Kate, Stephen and Joe deliver a weekly free newspaper on Thursdays. The kids walk through their routes and place papers on porches or hang the papers from the hooks on the bottom of mailboxes. One house on Katie's route chains their dog to the front door. The chain reaches throughout the entire front yard. Usually, someone from the house comes outside and holds the dog when Katie approaches the house to deliver. Today, no one came outside. The dog bit Katie on the hand. It wasn't a really bad bite, but there were two puncture marks and scratches on her hand. The hand swelled up almost immediately.
Katie called me on her cell phone and I drove to her route to pick her up. After calling the newspaper's office to inform Katie's boss, I took Kate to the emergency room. Animal control showed up at the hospital and made a report about the incident. The officer said that he would check with the owner to learn if the dog was up to date on shots and licensed. The officer said that he would try to get back to me in the next few days.
The emergency room physician explained that Katie would need shots within 48 hours of the bite, if shots were needed. While we were gone, Kaitlyn's boss had gone to the dog's home and talked with someone inside the house. The owner wasn't home, but Kate's boss got the woman's name and phone number. Katie's boss stopped by our house and left the owner's information. I called the owner when we got home to see about the dog's shot record.
I wasn't angry when I called. We have owned dogs for years. Even the nicest dog will bite if protecting his territory or if aggravated. After I explained who I was and asked about the shot record, the woman was very indignant. She said that Katie should have thrown the paper into the yard if no one came outside. She was angry that animal control came to her house to see about her dog's license and shot record. She explained that the dog was completely up-to-date. Then stated that the newspaper had called and asked her to drop off a copy of the shot record. This was a great deal of inconvenience! The woman never said she was sorry that my child was bitten. She never asked about my daughter's injury. At the end of the conversation, she informed me that now she would have to chain her dog in the back yard and it was going to be a pain in the neck.
Throughout the entire process, Katie and I clearly stated that the dog was chained and that the bit wasn't a really bad bite. We didn't want the dog put down or quarantined. We just wanted to bypass the $1000/day shots if at all possible. This woman's attitude surprised me a great deal. Maybe she thought we were going to sue her for damages. Katie is doing fine and will not require any shots. She will no longer be delivering a paper to that particular house.
2 comments:
That is sad. I will never understand attitudes like that. No concern for the next person. I would just be sick if my dog did that to someone.
I'm glad the she is ok!
That is really awful that someone could behave like that, especially when it's a child involved. She probably would have got mad if your daughter just threw the paper in the yard and the dog chewed it up.
It's good that your daughter is okay and won't need rabies shots. I've heard they are no fun.
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