My dog bit the neighbors child in my yard while still on his chain? Am i responsible.?

There and Back again

Hmm... that's a tough one.

How old is the child? Where are/were the parents? Where are/were you? In my neighborhood you can only have your dog on a chain like that if you are with the dog (because it's not only not fair for the dog, but it's easy for dogs to pull the chain out.)

If you can prove (nothing against you, but this is just how the law works most time, you have to "prove" things even when you/ your property was violated.) So... if you can prove that the child came onto your property, you may have a case. But like I said, it'll depend on the age of the child, and if the child is young enough and the parents were not out there, then the courts my decide the parents were neglegent and they may even be charged with child abuse.

You'll also have to prove the relationship between you, the child, and the dog. Meaning, you say you've breifed the child before, but you'll have to prove that. The child and parents may tell another story (again nothing against you, it's just that that's how people are, rarely are both sides telling the same story and both always claims their version as the truth, that's the reason you'll need proof.)

Why was your dog put down already? Were you ordered to? If so, they'll most likely make you pay medical bills as well. If not, it's going to make you look more guilty when/ if you do go to court, even if you only did it cause you were trying to do the right thing. Also, have they asked for medical bills? Are they going to sue?

We had an issue similar to this with our cat. Our cat was in our yard, I was sitting right next to it in our driveway, watching my kids play (I know, it's rare these days, parents just let their kids run wild and then complain when they are bit by a dog) anyway... an older couple was walking by with 2 dogs. They stopped and were watching my kids play, and one of their dogs started growling at my kids. My kids got scared, ran behind me, and the couple stood there. The cat got mad, started hissing at the dogs (now both growling) and the couple just stood there still. The dogs lunged at the cat, so the cat pounced on the dogs, the couple still just stood there. The cat got off, the couple stood there, the dogs stared growling again and lunged at the cat again, so our cat attacked the dogs again. The guy stuck his hand into this mess and grabbed the cat, finally the started walking again. The next day they came by and said while they were on a walk our cat came out of nowhere and attacked them and bit the guy on the hand! They acted like me and my kids weren't even home! I was VERY upset (we were moving in 2 weeks, so my stress level was already up there.) Animal control came out and we ended up being sited for not having the cat on a leash! I stood my gound and claimed there is no way he could tell if the cat bit him or one of his TWO dogs (who were both biting at my cat.) Luckily all that came out of it was the no leash thing. But it was stressful and the other people were making it sound way worse than it was, thankfully my neighbors could also say that I was outside with my kids and the cat and this all occured in my yard on my property. The animal control guy said if it had happened just ONE foot west of my property (making it on the sidewalk) then things could have been worse for ME. UGH! I wish you luck and the least amount of stress possible. Sorry for your loss.

Johnny Conservative

As bad as I hate to say it, unless you had a "Beware of the Dog" sign, you may be liable. I am a dog lover. I am sorry that you had to put your dog down.

n_prithivi

no. not at all....................

Angela F

You really need to call an attorney and find out how it works in your state. I know that where I live if you have a dog and it is in a fenced in area and some idiot reaches over the fence and the dog bites them, then you are responsible for the bills and can be sued, which makes no sense to me but it is just the way it is.

It will get especially tricky if the neighbors since the neighbor could argue that you knew that the dog was a risk (by warning the kid to stay away from him) and that you did not take the proper precautions to keep the kid safe (like keeping the dog in the house or something like that).

We had a sitatution where we had a teenager babysitting our children and while we were gone her mother brought her 5 year old sister over to the house without our knowledge and the girl was tormenting my dog (a saint bernard) by hanging off it's neck, climbing onto it's back and kicking it because the mother told her it was horse (things like that), through a friend of ours who is an attorney we found out that if our dog would have bit her we could have been sued even though the mother or child did not have our premission to be in our house and we did not find out until our kids told us that she was even here. They would have considered us at fault for "haboring a dangerous animal". We ended never using this sitter again because of it.

Meh

Sounds like you need a fence, and that this kids parents need a good talking to.

Unfortunately you may very well be responsible, but dog bite laws vary from state to state. You should probably contact a lawyer.

youthpastor1955

The parents can try and sue you for the medical bills, but I would think that there would be no case as the child trespassed on to your property and disobeyed your order to stay away from the dog. Your dog was chained so you were being responsible.

Drixnot

I would say no. Where were the kids parents?

A A

If you don't think your responsible you shoudln't have put your dog to sleep, because you did yo u obvoiusly feel you are responsible and just are too cheap to foot the bill. Pay up.

jiminjersey

Nope!

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