Dog has bitten

Firstly, don't panic.

These incidents are extremely traumatic for everyone concerned, but it does not necessarily mean that your dog should automatically be put to sleep. Our sympathies lie of course with the victim, but also with the dog. Most dogs who do this are victims themselves: either of bad breeding, or a lack of proper training. Whilst we would NEVER excuse or condone biting, we do know from experience that owners do play a part in these problems. Whether it is through enjoying winding their dog up, or not getting help early enough for a problem, or not putting enough effort into training.

If the Police have been informed, then you MUST get some legal advice yourself. Remember under the Dangerous Dogs Act your dog only has to behave in a manner to cause apprehension to be guilty, not actually bite someone. If your dog barks at, chases or lunges at a person, they have broken the law.

We recommend you get legal advice anyway, as victims often report the bite later. Even if the bite happened in a private place, the original Dogs Act applies.

Your dog cannot be put to sleep without a court order. The Police cannot come round and demand to take it to be destroyed. They may have the power to seize your dog, depending on the circumstances, but only a court can say if it should be destroyed.

You will be under a lot of pressure from family and friends to deal with the issue effectively. However it is not true that once a dog has bitten it gets a "taste for it" and will do it again. We have retrained dozens of biters here, some of which had been in trouble with the Police. Do not try to rehome your dog, that is selfish, dangerous and unfair.

We won't write your dog off automatically here just because of a bite. That does not mean that all dogs can be retrained, but we will assess your dog fairly and decide whether it can be helped or not.

Please, do ask for help before putting the dog to sleep. Act quickly, don't make excuses.

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