Aggressive dog… could we be sued or something???
i have a medium sized outdoor dog, very sweet and gentle around family, but EXTREMELY aggressive towards strangers. we live in the country not the city, on a farm (in Texas). the dog has her own half-acre pen, strong fencing, escape proof. we’ve stuck up plenty of "Beware of Dog" and "I Bite" signs on fence and gates. whenever someone comes over, we also make sure to warn them about the dog.
even though the dog will be barking and snarling and drooling everywhere ready to rip them to shreds, some people will still try to mess with her or pet her when we turn our backs. once a friend of mine thought it was funny to stick his boot under the fence, only to have the dog latch on and rip holes in it. he was very angry at ME even though he was clearly warned. several times we’ve stopped people in the nick of time when they actually reached their hands in the fence towards her snapping jaws.
if someone (someone pretty dumb!) actually were to get bit by her, could i still get in trouble?
she really is a good dog with us, and a well trained livestock working dog. like i said, we live in the country, and she rarely sees anyone but us, i think that is how she got to hate strangers.
16 Comments on “Aggressive dog… could we be sued or something???”
probably. For some reason very stupid people seem to win money in lawsuits every day. Especially the people who don’t seem to read and listen to warnings.
Yes, make sure that you have enough home owners insurance coverage. . .they can sue your pants off.!
1) There’s a fence. Your dog is in the fence. You are covered.
2) You have signs up. People are prepared for an agressive dog. You’re covered.
Let’s say someone did manage to get bitten by your dog.
–In your backyard: you would be held liable, only if you were holding a party and the dog wasn’t put into a different area.
–In your area: you wouldn’t be liable so long as the dog was within the enclosed area.
I have no idea, but it’s a pretty good fight for a reason to not get in trouble if you have all that up there. It’s not your fault if an idiot sticks their little fingers in there.
Yes.
Really depends on the laws in your area. But you have posted all the signs and in court you could defend yourself very well. It would be hard for a judge to say – the person was not warned. It would be like a no tresspassing sign.
Yes, you can be sued.
This is your dog and it is on your property. That makes it your responsibility.
True, if you have a beware of dog sign and someone ignores it it will make your case a bit stronger. However, it still will not stop you from having to put in the time and expense to defend yourself if you are sued by someone who gets bit.
get rid of the Beware of dog signs. putting these up says that you know your dog is a danger so if someone got hurt they could sue you for wrongful endagerment. but if you take down the signs you can always say you didnt know the dog was vicious.
call you local law enforcement anonymously and ask what the best way to protect your dog and neighbors is.
also (and this is going to be an expensive suggestion) try putting up a double fence. on that keeps the dog back and and one that keeps people away from the fence holding the dog back. this created a safety zone that noone can reach across.
You are always liable for any injuries incurred on your property or by your pets. You would definitely be sued and lose, not because you didn’t warn people, but because you were so irresponsible to not get the dog properly trained. You can change this behavior and you are obligated to do so. Some trainers may say it can’t be done, but they are wrong. Check out the Dog Whisperer on Discovery. You are irresponsible for maintaining this behavior by your dog and should take steps toward proper training IMMEDIATELY.
You would certainly "get in trouble" is this dog ever harmed someone, and it sounds like it’s only a matter of time. I see a lot of people answering that you are "covered". You are NOT. If someone were to get injured, regardless of the warnings and fence and all that, you would still lose the case in 99 out of 100 instances.
Yes, you would still be responsible. If your dog is that aggressive and you do nothing about it, you should be responsible. Legally and morally you have the obligation to not have a animal that is that way. The signs you have up are only going to make the case stronger against your dog, anyone being bitten could use them to prove that you were aware that the dog was aggressive/mean and you did nothing about it. It has often been the case that dogs only aggressive to strangers eventually become aggressive to their families, all it usually takes is one moment for them to snap (hence why you have all these pit bull owners saying "oh but she was so nice to my son"…I am sure it was nice to him, until that is..she tried to eat him. ).
we had our dog taken by the pound and they had to stay id "doggie Jail" for a month, oh yeah at my expense. then i had to register them as a threat. Humane society made us keep him in a kennel with a top and he wasnt allowed out. they would come by when ever to make sure he was locked up. it sucked. he wasnt even the one who bit the guy it was the neighbors dog but the guy who got bit didnt like us.
Yes, you could still be sued. You are always responsible for the actions of your pets. My suggestion is to either put the dog down or seek assistance in retraining it so that it is NOT aggressive. Clearly, you are not able to figure out how to change its behavior. Something wrong with a dog that acts like that.
Further, I would add that you add a closed off fence to prevent people from coming near the fencing. I do not agree that this dog is either sweet or gentle. Eventually, it will turn on a family member who it deems is aggressive. My uncle’s friend was killed by his own dog (yeah, the sweet, gentle, but aggressive) when it attacked him as he was trying to knock off fire ants crawling all over his kid. The kid was screaming, so clearly in distress.
Get rid of such a dog immediately.
Dogs are considered an "attractive nuisance." What if some little kid gets into your yard to see the doggie, and get mauled or killed? You wanna live with that? Then it goes from being sued, to prison time.
Not to be snide but why would you tolerate a dog to get that aggressive. That is bad behavior on the part of the owner to let a dog get out of control like that. Being in the country you are okay, but If that dog was attacking me and mine in the country where I was living, I would be half minded that it was feral and would barely hesitate when I put it down.
Unfortunately, yes. However, keep signs posted, take pictures of them, date them as to when the signs were posted. Keep records of incidents. Make sure you have insurance that would cover an attack. But most importantly, keep warning people. You can only do so much. If they are stupid enough to get bit, it’s their own fault. You have the documentation, the pictures, and the insurance to cover yourself, that will be what matters. If you ever have to put her in a kennel or something…make sure anyone who has to work with her signs something saying they understand the dog can be dangerous and they will not handle her. When I worked at a local boarding kennel we had to do that and before the dog was brought in, we posted signs on the kennel where he was going to be kept and made sure the chains for the run were in good shape so we would not have to enter the kennel for any reason to fix something and we could also make sure the door was strong enough to keep the dog in/out when we were cleaning or feeding. You might be able to get those papers at your local police dept, otherwise, just write something up if you ever go on vacations and can’t take her. Hope that helps!
Yes you could post signs, give flyers to neighbors, warn guests, take pictures and record any incidents. In court this would show that you sincerely attempted due dilligence in regard to warning people.
But here is the thing…….. all of this could actually be used AGAINST you in court. That you were very much aware that the dog was a danger and you still did not take the extra steps to absolutley insure that no harm could come to people. Unfair yes and people should listen but…… there is a grain of truth in that.
I love dogs and my dogs are part of the family but sometimes you have to make hard choices. A lawsuit, even if you won could be hugely expensive. If something bad enough happened there could be criminal charges. And once you got past that they could come back and levy a suit in civil court.
While this is happening it would be easy to have the dog ordered into confinement for observation. So your dog hates other people? How do you think it will act in the shelter. It will boost the other persons case.
If you boost your insurance way up there this in itself will cost money. It will likely boost the rates on the insurance that you already have…….. not always but possibly. If you do at some point have to have to make a claim because of the dog….. and later have a non dog related claim (super possible on a farm of course) the insurance company may drop you. Then your rates will go way up or in this day and age become uninsurable.
Yes there are ways to retrain a dog and cure this aggressive behavior. But you would never be able to be totally sure that the dog won’t revert to the way it was before.
You could try the training thing and just see. You don’t need a professional, just read up on it. It could be that your dog does not like being an outside dog. You could spend money on a more fool proof enclosure. But when it come to dogs NOTHING is totally dog proof.
So you have to decide. Lay your family and business open to a huge financial loss or get rid of the dog. A heart wrenching decision but sometimes one has to make hard choices.