What to Do When Your Kid Was Bitten By Your Neighbor’s Dog?

Dogs are considered to be man’s best friend. Some even buy affordable & organic dog food for their pet. However, at times we tend to forget that they are animals and can, therefore, sometimes be unpredictable. If provoked, frightened, or sick, even the friendliest of dogs can attack a human being. Dog bites contribute to a huge percentage of accidents every day. This is either by fault or accidental. Even though they are preventable, dog bites can be serious towards the victims sometimes leaving permanent scars that may haunt you for life. So, how should we classify a dangerous dog? Here are some “requirements”.

• If the dog severely injures the victim
• If the dog, without any provocation, aggressively chases the victim
• If the dog, in more than one occasion has injured or killed another domestic animal.

This having been said, it’s important to now focus our attention on minors. Children with all their innocence, most often fall victims to many of these situations.

In this article, we’ll enlighten you on what to do when your kid was bitten by your neighbor’s dog.

Emergency Help

Every day, people get into situations that demand quick or immediate medical attention. However, some of these occurrences happen in remote locations far from hospitals or medical facilities. Thanks to the improved medical sector of today, we have emergency hotlines that we can always rely on, like the 911 service in the US, for instance.

Instinctively, the very first step one should take is to call 991. No matter the degree of injuries whether major or minor you would rather comfort your child knowing that help is on the way. It’s important to know that some dog injuries may be lethal and it’s critical that your child receives immediate medical attention. Here are some first aid ideas before help arrives

• Reassure the victim
• If the injuries are severe and deep, apply pressure to avoid further bleeding

Find The Dog Owner

It’s imperative that at this point, you notify the dog owner of the attack. This could be a challenge if you don’t know the owner of the dog but in this case, it’s your neighbor. You may also want to exchange contacts, names, and phone numbers. There’s no need to overreact, place blames or become hostile towards your neighbor. In most cases, it is the responsibility to keep their aggressive pets leashed or locked up such that they won’t end up biting or scaring people. The wisest thing here is to let the law take its course.

Notify Animal Control

This is often the first place you will be required to report pet complaints such as a dog who caused damage to property or one that went wild and bit a person. This will see the animal quarantined in a way that they get the medical help required or to just keep the dog away from attacking the public. The report will help you in building your case when filing a lawsuit.

Protect the Evidence

After the incidence and certain that your child is receiving treatment, don’t get rid of the bloodied clothes. Actually, if not for panic, taking pictures of the scene, the owner’s fence, and the dog would be helpful. Nevertheless, bag the clothes and indicate the place, date, and time of the attack. This helps when pursuing a personal injury claim. In addition to this, witness statements are an added bonus to the case. There will always be good Samaritans around to witness and be willing to provide the needed statements to the authorities. Avoid anyone who seems to have some financial interests.

Get an Attorney

In most cases, the dog owner is liable for the injuries sustained irrespective of the reasons towards the attack. Nonetheless, such laws may vary from one place to the other and on a circumstantial basis. Also, Mark A. Freeman from Preszler Law (https://www.preszlerlaw.com/practice-areas/toronto-long-term-disability-lawyer/) says that most cases of personal injury are settled without going to court. Nonetheless, getting advice or intervention from a personal injury attorney is important in the entire resolution process. They will also be there to represent you in case the matter needs to go to court.

Post-Trauma Counseling

It’s very important that your child goes through post-traumatic therapy. You don’t want our child to grow up knowing that all dogs are bad and dangerous. In addition to this, you may also want to teach your child some dog rules such as to avoid grabbing the dog’s tail and avoiding the dog’s face while playing. Post-trauma counseling will help your child to recover from the traumatic experience.

The first thing not to do when a neighbor’s dog bites your child is to panic. This will prevent you from providing immediate care your child needs. From there, following the tips provided above can be helpful to both your child and you when dealing with the situation.