i was bitten by a dog. what would you do?

[jwolfe152]

About 3 days ago now i was outside a friends house that take in all kind of stay dogs and cats get them the shots they need and then has them fixed. Well i walked out of her house and as usual they all come to me some barking some not, no big deal to me they don't do anything but bark. Well this time I'm wearing shorts and one of the dogs bites/nips my leg and breaks the skin in one spot down to the muscle (as in i can see the muscle before it starts bleeding but doesn't penetrate the muscle) i didn't do anything to this dog ever and it comes up behind me and does this. Like i said we are pretty good friends and i like her mom and dad and all but was it wrong for me to not press charges or even mention their dog when i went to the E.R. i went to make sure i didn't need stitches and to get antibiotics. Like i said the dog didn't do any major damage, and it wasn't viscous in the sense it didn't take a full bite or stick around growling or lunge at me, what have you.Now me personally if it was my dog (as much as it would kill me) it would either be taken to the woods and shot in the head or taken to a vet to be put down (more than likely the vet) just to be sure that it never happened again. I mean they have kids that come around all the time. If this would happen to a kid they would surely be held responsible and the dog would be put down. Honestly i think the reason it happened was its past owner probably beat the dog and i resemble that person enough to scare the dog, but that's no reason to keep a dog that bites IMO. What would you have done if this was you that wad bit? What would you do if your dog had done this?

[d_virginiana]

I've had aggressive dogs in the past (usually like in this situation they are rescues), but have always been very careful to keep them locked in a kennel or lot whenever anyone was around. Also, these animals have been exclusively inside dogs, or I had them when we lived in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors that would be accidentally walking past. Basically, if someone got bitten by these animals it meant they were trespassing or breaking into my house/apartment.
If I got bitten by a friend's dog at their house (assuming they covered my medical expenses) I probably wouldn't say anything unless the dog was an obvious threat to others.

If that sort of thing can be settled without police involvement, it's much better for everyone involved... I especially wouldn't do it days later without talking to your friend first (unless you have no plans to ever talk to this person again lol). If the authorities get involved in animal issues, especially where there is more than one animal at the residence, they sometimes want to stick their noses into more than just the one animal that the call was about...
If you're worried that this dog might accidentally bite a kid or something, you might want to be firm with your friend about properly restraining it until it has more time to adjust to people. From what you said, this sounds more like a strange situation that freaked the dog out than a generally dangerous animal. Plus, if you talk with your friend first and let him know you plan to take action if the animal isn't properly restrained around other people, it's a lot more straight-forward than calling it in without giving them the chance to solve the issue on their own.

[jwolfe152]

My asking had nothing to do with planning on turning then in at a later time i was just curious what others would do and I'm not worried i got state insurance that paid for the bills and my antibiotics only reason i didn't ask for money for anything is one i like them a lot and two they have enough problems that i wouldn't feel right doing it but that's just me I'm probably overly nice. And when i go over i have asked to be sure the dog was not around. I honestly think it done what it did out of fear of me, because it was probably beaten. But me personally if it was my dog it wouldn't be here anymore one way or another. I have heard and seen on tv, (the dog whisperer mainly) that it take a lot of time energy and money to try and stop a rescue from being that way and sometimes it just doesn't work.

[guidofatherof5]

My first concern would be if the dog was up-to-date on shots(rabies). Friendships aside you must be sure you're not in danger. Ask for proof of vaccination. If this can't be offered then you must report the bite for your own safety. If the dog is up-to-date on shots then I would leave up to you as to what you do. If you have any medical expenses, they should pay them.
You must find out if the dog had a current rabies shot! See the proof!

[d_virginiana]

Yeah, no matter who owned the dog I'd report it if there was no proof of a rabies vaccine.

I remember talking to my vet once about this, and if an animal isn't symptomatic within 10 days of the bite, then it wasn't contagious. Apparently the virus migrates up nerve cells from the entry site to the brain, then back down the facial nerves and into the salivary glands (brain to salivary takes about 10 days) where it then becomes contagious. The animal isn't symptomatic till the virus reaches the brain. So if the animal doesn't show symptoms within that 10 day window after a bite, it was probably not contagious.
DEFINITELY NOT recommending that method over reporting an unvaccinated animal! We had to deal with that once when my cousin got scratched by a stray cat that they couldn't capture. It's good to know in cases where you might not be able to test the animal.

[jwolfe152]

Rabies shots or not i still got the vaccine rather safe than crazy and dead. I found out that they changed procedures for giving the rabies vaccine its no longer given in the stomach. I got a tetanus shot as well because it was not up to date and i got1 in each arm one in each thigh and one in each butt cheek and then several stocks into the bite wound itself. I tell you one thing my sites where i got shot are still sore it sucks lol