I got bit by a dog today

[agent77]

I was really happy when I started walking to work today, I'm back on second shift and have a special project to keep me busy.

About 2 blocks from my brother's house (where I'm staying) a pit bull makes a mad dash towards me and latches onto my right hand. I shake it loose and attempt to kick it, but I miss and find myself in the street, where I almost get hit by a car.

Thankfully the dog's owner calls it off and brings it back in his house. All he can say is, "sorry."

I told the guy that the dog bite broke the skin and I want to see documentation stating that the dog doesn't have rabies. He tells me to hold on a minute while he gets it.

I wait outside for about 5 minutes when an old lady opens the door (I'm guessing his mom) and asks, "can I help you?"

So I tell her what happens and demand to see the documentation. She tells me to hold on a minute while she gets it.

A few more minutes go by and the old lady comes back with only an envelope with her name, address, and phone number written on it. "The dog doesn't have rabies, but I'll pay for the hospital visit," she said. Then follows it up with a sob story about how she wants to get rid of the dog but can't afford it.

Again I ask for the document. At this point her son comes up and very condescending says, "the dog doesn't have rabies."

So I leave and call Animal Control and leave a voicemail, which I'm still waiting for a call back.

The bite wasn't really severe but it did break the skin in 3 places on the back of my hand and 1 place on my palm. Now I'll probably have to spend most of my day tomorrow going to get a tetnis shot and dealing with Animal Control. But what really grinds my gears is these people allow an aggressive pit bull to run loose in an urban area, 2 blocks from where my 3 and 5 year old nephews live. And then can't even prove that the dog is disease-free.

I have every intention of making them pay for the tetnis shot, and I really wish I could sue, but like I said: the wounds aren't that bad.

Sorry about the long post but I just needed to let off some steam.

[matti777]

I'd be pissed and I wouldn't let this one go as the dog may attack again.

[jmattbassplaya]

See if animal control can take the dog in and have it tested for rabies. Believe me, you do not want to get THAT shot if you don't have to.

[VitalSigns]

There are no bad dogs. Only bad owners. People really need to learn to control their dogs.

[Mike M.]

Originally Posted by VitalSigns

There are no bad dogs. Only bad owners. People really need to learn to control their dogs.

Sorry to hear that. Hope you get things resolved.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to own pets of any kind.

I had a very close call with a pitbull myself this past summer. My neighbor and his wife went away for the weekend leaving thier teenage daughters behind. So of course....."party!!" The kids were cool, no problem there even though the party went on until about 4:00 in the morning.

Unknown to me one of the girl's friends brought his pitbull with him and left him outside. At 3:00 in the morning I stepped outside for a smoke...didn't say nothing, didn't make a sound either...and this pitbull came charging from across the street, came right up on my front deck and I didn't know what the hell he was going to do. Arched down, growling, barking, ears back a foot away from me with a look of kill in his eyes. Everytime he barked I yelled back at him as loud as I could. This went on for about a good thirty seconds and then the dog backed off. The kids must have heard the racket, came outside, called the dog and he went back. I confronted them and all I got was a snotty..."sorry."

The next day I confronted the girls and told them to give thier friend with the dog a warning...." if there's ever a next time, it will be the last time for that dog."

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by VitalSigns

There are no bad dogs. Only bad owners. People really need to learn to control their dogs.

That is is true, but if a dog is clamped down on my hand, the last the thing I want to hear is a sob story about the poor doggie and his bad owner. Bad owner or not, a dog that bites me is dead if I ever get around it again.

[jp58]

Watson, get me the silver bullets! agent77 is a werewolf...


Hope you're alright man.

[MJ5150]

Have fun getting your shot tomorrow....



-Mike

[Lowactnsatsfctn]

That sucks man. My girlfreind rented a cabin for my birthday earlier this year. The neighbors dog ( Rot mix) came in the drive way while I was restocking the wood pile.

Long story short, He got close, growled and got beat with a log.
It sucks, but you cant count on some one calling their dog off

FWIW I have a big dog, but I dont let him roam around the block

[Lowactnsatsfctn]

I think the big question is..... Does this affect your Bass playing?

[agent77]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Have fun getting your shot tomorrow....



-Mike

Can you please explain what this Tetris thing has to do with this thread?

[fdeck]

Beyond calling Animal Control, I'd file a regular police report. I'm pretty sure they have to follow up on any dog bite incident. Get a live person on the phone and let them know that you absolutely must find out if the dog has proper records of its vaccinations. Treat it as an emergency.

[derrellvis69]

We so have the same idea on this one!! I lost a couple of (What I thought were)really good friends over the fact that their dog bit me twice and I made sure it wasn't happening a 3rd time. 180 stitches later in my leg, and they actually tried to sue me in small claims court for the replacement cost of their precious $3500 german shepherd!!!

[Lowactnsatsfctn]

Originally Posted by agent77

Can you please explain what this Tetris thing has to do with this thread?

Cell phone games while you wait at the Doctors office??

[Kwesi]

Animals suck unless they're on a plate. That statement excludes jellyfish, squid, octopi and star fish... though octopi and squid are delicious.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by agent77

Can you please explain what this Tetris thing has to do with this thread?

Your typo of tetanus reminded me of tetris, the game.

-Mike

[Munjibunga]

Boy, that really bites.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

See if animal control can take the dog in and have it tested for rabies. Believe me, you do not want to get THAT shot if you don't have to.

Hang on.

Do you know how they test an animal for rabies? There is no way to do it while the animal is still alive.

To the OP

I think we may be upset that we got bit,...not that we could have rabies.

You are more likely to get rabies from a bat than from a dog.

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/14/...76_article.htm

You absolutely have every right to document the bite as I see behavior here that needs to be modified (the owners behavior,...not the dog's) so I advocate notifying the right authorities.

I will relate to you a story of my dog bite incident. We had a friend over who is a very meek individual,...she came over and just stood in our doorway and inched her way in. Then saw our MinPin (a rescued dog with a damaged background and a chipped fang as a result of that past) and immediately prostrated herself on the ground to pet her. Mistake one (no bite yet).

Throughout her visit she kept pushing the issue "oh I just want the dog to like me" and my wife kept telling her to leave the dog alone. Mistake two was ours,...we didn't remove the dog from the situation, which is what we should have done and in hindsight,....it just didn't occur to us and we are not the type of people to treat others like babies.

Finally at the end of her visit while making her salutations she leaned down over the back of our couch to try and give the dog a kiss,....put her face right into the dog's and got bit on the eyebrow. The bite was bad enough to require 9 stitches. Mistake number 3 was hers and a trip to the ER which we had to drive her to since she had blood running into her eye.

I'm telling you this story to try and get you to see it from the other side of the fence. We are nice people and this is good dog. We warned this girl multiple times she didn't listen to us. We could have done things differently but in my mind,...after the dust settled I was more angry with this girl than I was with the dog for putting us in this situation. The victim tried to play it cool and not fill out any pertinent information as to the incident when she arrived to the ER. I think she knew she was at fault. Even still we knew that we were gonna have to deal with something down the line and we were a little freaked out. We were afraid we were gonna loose a beloved pet. We talked to the rescue (a husband and wife operation) who calmed us down and said that it would probably be an in home quarantine as a result of potential rabies,...but also that there hadn't been a reported canine to human rabies case in Spokane county in over ten years (she may have said longer), not to mention that the dog is up to date on her vaccines.

Sure enough the bureaucracy wouldn't let it be and harangued the victim until they got our address and phone number. The next day my wife spoke with someone at animal control on the phone and the only concern was of course rabies. We got a little hang tag on our door knob that said that the dog was not to be allowed to roam at large for 10 days. The dog doesn't roam at large. We walk her, let her in a fenced back yard,...and she is a couch potato otherwise. The tag also said something about being aware that the dog may be confiscated for testing (I think to test for rabies they have to dissect the brain,...which means the animal is put down in order to do so) should the victim become sick. She of course did not become sick and flew to NYC the day after the incident.

Granted these are apples and oranges comparison, but that was my experience. IMO the dog in your case is a nuisance if it's just gonna run into the sidewalk and bite a passerby, but the owners need to be more responsible with their pet. I'd be pretty ticked to,...but be aware that calling animal control and the police while may be a good route to go for modifying owner behavior they probably won't do a whole lot beyond quarantining the dog and making a note. They absolutely need to know that a potentially dangerous dog is being allowed access to the public,...

Beyond that the potential for a rabies transmission is slim to none.

[fourstringdrums]

I remember when I was about 15, my girlfriend's father was at a BBQ where the family Rotweiler mauled a 6 mo. old baby to death. He actually was the one who tried to get the dog to release by putting a branch in the dog's collar and twisting it. He said it should have broken the dogs neck but it didn't even phase it. Needless to say as soon as the police arrived, the dog received a bullet in its skull.

[Munjibunga]

I was subbing in a friend's band, and I'd go over to his house to practice. He has a couple yappy Dachshunds, and he told me not to pet them because Fritz might bite me. (BTW, the guy was an employee of the company I ran.) So after a couple practices, ol' Fritzie seemed to have warmed up to me, and I bent down to pet him. All was fine until Schultz got jealous and barked, then Fritz decided to chomp the heel of my thumb. I pulled away fast enough to avoid an open wound, but the little booger left four small blood blisters on my hand.

My friend flipped out and was apologizing like mad, and I said, "Dude. You told me not to pet him. I was stupid. Forget it."

My Dachshund would never bite anyone unless they were threatening one of the family ... except she bites me on the nose to signify "yes" when I ask her if she wants to go somewhere.