Yesterday we went for a walk in a little touristy town. I was lagging behind, taking pics of the scenery, when I suddenly heard my bf yelling. A cocker was barking and repeatedly trying to bite his legs, its owner finally came out and the only thing she had to say was:
“Don’t kick my dog!”
She grabbed the dog by its collar and turned away. My bf insisted that she looked at his bite mark (he was bleeding at one leg), she briefly glanced at it and said it was nothing and went inside her house with the dog.
We were dumbfounded. I took a pic of the house number and of her name on the mailbox, she came outside to say not to do it, my bf told her her dog was dangerous and that he was going to complain to the police, she told him it was not necessary to complain for so little. That her dog simply got spooked. At this point we turned around and a few seconds after we heard her cussing at us. My bf simply said “keep going!”.
We are really totally dumbfounded by her behavior.
My bf told me that right before the attack, he was hearing her yelling at the dog trying to make it behave. When it came out of the house, he wasn’t paying much attention to it because it was wagging its tail and not barking or anything, then it suddenly jumped on him.
Thanks for the “cool” very clear bite mark on his shin, lady. :rolleyes:
Dunno what you’re whining about, it’s well within your power to set things in motion so that the dog is destroyed. Also, once rabies symptoms manifest, fatality is almost 100% certain, just fyi.
Your boyfriend should see a doctor. And then call the police or animal control officer. If the dog bit one person, it will probably bite others. And it might have some disease.
Expect to see posts by people who will defend the dog and its owner.
You absolutely needed to call the police. Even if your bf didn’t need medical attention, a bite report needed to be done on the spot. If the dog is a repeat offender, and no one reports it, then more people will get bitten. Even if it seems a small thing, the owner needs a talking to. Perhaps having to go through a rabies observation period and having to go through all that paperwork and rigamarole might make her re-think allowing the dog outside off leash (illegal in most places, and ticketable by police - if they’re called).
If the bite broke the skin he should definitely see a doctor, even disregarding rabies (which is a long shot but possible). Bites can easily become infected and might require antibiotics.
I have a pile of dogs, and I won’t defend this person’s behavior. If her dog is a biter, she should remove it from situations where it is likely to bite. If she doesn’t, she should be held accountable for any consequences. One of my dogs nips when she’s excited. She nipped my mother’s arm during a visit and caused a ridiculously out-of-proportion hematoma (geez, old people are delicate!), and we now put that dog in another room when people come to visit.
In the unlikely event that one of my dogs did get loose and bite someone, I would behave exactly as if I had caused that injury myself (i.e., offering first aid, exchanging contact information and, most important, apologizing). That’s simple courtesy.
I tried this morning to motivate my bf to file a complain for those exact reasons but I can’t force him to do it. (he has cooled down since yesterday)
I’ll tried again.
France has been rabies-free for a while so at least it’s not a concern.
Yes, yes, yes, file a report! The next person that dog attacks might not be able to defend themselves against it and may get more than a bite on the shin.
I’ll defend the dog insofar as it’s an animal and is the product of its environment. Unfortunately, it’s come from a poor environment (owner). I’ve seen those types of owners at the dog park, those whose level of care and concern are so low that they barely register when their dog attacks another dog or person (not playing, but full-on aggression). A couple weeks ago, my dog was almost attacked by a very upset and out of control dachshund who was on a leash but the owner was too busy on her cell phone to hold the leash and work the gate as she left the dog park. I still had my dog in a harness and was able to yank him up to me before the dog got there. Not even an apology from the woman.
When I got into the dog park, I was chatting with some other owners and it turns out that dog has quite the nasty reputation. I feel really bad for the dog to have such a crappy owner.
That said, I think the dog owner should definitely be reported.
DO NOT CALL THE POLICE. Call Animal Services instead, they are the ones who are supposed to deal with this sort of issue.
When I was living in Austin a dog attacked my buddy Goliath (Goliath is about 28 LBS, the other dog picked Goalie up with his mouth). The dog bit me as I tried to help Goliath get free. The owner did fuck all. After getting Goliath to the vet and myself to a walk-in clinic, I called animal services.
Even though I had not seen that dog before and did not know the exact address, Animal Services came out and knocked on doors until they found the house. The dog was quarantined for 2 weeks (at home mind you) while it was determined if it was healthy.
I may be too generous about this sort of thing but I’d hate to have a dog that can be redeemed destroyed for one incident. More than one incident and now we are talking about a behaviour that is problematic.
Considering this happened in France, we don’t know what the difference is between reporting to police vs. Animal Control, if anything at all. But I agree with those who are saying it might be a little kid next time.
I recall trying to get some numbers when our local club had a big blowout over whether dogs should be allowed on trips. The pro dog contigent won out and it split the club. The interesting thing to me was most of the people who were anti-dog were actual responsible dog owners who did bring their dogs once in a great while and watched like a hawk and followed the doggy rules to the letter (and the spirit). The pro dog group brought their dogs frequently but rarely kept a close eye on them and and on almost every dog allowed trip you could count on em breaking usually the spirit and the letter of the law at some point.
Anyhow, there is a website called something lawdogbite.com or lawyerdogbite.com. They are dog bite chasing lawyers so you might think their data a bit suspect. But IIRC they had a link to a CDC study about dog bites. IIRC and if I did the math right over your lifetime you have about a 1 in 5 chance of getting bit by a strange dog. Not your dog or a friends or relatives dog. Some random dog. Thats pretty bad.
I would definitely look into what version of Animal Control the town might have. The problem being, we don’t know whether the town has rabies vaccination laws, and/or how well those are enforced.
I am a dog owner and I’m going to jump in on the side of call animal control.
There are a few situations where I’d be tolerant of a bite and not call, but one where the owner showed no control over the animal, no care that the bite occured and absolutely no remorse would not be on the list.
I’ve owned a dog that was a biter and I controlled the situations he was in to ensure that no one was ever bitten. The dog doesn’t have to be put down if there is a responsible owner but sadly for this puppy that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I walk nearly every day in my neighbourhood, and after this spring of encountering off-leash dogs in on-leash areas on nearly every walk, I’ve started walking with a container of dog repellent handy.
I also vote for getting the authorities involved, assuming that dogs are not allowed to bite strangers in France.
It’s your boyfriend’s fault for being inside the property owner’s fence, or for approaching the leashed dog too closely without asking permission from a human guardian.
Because the dog was inside a fence, or on a leash, right? It would be CRAZY irresponsible of the person to have let any dog run loose unsupervised, let alone a dog with that kind of attitude.
My sarcasm is pointed. If the dog was in fact running loose, you need to call officials (whatever is appropriate in your locality) for the dog’s sake as well as the public’s – the little cocker spaniel will not fare so well against a speeding Peugeot.
It seems unlikely that rabies is involved. Although I hate to impugn any breed of dog, there’s a been debate about so-called “rage syndrome” or “cocker rage.” Supposedly some cocker spaniels have uncontrollable rage (especially the show-bred ones, which might imply inbreeding is the problem). Other people (and I incline toward this latter camp) think the problem is really a manifestation of the way people do not take small, fluffy dogs seriously and consequently fail to train them how to behave. Nobody’s afraid of small dogs and a lot of people tolerate behavior from small dogs they would never allow from a larger, stronger dog.
Whatever the case, it’s not unknown for some individual dogs from small, fluffy, cute breeds to be temperamentally unsound or just plain uneducated in how to behave around human strangers. (I should confess that my sister has a miniature poodle who is registered with the police as a dangerous dog.)