Dog Bites and Suing

There seems to be an epidemic of people allowing their dogs to behave badly with complete strangers...wtf? Has anyone ever been bitten by a friend's, stranger's, neighbor's, etc... dog? Did you sue, call animal control, etc?

• The only dog that ever bit me was a nasty little Pomeranian. My neighbors have a huge Bernese mountain dog who knocks me down on a regular basis. He does it out of love.

• Sort of off topic, but I was in Home Depot the other day and some clown had his UNLEASHED pitbull with him. A lawsuit waiting to happen.

• You can absolutely sue. In NY all you need to prove is that the dog had vicious propensities and the owner is liable to you for your damages (medical bills, pain & suffering, loss of income, etc). If the dog ever bit or attacked someone before, the case is over before it starts... the owner can't win. Thus the so called "one free bite rule" -- which is really a misnomer, because even the first bite can result in a payday for the victim if it can be shown that the dog had aggressive tendencies before, even if there was no actual bite. These cases are generally covered by homeowners policies or renters policies. There are sometimes exclusions in policies for certain breeds, eg pit bulls and other terriers with known propensities, stereotype or not.

• You can sue anyone you want but you won't get a dime unless you can prove damages and have some cost associated with the bite. Where I live animal control will come and ask to see their rabies vaccination record. If there is none they take custody of the dog and hold for so many days and then return to the owner who must pay for the boarding cost. They can prosecute the owner for having a vicious dog and take it from the owner and euthanize. They took my neighbors dog this way. Took a few months and they were going to prosecute him and they were poor and young and just gave it up. I was prepared to testify on his behalf because they picked up the wrong dog. The incident took place two doors away while the neighbors were sleeping. Just before this dog incident I saw a dog going up the street that looked like the dog across the street. I checked their yard to see if it was theirs and would have secured it and put back in the yard. there were numerous pit bulls from the same litter and they all looked similar. I tried to talk with animal control because I knew it was not their dog and they refused to talk with me and said they had all the evidence they needed.

• I'm surprised entitled dog owners, who let their dogs go off-lease, don't sure the people their dogs bite. Why not? The little puppy probbably suffered some sort of psychological damage from the event.

• It's just more ambulance chasing.

• My Grandmother's last litter of puppies were eaten by a neighbor's two dogs a few years ago. The mother of the pups was so badly mangled we had her put down as well. My family and I filmed the remains and the dogs still out roaming, no problems with getting them picked up and put down. My Grandmother would not sue the other owners though. I was so angry it took a long time to be civil with the neighbors.

• My dog escaped the fence when I opened the gate. She bit the butt of a neighbor who rode his electric bicycle past the house every day. She tore his pants and broke his skin. I had to quarantine her for ten days and then give her back to the rescue agency. I let him know my insurance would cover everything, but he didn't sue. I was warned that she would have medical and behavioral issues. I built a tall fence for her the year I adopted her. I went through two different obedience classes with her. I replaced countless seat belts because she'd shred them whenever someone came near the car. I had to feed my cats on the counter because she would terrorize them. I had to put an older dog down because the hellion snapped her neck over food. Medical bills were $3,000 per year and food was $200 per month. I will never adopt a puppy mill dog again. Older shelter dogs rock and appreciate the room and board. The guy my dog bit greeted my new dog the week I brought her home. He said she was a keeper.

• No offense R8 but when the hell do you quit with a dog? That is what I don't understand. The neighbors I mentioned had similar issues with those two escapees in the past - when is enough enough? I guess when people get hurt? Or other animals? I love animals but I do not love them more than humans. It isn't wrong to let them go sometimes.

• R9, it escalated towards the end. Until then, I made excuses or blamed people who complained about her behavior. I grew up with this breed of dog, so I was convinced she would conform to the usual goofy, good-natured disposition once she grew past the puppy/adolescent phase. My vet pushed for the second round of obedience classes and my baby performed well. She became a sneaky, psychotic bully.

  r8

• Thanks for the info. I live in a nice gated community, and my next door neighbor's dog come to my yard very territorially and literally chased me around. The neighbor was standing watching for about 10 seconds, until she realized I was not playing with her dog. She had no leash, etc... and 20 seconds later the dog chased me again in my own yard again. I was showing some repairmen around my house when this happened, and they were about to kick the shyt out of the dog for me, but I stopped them. I really don't want to be bitten or worse, but I am getting a stun gun or something if it happens again when I am in the yard. Some dog owners are really stupid.