Dog attack/police response

The first part of my commute home on the bike takes me through a country park. I usually take the more direct route and stick to the forest roads rather than the Mtb trails and when I see a anyone else I always alert them to my presence by calling “hello” from some way off, slow down, and thank them if they have to gather a dog in. Anyway a few weeks ago I had just begun the journey had passed one chap as above then spotted a lady coming towards me with a Doberman/pointer looking dog, did my usual slow down said hello and as she made no attempt to control her dog I continued on, cue the dog turning round chasing after me and biting the back of my calf, tore my trousers and drew blood (I was surprised at how sharp it’s teeth were)


I jumped off the bike cursing and shouted with liberal use of expletives that her dog had bit me and ripped my trousers and I expected her to replace them, she replied that her dog had probably bit me as I had tried to kick it (I was trying to shake the beast off). I was so incensed I jumped on my bike and pedaled away went for 50m, I then put my brain in gear and turned round went back and told her that I was reporting the incident to the police and was taking a picture of her and the dog for reference, which I did. She asked me at this point to show her the wound which I did.
Later that evening I got the above pictures and the one of the lady and dog put on to the local towns Facebook page and within 15 mins. had her, name, address and place of work.
I used the police 101 number and reported what had happened, a few days later I was visited at home by a constable who took a statement and said he would pass on the information to the local bobbies, who would visit her and that I would be contacted by them as to progress/outcome.
Well almost three weeks have passed I’ve been back on to 101 and been promised the officer would call and update me and nothing, nada, zilch.
Am I being naive in expecting a speedy and positive (for me) result, is it likely anything has or will happen.

Chase it up. I have my doubts you’ll get a satisfactory outcome but keep chasing it.

but keep chasing it

Do I see what you did there?

Good luck!

Remember running around the golf course in Arrowe park some years ago in the semi gloom of a foggy winters day turning to darkness. It was a fantastic and eerie light. 2 dogs come into view, a Doberman and a Dalmatian. Both ran towards me and the Dalmatian was clearly a few seconds away from attacking me (you get to estimate which are the biters and which are the bluffers after 30yrs of running)
Anyway I had stood still for around 15-20 seconds waiting for the inevitable when a lady walks into view out of the fog and as if a switch had been flicked they forgot about me and began running over to her. Not a word from her and I had really been in fear of being badly hurt, given the Doberman may have joined in the attack and I was pretty much stranded 50m from any cover (trees)
I was incensed so ran to the trees picked up a baseball bat sized piece of wood and went after the Dalmatian!
The woman began screaming stop!!! Stop!! he has a heart condition!!!
I shouted back it was soon to have a “stick up the a*** condition” anyway I thought better of it as it looked like she was getting upset so I took off.

Dog owners eh.

Yes, very good DD, surfer that made me laugh out loud.
Guess the dog owners occupation……………………

Estate agent, a noble pursuit.

So unlike the op they didn’t actually bite you.

Do I see what you did there?

😆

You need to be like a dog with a bone op!!

Maybe he’s on holiday or dealing with something else but give them another ring.

Were you brought up around the police?
Would you consider yourself a police person?

It’s not the officers fault, he obviously hasn’t been fully trained, he doesn’t mean any harm.

You need to get used to seeing policemen out and about, try a demo or a football match.
They’re often just trying to be friendly and some of them will be more scared of you than you are of them.

Its all your fault for not knowing how to behave around dogs 😉

Chase the police up. Get the dog put down, get compensation from the owner – thats worth a couple of thousand pounds in criminal injuries compensation

Tetanus up to date?

Building site anecdote: one of the lads on site this week was missing the last third of both middle fingers. I asked what had happened them – one hand was an unfortunate paving slabs interface. The other was the result of an unspecified bull terrier type thing turning on him when he’d tried to stop it attacking his own dog. 😯

(He is clearly a dog-person.)

I think seeing as you have the owners details, it’s worth a message to them on FB. Tell them you are due yo speak to the police again this week and it’s being investigated under dangerous dogs act, so if you push hard, their dog will be put down.

Suggest a replacement like for like of all damaged clothing plus an appropriate compensation payment (I’d suggest £300 is fair) and you’ll pursue no further. The ball is then in their court.

Tetanus up to date?

Sidebar: When I was bitten by a dog a couple of years ago, I was told by the very stern RAF nurse I saw at the walk in centre, that modern thinking is you’re done for life with just the one.

Tell them you are due yo speak to the police again this week and it’s being investigated under dangerous dogs act, so if you push hard, their dog will be put down.

Suggest a replacement like for like of all damaged clothing plus an appropriate compensation payment (I’d suggest £300 is fair) and you’ll pursue no further.

While I’d agree the OP should be compensated for being bitten, what you’re suggesting sounds very much like extortion. Either the dog’s dangerous or it isn’t, paying the OP £300 won’t change that.

£300 is nothing like enough anyway. couple of thousand more like

Dog needs to be put down, it could be a child’s face next time.

I think seeing as you have the owners details, it’s worth a message to them on FB. Tell them you are due yo speak to the police again this week and it’s being investigated under dangerous dogs act, so if you push hard, their dog will be put down.

Suggest a replacement like for like of all damaged clothing plus an appropriate compensation payment (I’d suggest £300 is fair) and you’ll pursue no further. The ball is then in their court.

All that’s going to gain is an argument.

It’s not up to the OP to act as judge and jury, the authorities will decide whether it’s dangerous and take appropriate action. It might well have bitten people before and almost certainly will do it again.

TBH, the fact she didn’t give a toss until she thought she was going to get in trouble speaks volumes to me.

it might be worth trying to get the police to find out if the owner has insurance

Sidebar: When I was bitten by a dog a couple of years ago, I was told by the very stern RAF nurse I saw at the walk in centre, that modern thinking is you’re done for life with just the one.

Stern and wrong
(or at least it’s a bit more complicated than that)

Posted 4 weeks ago #
scaredypants – Member

A dose of vaccine isn’t really sufficient to treat a current wound – they just use the presentation with a wound as a good opportunity to give another boost

If you’re already fully immunised (i.e. had 5 doese (or more) at sensible intervals) they’ll not bother with more vaccine – though some use “within 10 years” as a rule of thumb too
They might consider giving immunoglobulin if the risk of tetanus is high (won’t be for a minor bite unless your immune system is suppressed)

You can get nasty infections from bites, so be sure to get it sorted if it starts looking that way

Theresa May got rid of 10,000 police officers. Those that remain are probably all tied up with historical sex abuse investigations, returning terrorists and endless paperwork.

it might be worth trying to get the police to find out if the owner has insurance

Good idea in theory. But she:

… had no control over her dog.

… was oblivious to the fact that the dog might need to be checked whilst a cyclist slowly passes.

… immediately went on the defensive after the incident.

… showed no concern over the OP’s injury until confronted with the possibility that she’s going to be reported.

I’d hazard that the chances of her being signed up for Third Party Bite and Maim is probably pretty remote.

I’d hazard that the chances of her being signed up for Third Party Bite and Maim is probably pretty remote.

Not necessarily 3rd party insurance comes with the normal vet insurance mostly.

Sad as it is, I suspect it will go nowhere. I was bitten by a dog in a similar situation 18 months ago.

I was in hospital for 4 hours getting stitched up – it was a 2 inch slice in my calf.

Reported etc but in the end nowt came of it.

The owner said “he’s never done that before, he’s just 12 months old so a bit excited”. That’s fine then clearly. Imagine if it had been a child?

immediately went on the defensive after the incident.

Sadly a lot of people are like this nowadays. Absolutely no ability to take responsibility for their selfish actions.

I’m a dog person, and have been around larger breeds all my life. That still wouldn’t stop me kicking one in the face with my cleats if it ever tried to bite me. 😈

Not necessarily 3rd party insurance comes with the normal vet insurance mostly.

Fair enough, I didn’t know that.

In no way excusing the owner, obviously it is there responsibility to control the dog, but does this ever happen to people that are not scared of dogs? It would appear that ‘not knowing how to behave around dogs’ is a thing. Not the fault of the ‘victim’ in any way, but it does seem to be a common cause. For ‘non dog people’ if you fear getting bitten, you are probably better off stopping than riding on (dogs love to chase). Won’t always work, but it wiil help in most cases. I know you shouldn’t have to do anything if everyone looked after their dogs properly, but this is the real world, half the time dog walkers won’t even hear us coming in time.

Right – so there you are riding along and a dog starts running at you and you think we should stop?

Oh god angeldust, don’t start the dog hate off again!

In this case this is entirely the dog owners fault. The op slowed down and said hello so she could see there was a bike. She took no action to control her dog – and it was a big beast at that.

I’d literally sh*t myself if a Doberman came chasing after me.

In no way excusing the owner, obviously it is there responsibility to control the dog, but does this ever happen to people that are not scared of dogs? It would appear that ‘not knowing how to behave around dogs’ is a thing. Not the fault of the ‘victim’ in any way, but it does seem to be a common cause. For ‘non dog people’ if you fear getting bitten, you are probably better off stopping than riding on (dogs love to chase). Won’t always work, but it wiil help in most cases. I know you shouldn’t have to do anything if everyone looked after their dogs properly, but this is the real world, half the time dog walkers won’t even hear us coming in time.

I refer you to this thread from a few days ago, you must’ve missed it.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/inability-to-control-dogs

FFS – I like dogs (well behaved ones) and I’ve been bitten a few times when just minding my own business ignoring the dog.

(dogs love to chase)

If only there was a way of controlling the distance they can run after someone.

I love dogs. Grown up with them. Dogs love to chase and my seven year old likes to run. A lead would have prevented this issue.

I’ve had two close calls lately. Leafs would have prevented them.

Angeldust – explain the dogs one doesn’t know about because they come running from behind.

The dog is a ****.
The owner is a ****.

One of them should be put down.

Love that it is ‘leafs’.

Seriously though, sorry to hear you were attacked. I agree with the idea that stopping if a dog is chasing you is a good idea but think about how most people react if a bee comes near them let alone a Doberman! My son will run if a dog chases him but he shouldn’t have to gamble on whether or not a dog will not bite him. Dogs love to run and it is a shame to have them on a lead at all times but in a public place I think it’s best for all. I have a sight hound. I keep him on a lead in public places because I don’t want him to instinctively kill someone’s smaller dog. It’s probably a very small chance of that ever happening but it won’t because he’s on a lead.

Best one I had was a family walking down an mtb trail, and their dog biting my foot. I stopped and said ‘Your dog just bit me’. The owners reply ‘ Oh, Yes.. He always does that’.
Ok , that makes it acceptable then, its just normal behaviour for your dog.

The simple thing to do is to start a civil claim, the criminal sanction will be minor

A simple “letter before action” as a starter for ten, it will tease out whether the owner has insurance or not

If anyone is interested I’m still alive a month later.

I still have a scar and a bump.

‘Your dog just bit me’. The owners reply ‘ Oh, Yes.. He always does that’.

“Oh, that’s fine then. I always punt biting dogs over hedgerows, would you call him here please?”

Good to hear from you OP.

If that is the state of your leg after a month then I would take a picture of it and chase the police again.

I am assuming that you have not heard from them yet?