Tennessee Dog Bite Law Stinks
Still mad about situation so I thought I would get it out.
My son 5 years old was bit by a Great Dane. A dog almost twice his size. The whole situation in which Joshua was bitten was very misfortunate and it was even sadder that the neighbors reacted the way they did. My son was playing with their son in their front yard. Both boys were running back and forth having a good time. All of a sudden, out of the blue a scream. My husband and I knew something was wrong. As a parent you know what type of scream the oh no something is very wrong scream is. My husband runs to the front yard looks around and sees our little one running home screaming holding his arm. The neighbors that were outside also did not help him home or even run after him they just looked at him.
As we rushed him into the car the neighbor yelled “Is he even bleeding”. As if we would take him if he wasn’t. At this time I am so upset at the entire situation. I couldn’t believe that they did not help him. Once we got into the hospital my husband calmed me and told me that everyone reacts differently. They obviously didn’t know what to do. So, I give our neighbors the benefit of being in shock not knowing what to do.
Once we came home, Animal control came over and asked us what had happened. There were several other neighbors outside confirming that the two boys were playing and that Joshua did not provoke the dog. They asked us if we wanted the dog to be kenneled at a vet or let the owner’s home quarantine him. We said go ahead and let the dog owners home quarantine him since there had never been any other problems. I thought that this would show them that we weren’t upset and that everything would be ok.
The Animal Control office was very nice. He even told us that he would go over and let them know how we felt. He also suggested that he would talk to them about at least paying the hospital bill. He left and went to their house. He came back and was surprised at their attitudes. He said that this was a lost cause for us. We should just be thankful that Joshua didn’t get bit in the face. Again, I was so surprised at how they were handling this. He said that there wasn’t anything else he could do because this was the first reported incident.
They never came over to see how Joshua was doing or to find out what their dog had actually done. Even worse, 3 weeks after the fact my older children’s friends were talking about the Great Dane and they are all afraid of him. I guess he has chased after some of the older kids as well.
I guess no one will be protected until someone else gets bit!!! How sad is that?
Tennessee State Law say:
“The owner or keeper of the dog is not answerable for injuries done by it when in a place it had a right to be, unless the dog was in fact vicious or otherwise dangerous, the owner or keeper knew, or under the circumstances should have known, of the dangerous Disposition of the animal, and the injuries resulted from the known vicious or dangerous propensity of the animal. The basic key to recovery of damages for injuries caused by a dog is the knowledge of the owner or keeper that the animal is vicious or has mischievous propensities”. (http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/Tennessee.htm)
That was such a bad day. Had we gone to church that morning, this would have never happened.
I’m so thankful that Joshua was never “traumatized” by this incident. He still loves playing with dogs.
It’s hard to believe there are people out there like this.