dlmckay Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 My 3yo got bitten by an elderly BC whilst we were on holiday on the Coromandel Peninsula in NZ. There is currently a dog ban in place on all beaches which last all summer, but I was surprised to see three different dogs on the beaches we visited - obviously not enforced then... What happened? We were walking along the (quite small) stretch of beach when some ladies came down to the beach to set off in some kayaks and their teenage kids and their dog followed them down to see them off. Their dog sniffed at me as we passed and all three of my kids stopped to pet the dog. As we continued on our walk, Caitlin decided to give the dog a quick hug before she followed us. She hugged it around the neck, the dog stiffened, I called to Caitlin to let the dog go, but it was too late, the dog spun and nipped Caitlin on the face. This is the result... Caitlin has a gash on the bridge of her nose, a tooth went into her bottom lip and she has grazing on her chin. and just to show she's ok! There was blood everywhere at the time - it's amazing how a little blood goes such a long way. The lady in the kayak (who owns the dog) jumped out and helped us back to her house to clean Caitlin up and then find a doctor. We couldn't find one in the local area on the phone (the lady told us to go to Thames which is an hour's drive away), so we drove back to Coromandel Town and checked both the medical centres - nothing - all closed for the holidays. We went to the local police station to get their advice and they told us to visit the nursing home next door - grand idea! The nurses patched Caitlin up (as per the photos) and then they called the on-call doctor, who met us at the Medical Centre and gave us some antibiotics to prevent any infection. We have not asked that the dog be put down because I feel that the dog was hurt by Caitlin squeezing it's neck and also didn't know Caitlin at all. I am humming and hawing about writing to the local council to ask them to send the lady a notice for having the dog on the beach because if it hadn't been there, Caitlin wouldn't have been bitten... tricky, tricky. The backlash for the owner is that they might end up with a Dangerous Dog notice being placed on their dog which means their dog must be on a leash and muzzled in public. What would you do if you were in this situation? Caitlin should not have squeezed the dog, but the dog should not have been on the beach. The dog does not deserve to be put down, but does it deserve a muzzle? Should the owner pay a fine? (They are currently paying the $90 doctor's fee for Caitlin's treatment) Over to you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyM Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I personally wouldn't take it further. The dog wasn't meant to be on the beach, no, but the truth is that's not what caused the bite, is it? If having the owner penalised for having the dog on the beach will risk the dog in any way when it was obviously not the dog's fault, I would consider it malicious to be honest. I would imagine the dog's owner would already be regretting taking the dog to the beach. The dog doesn't need muzzling, it needs people to have manners and not allow children to pester it, as all dogs deserve. It's not the dog or Caitlin's fault in any way. I hope Caitlin recovers swiftly and painlessly, and that you teach her not to approach and treat strange dogs like that in future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooandboo Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm really sorry for Caitlin but in my opinion she should never have been allowed to hug a strange dog and the fault lies with you - I'm sorry. I would contact the council about there being dogs on the beach but not this particular dog & I would put the financial cost down to experience and be grateful that Caitlin is, thankfully ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlmckay Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 But the point of the dog ban is precisely to avoid people being bitten... Caitlin's fine, she's healing well and hopefully no scars - jeepers, I read the BBC webpage today and it could have been so much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocoa Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm really sorry for Caitlin but in my opinion she should never have been allowed to hug a strange dog and the fault lies with you - I'm sorry. I would contact the council about there being dogs on the beach but not this particular dog & I would put the financial cost down to experience and be grateful that Caitlin is, thankfully ok 100% with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlmckay Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I should also mention though, that the dog was off lead and allowed to approach us, we didn't approach the dog... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzeanna Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) A lot of dogs dislike being hugged...it makes them feel threatened having someone holding them like that, or it may hurt, if they are older dogs and have arthritis. Your little girl was very unlucky to be bitten at all but lucky not to be more badly hurt, but as the others have said, it comes down to you. You should teach your children from the time they are old enough to understand that they must always ask the owner before touching a strange dog, and that they should never either hug it or pat it forcefully on the head. She looks a lovely little girl, hope the experience hasn't scarred her for life, either phyically or mentally. I wouldn't report the dog specifically, just mention that dogs were on the beach when they shouldn't have been. Personally I dont think the bans are to prevent people being bitten...more to stop dog poo on the beach that people might tread in and in the case of unwormed dogs, spread disease. edited to add: just saw your last post...the owner of the dog should have been keeping an eye on it, and if she had any notion it would be less than friendly, call it back. I probably would have assumed that an offlead dog which the owner saw approaching someone else would be friendly, but I still wouldn't have touched it, just said hello. Edited January 3, 2007 by suzeanna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACKYSIAN Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I think you should contact the owner and tell her your reasons for not wanting to take it any further but absolutely reiterate (sp) that this dog should under no circumstances be allowed unleashed on the beach again. I will never allow my dogs unleashed on the local beaches where there are children, even though 2 of my dogs I trust with kids-it's just not worth it! In the same vein I don't allow children to pet my dogs, even if they ask I say no...it only takes one little nip!!! I think the owner was irresponsible in the first place to have the dog there unsupervised (which it was as she was distracted with her boat). I do also think the responsiblity for the accident is also shared with you and your OH...Caitlin should most definately not have been able to get that close to a strange dog in the first place. So glad she's okay and bet she has learnt a very unfortunate lesson from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendbert Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm really sorry for Caitlin but in my opinion she should never have been allowed to hug a strange dog and the fault lies with you - I'm sorry. I agree. Presumably if you had gone to the beach at a time of year when dogs werent banned, Caitlin would still have hugged the dog? Very sorry for Caitlin and you and hope she recovers quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemstone Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm really sorry for Caitlin but in my opinion she should never have been allowed to hug a strange dog and the fault lies with you - I'm sorry. I would contact the council about there being dogs on the beach but not this particular dog & I would put the financial cost down to experience and be grateful that Caitlin is, thankfully ok Well said Caitlin But the point of the dog ban is precisely to avoid people being bitten... I would have thought it was to keep the beach clean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlmckay Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I think you should contact the owner and tell her your reasons for not wanting to take it any further but absolutely reiterate (sp) that this dog should under no circumstances be allowed unleashed on the beach again. I will never allow my dogs unleashed on the local beaches where there are children, even though 2 of my dogs I trust with kids-it's just not worth it! In the same vein I don't allow children to pet my dogs, even if they ask I say no...it only takes one little nip!!! I think the owner was irresponsible in the first place to have the dog there unsupervised (which it was as she was distracted with her boat). I do also think the responsiblity for the accident is also shared with you and your OH...Caitlin should most definately not have been able to get that close to a strange dog in the first place. So glad she's okay and bet she has learnt a very unfortunate lesson from it. This is where I'm thinking at the moment. Things just happened more quickly than I could react to and I was actually herding the children away from the dog when Caitlin decided to quickly give it a hug before she left. Trouble is, Caitlin loves dogs so much and thinks they are all as lovely as our Tui. Thankfully, the message is sinking into to her 3yo head that not all dogs are lovely. Hopefully it will stay with her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkle Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Definately don't think you should take it any further hun I'm really sorry bout poor Caitlin but she shouldn't have hugged the dog, I hug my two boys all the time but I don't hug other people's until they know me and ask for a cuddle (I know everyone on here knows that dogs ask for cuddles ) The dogs owners sound like they live right on the beach? In which case it is pretty much their back yard and I am sure they pick up after their dog in their own back yard. I really wouldn't take it any further, its not the poor dogs fault that it nipped Caitlin and hopefully she'll still be completely unfazed by it (I was nipped as a child and completely forgot about it until my mummy told me many years later in a "remember when" story ) and will learn to never hug strange dogs, it could have been worse if the dog was aggressive as it was it sounds like it was a warning "that hurts" reaction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greys mum Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm really sorry for Caitlin but in my opinion she should never have been allowed to hug a strange dog and the fault lies with you - I'm sorry. I would contact the council about there being dogs on the beach but not this particular dog & I would put the financial cost down to experience and be grateful that Caitlin is, thankfully ok Agree with M&B. But also realise that it isn't always possible to have eyes in the back of your head. Hope that Caitlin is healing nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyM Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 But the point of the dog ban is precisely to avoid people being bitten... As is the oint of the responsibility of parents to ensure their children know how to behave around strange dogs. Caitlin should not have been allowed to treat any dog in that manner, never mind an elderly one. In the end, reporting the specific dog will mean a dog is muzzled and has a bad name unecessarily. The location is irrelevant, the dog did what was natural under the circumstances. It seems taking it further will only be punishing the innocent. I think it would be a crime to expect money for what happened when it was insitgated by poor supervision of your own children. I really don't mean to offend you in any way, but you really need to teach your children how to behave around dogs if you're allowing them to stroke and even cuddle strange dogs - this bite could've been a LOT worse. Would you allow strange children to squeeze your dogs' necks? Again, I truly hope Caitlin's okay and she recovers quickly. But please, take responsibility for your actions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnS Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Glad it wasn't any worse. Sure everyone involved feels bad about it in some way. AnnS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts