My daughter was attacked my a pit bull, what should i do?

Question

My daughter (11 yrs old) was playing outside with friends at a neighbors house and she knows the children who own the dog but we do not know the parents, their dog got out of its gate and attacked my daughter, it bit her arm and she has multiple puncture wounds but none serious or deep and she got a dog scratch on her back, i took her to the emergency room, she is now on antibiotics, she also suffered a large scrape on her knee from falling when she ran away from the dog. the pit bill is 7 months old. i am wondering if i should call the police or animal control. her emergency room visit is fully covered by our insurance. but i don't want this to happen to another child.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I called animal control and the lady explained they will talk to the owners and the dog will be quarantined for 10 days, the will assess her behavior and see if she has rabies, they will also discuss with the owners what they need to do to prevent this from happening again.

Answer 1

Sounds like the dog was trying to play. An attacking dog would not have scrathed. Attacking dogs use their teeth first.

I don't think it sounds serious but I would threaten that the dog be taken away asap unless they take it through professional training.

FYI My small mutt has caused much more damage.

Answer 2

I guess thats the general thing to do, hold the dog for 10 days. Too bad it might get another chance at an attack, and then maybe PTS. Some places have a 1 bite law, where the dog can bite once without being killed.
WTH is wrong with the owners??? A 7 month old pup of any breed shouldn't be attacking a child, especially a Pit Bull. No training? No socialization? Poor breeding? That is crazy. I can't believe you even have to come on here and ask this (not because of you, because of the owners) they should be themselves worried about what to do. They should have already had the child attacking man biter PTS!!!! This makes me so mad. I own Pit Bulls myself so I am not a breed hater, just so people know. It is because of idiots like that the breed is seen as dangerous and those morons make it hard for legitimate bully breed owners to not be discriminated against. A 7 month old pup attacking someone isn't acceptable behavior. They obviously don't care or they would have found a behaviorist before this incident and trained/socialized the dog so something like this would never happen. I'm sure they likley bought from an irresponsible breeder too??

Answer 3

Most likely the hospital has already reported the bite. They are required to do so in most areas. If not you need to contact animal control. Your daughter may not have been severely injured but that does not mean the next person this dog attacks won't be. The authorities will also need to check to make sure the dog was properly vaccinated.

Not knowing the exact circumstances of the attack it is possible given this dogs age it just got over zealous in play. If a dog that young actually attacked out of aggression that is a very scary situation and needs to be dealt with. Either way these people need to take responsibility for not properly containing there dog.

Answer 4

You must report this to your local animal control. I'm surprised that the emergency room staff did not ask you about that. To properly treat any animal bite, they MUST know if the animal has had rabies vaccinations, and/or can be identified and quarantined for ten days to observe for possible symptoms of rabies. If the animal cannot be identified, or quarantined for observation, then your daughter MUST take a course of rabies shots, which are by all accounts, extremely painful. Much more painful than the social embarrassment of reporting your neighbors' dog to the authorities.

When I got bit by a dog, the animal control officer had the animal in custody very quickly, then brought him to me to verify that it was the dog that bit me. They then took the dog into quarantine for ten days because that is standard procedure. But they did reassure me that the dog was behaving like a dog defending its territory (and not realizing that the road in front of its owner's home was not part of that) aggressively rather than a diseased animal.

The animal control officer then told me to have the bite examined by a doctor, and to be sure to tell the doctor that the animal was in custody, so that they would not have to start the rabies shots yet. After the ten day quarantine, as that dog had showed no signs of illness, the dog was returned to its owner, after they paid a fine.

Now, in this case, it was a dog that was usually kept in a fenced-in yard, but had escaped the fence when the owners were not home. Some weeks later, I saw the dog out loose again, so I called animal control to report that. After that, the owners were able to figure out how the dog was getting out, and block its escape, and I did not see it outside its fence again. Perhaps the owners of the dog that bit your daughter need to have the wake-up call of dealing with animal control, in order for them to learn how to control their animal and protect their neighbors.

Answer 5

Your daughter is the most important thing in this question. Not the dog. You should contact the police and animal control because if this dog already bit one person most likely it will do it again. Also you should talk to the owner of this dog and bring the situation to their attention. If they don't offer to do anything you should sue them. Your insurance should not have paid for the medical bill. That was his or her dog that they did not keep under control that injured your daughter. I wouldn't take lightly to this. I had a childhood friend that got bit in the face and now he has permanent scarring on his face because of a Boxer. The boy was bitten pretty badly. He is lucky to be alive quite frankly. I'm usually not a promoter of suing people, but when it comes to threatening the life of yourself or a loved one than it is your responsibility to make sure justice is found. The dog should be taken to a pound and put down and the owner of the dog should have to pay the medical bill. You nor your insurance agency should be paying for that. It was not your daughter's fault. I just thank God that she wasn't hurt any worse than that. Jesus must have been watching over her when it happened.

Answer 6

Something smells fishy here. An 'attack' by a pit bull would lead to more than just scratches...your child would have been seriously injured. Running from an attacking dog is an invitation to chase. If she did run, he would have chased her down.The dog is still a puppy as well, and is socialized with children. Are you sure your daughter wasn't playing with the dog? Or maybe they were teasing him? It sounds to me that the dog may have gotten a bit excited and hyper, and hurt your girl unintentionally. Puppies do get rough from time to time. And who was supervising the children?Seeing as you've waited this long already, I would speak to the owners of the dog first. Once you have all of the details, call animal control if you see the dog as viscious. If not, ask the owners to install better fencing, and supervise your kids when they are playing near the dog. Playing/ play pawing/ play biting are undesirable behaviors in a dog, but do not constitute an 'Attack'. Make sure you know the facts of the incident before you send this animal to the gas chamber.

AND, hospitals are required to report dog bites to the police.

Nice try, but I smell a troll.

Answer 7

Most emergency rooms call the police over dog bites themselves.My niece was bitten by a dog and taken to get a butterfly stitch on her chin at our local hospital.The staff called the police,said it was standard procedure even if the dog had no history of attacking. A pit is a pit and if the owners cannot control the animal they should not have him as a pet.That dog could have seriously hurt(if not worse)your child. I would call the parents and see what they have done to insure this does not happen again.If you do not feel that they r taking this as serious as they should be,then call the police and file a report....To be honest with you...if a pit attacked my kid......dead dog,period.

Answer 8

Yea, you should, this is a potential harm to other children, or even other animals. Pit bulls are very dominant aggressive, which in other words, means, that they are mean and always pissed. If the dog can escape easily, then it could be a large problem. If the dog can be contained better by the parent(s), then this should not be necessary. If you do find it necessary, and since you are the only one whos seen the dog only you can really tell, then you should call animal control. Many dogs like this can be harmful, as you well know. As for your daughter, I'm very sorry, but shell be fine. Keep her away from the dog though, she might be very frightened from the experience, as would be expected, but it would be awful for that to happen again. So first try to talk to the people who own the dog, and if you think a problem still exists, do not call the police, however call animal control. Animal control can file reports on the dog, and keep a file, just like the police do with people. Dogs have strikes just like people, and depending on where you are, it is usually 2 strikes. first strike, they are monitored, and 2nd strike, they are put down. This is a major hazard, because aggressive dominant dogs can kill. If the owners are negligent enough to let the dog out, then you should call animal control, however it may have been an accident. If a problem persists after that, maybe talk to a lawyer. depending on the circumstances, this can help. Animal control most likely will take the dog to the pound.
Hope this helps some.

Answer 9

In my opinion, I would report it both to police and animal control... although if you talk with one area, they will probably be in contact with the other. I feel that any dog that bites a human needs to be put down, they should not be doing that. I have a dog and if it ever bit my husband, myself or my baby, I would shoot the dog myself, there is no need for that. If this dog attacked your daughter, what's stopping it from doing it to another human... it could be a lot worse next time and some child could die.

Answer 10

My 7yr old daughter was attached and bit her tip of her nose off and living in a township area, They did nothing to the dog what so ever. All my daughter was doing was sitting on the couch and watching cartoons. The Animal control told me since it happened on their property and the shots records were provided nothing, But if the dog comes out of its property and barks they could come a give her a fine. only then. Talk about injustice. Now my daughter has a scare and is going through surgeries to make it not so noticeable.

Answer 11

When you were at the emergency room, did you tell them about the attack?

It is the responsibility of the hospital to report ANY animal attack to the authorities, due to the spread of rabies and other diseases.

Call the police and check if they have an incident report. If not, file one. Most states have a two or three strike rule. If this is the dogs only offense, they will just monitor it.