While the following story isn’t from Spokane or anywhere in the state of Washington, it does exemplify many of the issues that surround any dog bite case. Today’s story is from Iowa, where a 9-year-old boy was at a park with his father. While skating together, a pit bull suddenly charged the 9-year-old and bit him in his bicep. Thankfully, the bite doesn’t appear to be too bad (there is a photo in our source article, so be ready for that) and the 9-year-old is expected to make a full recovery.
The father said that in the understandably hectic aftermath of such an incident, he wasn’t able to get any information from the dog’s owner. No blame need be placed here, but it is an important reminder for dog bite victims out there: if possible, you should get contact information from the dog’s owner.
Also, in the wake of this particular incident, the father didn’t know if the dog was healthy and up to date on shots (it was eventually found out that the dog was up to date on shots). So he worried about rabies treatments for his son. Rabies treatments after a dog bite can be painful and expensive, and the dog’s owner, if liable, should be responsible for compensating you for that medical treatment.
Dog owners have critical responsibilities: to train their dogs to be responsive and to maintain control over their dogs. If they fail to uphold their responsibilities, they can be found liable when their dogs hurt other people.
Source: KWQC, “Dog bites child at Davenport Skate Park-UPDATED,” Gabriella Rusk, June 12, 2017