Neighbours dog attacked my son, what to do next

theoretica

Of course it matters if the dog was responding to a particular trigger. That is quite different from saying it makes it OK! Handing a dog over to a new home and saying 'he was fine for 8 months and then bit someone' is less helpful than being able to add 'we wonder if it was because of X'.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

theoretica wrote: »

Of course it matters if the dog was responding to a particular trigger. That is quite different from saying it makes it OK! Handing a dog over to a new home and saying 'he was fine for 8 months and then bit someone' is less helpful than being able to add 'we wonder if it was because of X'.

Not really as I think that was a poor excuse for the dog by dogs trust to be perfectly honest and frank about that and purely speculation as to the cause of its spontaneous attack on the child.
He was fine 8 months then bit someone is all I would need.
I love dogs, I would never tolerate a dog who will attack at a child without warning and would PTS a dog that did because the dog would be in my eyes dangerous and untrustworthy and would scare me I don't care If I had the dog 11yrs, my view wouldn't change that the dog had just shy of mauled a child and it would be destroyed as I think this would be kinder to the dog than muzzling and isolation confined to a pen or garden for the safety of others and myself and my family.

tesuhoha

As far as I am concerned any dog that bites a person should be put down.

I was chased and bitten by a German Shepherd when I was 5. I ran across the road in front of a lorry to get away from it. I remember thinking if our garden gate is not unlatched then it will kill me. Luckily the gate opened and I was able to get into the house. My leg wounds had to be cauterised and I have the scars to this day.

theoretica

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

Not really as I think that was a poor excuse for the dog by dogs trust to be perfectly honest and frank about that and purely speculation as to the cause of its spontaneous attack on the child.
He was fine 8 months then bit someone is all I would need.
I love dogs, I would never tolerate a dog who will attack at a child without warning and would PTS a dog that did because the dog would be in my eyes dangerous and untrustworthy and would scare me I don't care If I had the dog 11yrs, my view wouldn't change that the dog had just shy of mauled a child and it would be destroyed as I think this would be kinder to the dog than muzzling and isolation confined to a pen or garden for the safety of others and myself and my family.

Meritaten would rehome if possible, you would PTS - but either way if you don't look towards what might have caused the incident you might be missing steps to reduce the risk of something similar happening with a different animal. If my neighbour's dog attacked someone and the neighbours were getting a replacement dog I would certainly be interested in knowing if there were any identifiable factors for the first incident, whether related to the owners, the local environment or the dog's previous history.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

theoretica wrote: »

Meritaten would rehome if possible, you would PTS - but either way if you don't look towards what might have caused the incident you might be missing steps to reduce the risk of something similar happening with a different animal. If my neighbour's dog attacked someone and the neighbours were getting a replacement dog I would certainly be interested in knowing if there were any identifiable factors for the first incident, whether related to the owners, the local environment or the dog's previous history.

I know what meritaten said and you quoted that she would rehome if possible but reading her post she also stated she would PTS. so please don't pick a post and leave out its full meaning just to make a point.

Unless you have some special power that you can read a dogs mind and can ask them what triggered their UNPREDICATABLE BEHAVIOUR then please don't try and pin the blame on the owner who may be embarrassed about the situation, and is using the explanation from a undertrained numpty at dogs trust who said that the headphones may have been the cause, Pure speculation as NO ONE can and will know what caused or triggered such behaviour out of this animal.

If it were me in the OP's point of view if they were getting a new dog I would be wiping the slate clean and keeping a keen eye on the new dogs behaviour as there is no reason here to believe the OWNER is at fault for its UNPREDICATBLE BEHAVIOUR.


But the OP's neighbour is not getting it PTS or Rehoming unless forced to by police or Dogs Trust.


The Dog bit without warning and thus is unpredictable that's good enough cause for me to PTS, I would not be investigating its triggers or causes as to why it bit with the neighbour to try and strain Further an already strained relationship between them.


There is no defence for a dangerous animal and certainly no requirement to investigate why it did what it did to try and save face and excuse its behaviour, we rule and train them and they certainly do not rule us, ive seen many cases of this with so called "responsible" dog owners who's dog goes upto people off or on the lead and starts snarling and barking aggressively and the owner just states "he is only playing he wont hurt you don't worry" and talks to their dog and treat their dog as if their humans.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

milliemonster wrote: »

He also said that they have approached the council to ask to move as a matter of urgency as they want their dog back, it's sad that they have blown this out of all proportion and feel they have to move but that is their choice at the end of the day.

What a week!

Pa-ha-ha! They'll have a bit of a shock there - you don't get priority for a new house so you can keep an animal that they are potentially facing charges for failing to control. And they'd need written permission to keep a dog in a council home - if the Tenancy Officer they have at present is informed that a) they have a dog that has attacked a child, b) they are in danger of facing criminal charges for harassment as a result of you rightly reporting the attack to the police and c) that they intend to get the animal back - they aren't going to get a move, permission to keep it (or any other, for that matter) and are very likely already in breach of their Tenancy Agreement for the dangerous/out of control dog - which it is, because it has already attacked somebody whilst in their care - and the harassment of their neighbours (you).

So a letter plus photographs of your son's injuries could do with finding its way to the council as well.