The OP said that this particular child has been found wandering around inside the OP’s house.
If you have a kid who will walk uninvited (and apparently unsupervised) into someone else’s house when they’re not home, then there’s no real pratical way to make your house “safe” for her. It sounds like the OP made all the reasonable efforts you could hope for to keep both her dogs and neighborhood children safe. The mother of the child is to blame here, frankly.
If you know your kid has special needs, it’s your duty as a parent to make sure those needs are met. If that means closer supervision than the child’s age would normally merit, then that is what you have to provide. The kid had been repeatedly warned about the dogs and asked not to touch them - the kid went to considerable trouble to touch the dogs anyway.
Had this been an intruder, there would be no question to fault. The dogs are more than adequately restrained. This doesn’t even reach up to “attractive nuisance”. The child has to go out of her way to come in contact with the dogs. For the child, this is the equivalent of learning that fire is hot. Sometimes, you can tell them 100 times to no avail, but once they get burned…
Yes it is they who have the Shitzus, and I’m going to guess that no, they didn’t bite her. She’s very rough with them, but they seem to just take it. My dogs however, aren’t’ used to that kid rough-housing kind of thing.
Moreover, yesterday I found out that it’s not just the one time I found her inside the house, but my husband has found her there two other times. She comes in through the garage, when we are working on the yard.
I like her. She really is quite sweet. But I worry about her. Like I said, my husband was bitten by a stray. She has that very dangerous combination of fearless and friendly.
I don’t think her parents should constantly watch her. I just think they should make reasonable accommodations to keep her safe, and letting her mess with my dogs isn’t. Yesterday, morning when she was talking (yelling) to me she said about her neighbor’s new dog "I thought it would be mean, but it turns out that he’s really nice to (the little girl). I’m thinking, fuck lady! How did you find that out? Did you let her play with their dog through the fence too?
Depending on where you live, there may well be provocation defences in dog bite cases. Trespassing is considered provocation, as is hurting the animal. Plus, you’d have plenty of prior history finding the child trespassing on your property.
The problem may be that she does not “know any better” and cannot be held responsible for the provocation. That said, homeowners can’t be expected to childproof their houses and yards just in case a neighbor child managed to do something stupid like that. You have to take reasonable steps to ensure safety - like a fence that isn’t in disrepair, or a fence around a pool, for example… but yeah, that’s about it.
Keep your fingers crossed. You might want to give your insurance company the heads up now, just in case something comes of it.
I guess I am the only person on the opposite end of this complaint.
When I was a kid, i went to a babysitters located near the elementary school I attended. The corner of her fence met the corner of another property where the man had a German Shepherd. This dog was huge. And it wasn’t a regular German Shepherd. As is my understanding, it was a Police/ Firedepartment dog. It was used to look for people but it was also used to stop people ran from the police. Well, the kids at this sitters loved to tease the dog. They would trow walnuts, pinecones, sticks, and rocks. After a while, that dog would just bark and growl at the kids in the yard.
Well, walking home from school one day, I was attacked. I was walking with a group of other kids from that sitters house when the dog, who was being walked at the time, saw us and took after us. Everyone around me started running but I hadn’t been paying attention. I stood there wondering why they were running away when all of a sudden my leg was jerked from under me and that dog had ahold of me. It drug me a little bit and left only one puncture wound. When they finnaly got the dog on a lease again, they took him home and had him muzzeled.
Some people wanted to have that dog put to sleep but I didn’t. I can remember crying and sobbing while I repeatedly told my parents I didn’t want that dog to be put down. I didn’t want it to be put to sleep just cause it bit me. Luckily, it was a first offense and the dog was just secured for a bit.
Kids are stupid. Had I not been traveling with those particular idiots I would have been fine. It isn’t fair that dogs, who want nothing more than to please us, should be punished for their actions that are direct results of human provocation.
I dunno…just because she has Down’s Syndrome doesn’t mean she has to be watched every single second. A normal child could have made the same mistake at that age. Kids are kids. They can’t be on a leash.
The fact is, there was a known security issue (the kid) and a known hole in the system (the opening in the fence). While she was technically trespassing, you certainly don’t want your dog to hurt anyone and you also don’t want to have to get rid of your dog because of a gap in security. Many Down’s kids lead independent lives as adults, depending on the degree of handicap they have, so you can’t blame the parents for letting her go out by herself. It’s part of growing up.
Fix the fence, talk to the parents, pay the doctor bill if you are found guilty (or even as a gesture of good will) and make note of the lesson. Owning a pet is a big responsibility and sometimes you need to eat it, even if your dog wasn’t intentionally being an asshole.
There is no way I should do any of that. I have no intention of even apologizing. There is nothing to “fix”. It is common around here to put holes in the fence if you have a dog.
So if my dog was loose, and shit in your yard, would you clean it up and apologize to me?
You know what else is a big responsibility? Having kids.
If you think that’s weird, I heard PunditLisa’s dog decided to take matters into his own hands. His hands!! George Bush was right to warn us about animal/human hybrids!
Look…no need to get pissy about it. Your dog wasn’t adequately restrained (at least that’s how I’d see it). Your dog BIT someone. You know this kid is a problem. And you know she’s developmentally disabled, i.e., probably not going to take directives from you as readily as another kid. It’s clear to me you share in the responsibility for what happened.
And I retract the part about paying the bill before you’re forced to by the court. It sounds like there’s no friendship with the family (and isn’t likely to be one).
How was my dog not adequately restrained? They were in a locked fence with access only via my property. They can’t even stick their heads out the hole in the fence. I keep a padlock on the gate so she can’t get in. I moved the holes from the alley to my driveway. I told both her,and her mother not to scare them. She had to have come over, kneel down in my driveway, and grab at the dog past her elbows to get bitten.
What would you like me to do. How many concessions am I to make at the expense of my property (my dogs) to accommodate the neighbors?
Sorry, but i’m going to have to side with Light Strand here, the dog was in a fenced in yard, the child (who has been a problem in the past) was clearly tresspassing and in the wrong…
it’s unfortunate that she has Downs Syndrome, but that’s no excuse, if her parents had, oh i don’t know, actually parented her, kept her under the supervision she clearly needs, this wouldn’t have happened
the child was in the wrong, the child has a previous history of tresspassing, the child needs to learn that the whole world is NOT her playground
blame the child’s parents for inadequate parenting, and inadequate boundary setting, Light Strand is not at fault here…
Just about both. I had a big dog for about 14 years, and during a business law class I asked the professor about dog owner liability (in the US). He presented me with a number of torts that in just about any situation, the dog owner was responsible for the actions of their dog, good, bad or indifferent. While growing up, in a situation similar to light strand, one of the neighborhood kids stuck their head inside the fence of our neighbors yard and one of their two Malamutes bit her in the face, causing some pretty serious injury. Our neighbors ended up paying out over $30K in damages and plastic surgery for the kid (back in the late 70’s).
As for your situation light strand, I’ll I can say is suck it up. Make your backyard kid proof and wire up any holes in the fence, any other incidents, even if in your backyard without your knowledge, is not going to help if you get taken to court.
Downs Syndrome really doesn’t come into play here. Kids at that age do stuff that isn’t too bright. It’s not. If you don’t have an adequate fence around your pool, you would be held liable if a kid drown. Having “a” fence isn’t enough. It has to actually keep kids out.
I would think a dog owner would want to do whatever is necessary to keep a problem kid who is mentally disabled from being bitten. It’s just neighborly. The child certainly isn’t the one who’s going to be in a cage.
Sorry…didn’t finish my sentence there. It’s not rare to hear of kids that age disobeying orders because they’re lured by whatever it is they’re attracted to. It doesn’t make the parents bad and it doesn’t make the kid bad. It’s what they do.
My fence is secure. It has an 11" x 3" hole in it. Clearly this is secure enough to keep children out, and reasonable to keep heads of all species on their respective sides.
I ask again: How many accommodations is it reasonable to expect me to make for the sake of the neighbors?
I know it sucks to have to put a grill of some sort over the opening, but you might have to do it. Better to not jump on it before the legal action is finished though - it’ll look like you knew there was a problem and took belated steps to fix it. And definitely don’t offer to pay any medical bills unless you get a signed waiver first.