a fence to keep the dog in, I would leave that alone for now. If the dog continues to get out after the fence has been built, call the local animal shelter and let them know that a dog is running loose.