I am curious what folks on this board would say or do if a very small dog (maybe about 8 lbs.) bit you.

Here is the situation:

I was walking down a relatively busy street in downtown. I normally walk at a quick pace and had to pass a lady walking this small dog while at the same time a man with a slightly larger dog was coming toward us. As I was about to pass the lady (who was heading in the same direction as myself) her dog, which was trailing behind her a good 10-15 feet barked and bit the foot of my jeans.

I am not sure if the bite was intended for the other passing dog. The dog's owner turned around and acted as if nothing had happened, telling me that her dog is harmless since she is "so small." Fortunately, her dog bit my clothing and there was no damage aside for some teeth marks, but this woman insisted that I was over-reacting because I told her she ought to watch her dog and thought it was funny when I mentioned contacting the police.

I was in a hurry so just left it at that, but even now in hindsight, not sure what else I would or should have done. Any suggestions since I have seen this woman and her dog around?

Was her dog leashed? With her poor attitude I would have called the police because this WILL happen again and the next person might not be so lucky. Typical poor dog owner thinking her sweet little dog can't hurt anyone. What if its a child getting bit next time. Did she even say sorry?

I don't care what size of a dog bites me; if it does, I'll act the same way (pissed and having words with the owner).

Depending on how the owner reacted, I might report the incident as well.

Where I live, if a dog bites someone, regardless of the dog's size, it's an automatic 10 day quarantine. Let her go thru that and then act like it's nothing<g>.

I feel for you, as this woman is clearly clueless and it sounds like you'll be running into her over time.

leih

Yes, the dog was leashed on a Flexi. No, she did not apologize at all - her attitude was that her dog is small and cute and therefore harmless. I've seen her walk the dog before on the Flexi, the dog can go wherever and our sidewalks are rather narrow, so people end up having to walk off the street in order to avoid tripping over the Flexi since the line often travels across the sidewalk while her dog is all over the place.

There are many dog owners like that here - the dog is walking on the far edge of the sidewalk while the owner is on the other side and in the middle, is the leash. If you do not watch yourself and walk between the dog and owner, you trip over the leash. Of course, when that happens, you are yelled.

I guess aside for some venting, if the police were contacted, what would they really do? Would it not appear somewhat ridiculous that a grown man is reporting being bitten by something so small that it: 1) did not cause actual damage, and 2) the likelihood of the dog to cause actual damage is minimal? Moreover, even if the dog was issued a muzzle order, not sure if it can really be enforced effectively on something so tiny.

that poor little dog is going to be the one paying for her owner's attitude

I wonder if this is the same dog?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2OcE7vQ_wI&feature=related

to be honest, if i was in a hurry, i probably would've done the exact same thing as you, but....

in an ideal world, i would've gotten the lady's name/address/phone number, dog license number (if she has it), and then reported it to animal services. their main number can be a bit annoying but you can easily leave a message w/details on it. i think the cops would probably refer it to animal services anyways, but i'm not sure.

they will definitely go out - they priotize calls, but i think they got out on all within 5 or 7 days. i called them when i lived on ossington and luc and i got rushed by 2 dogs going past a house, and the owners didn't care. it wasn't a high-priority call, as there were no bites, but they went out, and let me know the results (which were that the people denied having dogs. could've been neighbours or friends visiting? or they were just lying - so if you ever do end up doing something like that, i'd suggest asking to see her driver's license or something).

Kick it!
...
Kidding, kidding! Sheesh!

 Quote: kim ward

Kick it!
...
Kidding, kidding! Sheesh!

Tempting but it's the owner that should really be kicked. Hmmm, maybe zap some of the idiots like this with a small stun baton. Then when they complain, say something like, "It's so small and cute, it couldn't possibly do any damage."

As a person whose family owned a couple small dogs in the past and is going to soon own her own first small dog (a Toy Fox Terrier) all of which were and will be trained, I really hate it when people think they don't need to train a dog due to it's size. End of rant.