If you’re at the park and suddenly your dog starts growling at a child or another person for any reason, with no history of a hostile attitude, you should think that you should be able to get your dog under control. However a dog is still an animal that you cannot fully control. No matter your commands, Sparky is going to pounce that child or that person and they’re going to bite. But what you might be wondering about is, your dogs are but somebody! What happens to them now?
So let’s walk through the dog bite basics of Houston Texas, and if you have any more questions you should reach out to a dog bite lawyer in Houston TX such as the ones available at John K Zaid & Associates.
You may be wondering what steps to take after your dog has bitten somebody, or otherwise asking yourself, what do I do now?
You’re worried about your dog, and that’s okay because the dog is part of your family. Let’s talk about a few things here. After your dog has seen somebody, you should check the victim’s injury to see if it is serious and if it is serious you need to seek medical attention right away. But if it is not serious, wash the wound and then consult a doctor just to be safe. The person that was bitten should get a tetanus shot just to be safe, and then you’re going to combine your animal in a pet carrier if you are able.
If you cannot contain the animal, you should find the owner of the animal, unless that is you, and then contact an animal control officer to help you get the animal under control. This animal control officer is going to be investigating the animal that bit someone. If you believe an animal has rabies should contact Houston’s rabies suspect investigations, but all dog bites have a different line that they can be reported to.
What about the one bite rule? You’ve heard it, it’s big in other states, so what about Texas?
Unlike some states Texas does not have a statute that focuses on dog bites, instead they have something called the one bite rule. This establishes that the victim can recover compensation from whoever was in charge of the dog whether it was the owner, keeper or just a dog walker, if the dog previously bit somebody or acted as if it would like to bite someone, and if the person was in charge of the dog at time was aware of the dog’s previous conduct.
Tendency for a dog to injure humans is called vicious inclination, but if these two conditions are not met and the victim is not going to be able to recover under the one bite rule. So essentially all dogs in Texas get one bite, before the owner is going to be held liable.
Reach out to a dog bite lawyer in Houston TX if you have any questions about your dog bite case and want to know more about the dog bite basics of Texas.
