hi i apologise for any ramblings, but i am shaken up.
I have a 3 year old dalmatian, i tied him up today whilst i popped into waitrose.

Next thing i know, im walking towards the store exit, and see a couple of young boys, POKING, my dog with a fishing rod!! I literally ran to my dog, but before i could do anything, my dog had nipped one of the boys! You can imagine What happened next! mother comes flying towards us, ranting and raving saying my dog is viscous and needs to be destroyed, i tried to explain the boys were teasing my dog, but she wouldnt have it, she stormed off with the boys saying she was going to call the police! 
My dog had drawn blood, but i couldnt see how bad it was!

I dont know what to do ! i dont want to loose my boy, he wouldnt normally bite a child!
will i have to put him to sleep!!!!??

Please help
Dawn Barker

Dawn,

Did the parents take your details?  They would need them to report you to the police.  I'm sorry you've had a scare but I'll say it (before anyone else does) never leave your dog tied up anywhere.  If a complaint is made then it'll help your defence if you make a statement as to what you saw them doing.  Make detailed notes now, time, place, any other witnesses.

Depending on the nature of the injury, it might be that no complaint is made but be prepared......and don't leave your dog tied up again.

Joe

I think it very much depends on the mother and the officer who deals with it - mostly these kind of cases seem to be dealt with by a dog handler, who will come and see you, and probably like to meet the dog concerned.  It will be on this basis that they decide wether to prosecute or not (ofcourse the brats parents may take out a private prosecution if the police don't go ahead)  If your dog has no previous, and can present a 'nice normal dog' front to the policeman, they will probably just warn you not to allow the incident to be repeated (which is easy enough - don't leave him tied up alone!) and that will be the end of the matter.  It will help if your dog has done any of the Kennel Club's Good Citizen scheme tests too - and if he hasn't, taking him to a training club where you can do them will help him recover some of the confidence he may have lost (as well as helping you!)

Good luck, let us know how it goes won't you?

Get in touch & join Justice for Dogs they will give you some sound advice on what will happen cases like yours are what they were founded for

if they didnt take any details they will find it incredibly hard to do anything, I think if she really was going to do something then she would have taken your details. It may be that she realises what her kids were doing and was just shocked herself and thats why she said this.....drawing blood may just be a scratch, our little puppy has a knack for drawing blood but they are scratches or pin pricks, unless they had dog teeth marks how would you even know they were from a dog?

Anyway having said that, be careful, don't leave your dog anywhere that it can be antagonised or hurt by other people, why not leave him at home if you are just going shopping for a bit?

Hi Guest, sorry to hear of your ordeal. Im sure that if no details where exchange then there is very little chance the person could take action, after all, she would have to find out who you are, where you lived etc. If details have been exchanged then stick to yours guns and protest the dog was being severly antagonised, so much so you had to run to its defence. 

There is always another way to go about it ( VERY EXTREME,not legitimate, but SAVES A DOGS LIFE), if anyone questions you about the event, claim you have two dalmations and the dog in question has gone missing from your garden, or park, whatever. If they ask why you haven't reported dog missing say ' it just happend today' i was about to do it now'. How can they prove you are lying?
I know this is very deceptive but if a dog is truely no0 danger to people, then why should it be killed because it was defending itself. If you ask me these kids should be taught basic compassion to all living things.

. If it does go further i would speak to Waitrose and see if they have cctv cameras around the area where the dog was tied up. It could all be on camera and could show these kids bullying your dog.
The only thing is once a dog has a taste for blood , the saying goes 'it goes back for more'. Im not sure if this is true, but the safest thing to do is get a soft nylon muzzle, so if this ever happens again, then the dog can not bite. This also puts your mind at rest that the dog can not harm anyone.

Hope i wont get told off for this advice, would hate to see a beautiful creature suffer because of some one elses evil actions. If it was my dog i would do anything and everything to save his life. :(

Huskymad - it's not so much that the dog gets  a taste for blood, more that it discovers that kind of behaviour can relieve it of what is causing it stress - it's found a 'cure' if you like.......

I'm sorry Huskymad, but what happens when they ask your neighbours how many dogs you own and have walked on a daily basis?

Does being caught out in this lie not cast doubt on your side of the story in the first place?

Marina

It's such a strange world when children can tease a dog, poke him and incite him to bite in self defence, and yet the mother has the temerity to get angry and threaten the owner.....

Lindsay
X

Hi guys, to be honest i dont have that much of an active imagination. An old collegue of mine has a dog who bit a man when he hit him with a stick because the dog was chasing after his dogs frizbee. The dog wouldnt let go of the frizbee so the man hit it with a stick !!!!! the dog naturaly bit back, not hard just a nip. He reported it to the park warden who had to report it to the police.   The police came round and said it was a high chance the dog had to be euthanised. And your right, they did ask neighbours, but like i said its the owners word. No one can swear to what is behind closed doors and what you own. The point is this dog (as far as i know) is still living happily and has not bitten since. They could not take further action because they could not prove the dog had not run away. To make the situation more realistic, my collegue printed 'lost poster' and stuck them on trees, lampost, corner shops, bus shelters. Even though it is far fetched, it would take alot to disprove.

If the mother did not see what the kids were doing to the dog them it would be understandable for her to react this way. I do agree with digger though, it very much depends on how your dog reacts with the police officer who may visit. Please dont leave your dog unattended. Only you know what your dogs nature is like and that may be difficult to convince someone else.

kat

The chances are that the store, or somewhere close, will have security cameras and that if it comes to anything then the incident will have been recorded.

If you exchanged addresses then find out from the store, local shops and area about the cameras.

Carrying on from what kerioak has said you can write to the store Data Protection officer requesting a copy of any and all video footage showing the dog from when you left him, to the time the family left - I think it is about £10 for a copy - in this incidence it would be well worth it for your own peace of mind and also to show to the police or anyone else who comes knocking about the event.

I would think it's highly unlikely even without the video footage that the police would seek to destroy your dog - my daughter was bitten by a GSD whilst delivering papers.  I asked for the dog to be destroyed as the incident has left her scared for life and was totally unprovoked, she had delivered the paper and was almost out of the gate back on the street when the dog just calmly walked up to her and took a chunk out of the back of her knee, no snarling, growling or threatening behaviour at all.  The police came to see me again after they'd seen the dog and owner and told me that I didn't have clue how to raise my children to be around dogs!!!  I wasn't polite but he got my point and so did the Inspector when I took photo's of my own GSD's with my children, one showed my daughter as a crawling baby with her hand in a huge Males dinner whilst he was eating.  They still didn't agree that the dog was dangerous as it was 'so placid' when they went to visit it - that was my whole point the dog gave no warning signals, it wasn't even on his own property but still he very calmly walked up a bit her badly.  Needless to say the paper shop refused to deliver a paper to that house and passe the word around to all the other shops in town, plus all the kids in school found out about Kirsty's injury and wouldn't go near the place.

I hope things work out okay for you. Mind you if I had your name I think I would remove it from here as it is very easy to remember!!!

Gina