OK folks, this post is a little more serious. Although my son is fine, I'm still not. Last night my 17 year old went to my ex-husband's house. They have at least 4 dogs of their own and, in addition, the wife boards dogs keeping them in the house as well. So it's basically a zoo there on any given day.

This 5 year old English Mastiff knows my son. My son (Jesse) used to go there every other weekend for the first 3 years of this dog's existence. In fact, this dog was a favorite of Jesse's. It used to get on very well with Jesse for 3 years. For the last 2 years, the Eng. Mastiff has only seen my son a handful of times.

Last night Jesse went to their home and was hanging out with the family members in the driveway. Jesse went into and out of the house on at least 4 occasions during this time. The stepmother (dog controller/owner) was in the same room with the Mastiff each and every time my son went into the house. For some reason the dog was barking at Jesse but my son was able to pet him.

During the 4th and final time Jesse went into the house and attempted to pet the dog, the Mastiff curled it's lips and bit my son on the hand, drawing blood and leaving 4 puncture wounds. The owner saw it and yelled at the dog, "NO" and yanked on his collar once.

What would or should I do? I've called the dr. who will see my son at 5:00 pm tonite to make sure the wound was cleaned properly. What I'm not sure about is

a) reporting the dog and
b) making sure the dog had its rabies shot

My ex-husband and I are far from friends and I don't think the wife would give an erroneous answer to the rabies question but she is a dog lover like I've never seen in my life and, truth be told, I don't know who would be more important to her the beast of a dog or my son <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> !

How can I get documentation that the dog had its shots without causing a tidal wave of problems with the ex? Are rabies shots public record?

And for anyone who thinks that my ex-husband would never put my son in jeopardy, suffice it to say, think again <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> .

Sorry to hear about this. Do you know the vet they would have used, and/or would they have registered the dog with the city? I'd start at those two places.

I would contact the vet that they are using. Most towns, at least in my area, make rabies shots a requirement to be licensed. Call up the town hall and ask if the dog has a license for the year. If it does, you can be assured the dog has had the shot. If not, I would start calling area veterinarians. I'm not sure if it's public information or not but you can always give it a shot, no? Besides, if they ask you questions, be upfront and tell them your son was bitten by this dog and you need to know if it is up-to-date on its rabies.

By the way, your son should be put on an oral antibiotic due to the nature of this wound -- bite wounds get infected VERY easily and since he has gone 24 hours with no care they may want to do a double-dose of some sort. Just a heads up for you... I had an idiot doctor who told me I didn't need to be on an antibiotic for a (human) bite wound I recieved. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

No, but I could find out about the vet by doing a little investigative work. They live only 20 minutes away from me so it may not be too hard. Regarding registering the dog, well that one is more questionable. She runs a dog grooming business illegally out of her home. I bring this up because it I think it shows her willingness to skirt around laws, hence she probably didn't bother to register her dog with the town. That's just a guess. I could be dead wrong though.

What a vile thing to have happen-- on so many levels. Is there a dog-bite reporting procedure in your city/county that takes the situation out of your hands and into the Animal Control process? Our county requires any medically treated dog bite to be reported by the doctor. County animal contol then follows up with rabies documentation and possibly quarantine. It's the law and has to work that way, nothing personal is involved. Good luck with this. Thank goodness your son's injuries weren't worse.

Judy,
IMHO, I kind of think you have a responsibility to report this to the proper folks. You have said that this dog knows your son and he has been around him in the past, dogs do not usally forget those whom they know. If a dog is willing to bite some one whom they knew/know then I think we have a responsibility to report a dog that bites. It would be different if this dog never knew your son and felt threatened by him and bit him in a reponse to a threat, this dog bit your son with no apperant threat from your son and knew your son to boot. This dog may never get loose but what if it did, what is a child was around and this dog bit them. There may be no love lose between you and your X but this has pasted that point, it is a dog who bit a person for no apperant reason. He may or may not be up to date on his shoots and that is just another subject all together, the point here is that this dog bit a person that they know and TRULY may be an danger to others.

Ruth brings up a good point. Your state may require that, since your son is recieving medical treatment, the dog must be quarantined if a proof of rabies vaccination cannot be given.

Here, a quick Google search brought this up:

http://www.njlaws.com/dog_bites.htm

I completely agree with everything you said. Please don't misunderstand. There is more than one way to do the right thing for all concerned. I'm looking to do the right thing without bringing a sledgehammer down on my head.

As I said in my original post, it's very disturbing that he knows my son and bit him anyway. That tells me either the dog always had a screw loose and we were just plain lucky all this time or something has changed in that household or in that dog. No matter, it still has to be dealt with. By the way, I was told by a health professional that I should have gone to the hospital last night! Even though it was puncture wounds only, seeking immediate medical attention to a dog bite that breaks the skin (but seemingly nothing more) is critical. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

As I hoped was the case and have just had confirmed, any doctor (at least in this geographic area) has the legal obligation to report the bite. Armed with this info., I asked the health officer if she could contact the owner of the dog after the doctor reports it. She will.

Once done, the health officer quarantines the dog and after 10 days, the dog must get a vet's OK that he doesn't have rabies. I've called the town in which they live and confirmed that the dog does in fact have its rabies shot (expires 2/07). WHEW!

Lastly, I've instructed both my sons never to go near that dog again no matter how "OK" the dog may be acting <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> ! BTW, Jesse was shocked at how much the bite hurt and tried to describe what it felt like. He said it felt like he punched his fist into a brick wall. He said the pressure was incredible.

Getting bitten by a chihuahua is one thing, a 200 lb. Mastiff something altogether different. Thank goodness it turned out no worse than it was.

Thanks to all for your assistance!!