For one you need to go and see the child and the parents.Make sure the child is alright.I take it the dog had no shots that is the only time they hold a dog for 10days. To you need to put up no tresspassing signs.Get a new chain for the dog while it is out side to show that you are going to keep the dog confined.SO the dog cannot get loose again.As long as you confind the dog they should let you keep it.

I guess my first reaction would be to say, Control Your Dog!! There are many reasons why a dog will display aggressive behavior, but the reason “why” isn’t necessarily a needed answer. Terriers aren’t known to be widley tollerant of children to begin with, however, it’s up to you to rehabilitate this dog before it has the chance to hurt anyone else, and in a more serious manner. Normally the two causes for this type of behavior are lack of proper excercise and lack of an authority figure. A dog with no rules and no boundaries will make and follow their own. Ultimately, it makes no difference if the dog was abused by the previous owner. It is the current living situation that is the basis for the dogs mentality. (Especially where you’ve had this dog for 6 months now.) [ I say you, I understand this is your sisters dog, it's just easier on the typing. ] The first thing I would suggest would be to show this dog that that type of behavior is unacceptable and that you are no longer going to allow it to take place. It is up to the owner of an aggressive dog to always, Always keep an eye on what the animal is doing, regardless of whether its tied up, on a leash, roaming around the house, or roaming outside. The moment it starts to act up, correct the behavior before it escalates to something that is more difficult to control. Otherwise, you will lead that dog to its death.

Don’t let the dog and kids be in the same area together? Also, as backup..talk to the parents of the kids that come onto your property and tell them that the dogs may bite. Basically, enter at your own risk. I’d also suggest getting the dog into some sort of training..talk to the vet.

My first advice to you would be to call the family to see how the child is doing and tell them how sorry you are that this happen.

One dog bite can make you lose everything you own. No matter weather it was the dog fault or child fault. This could have been far worse than it was .. Maybe next time you won’t be so lucky.

I had to put down two of my dogs because they attacked one of my customers. Hardest thing I had to do. He was nice about it, but when you have to go to a hospital over a dog bite it is always reported. I couldn’t give my dogs away because they said I would still be responsible if they should bite someone. I couldn’t put up a beware of dog sign because it is admitting that I knew my dogs would bite.

I don’t know what to tell you, All I know maybe next time this dog could kill someone or take a kid eye out. There is no way that you can always make sure your dog will not bite anyone.. I thought I had that under control too. It only takes one time.

If this dog is to be rehabilitated, your sister needs to contact a behavior counselor asap. It is time for the denial and excuses to end. Perhaps the dog was abused in a previous home. You can’t change that and you can’t make up for it. The dog needs to be treated like a dog, not a pitied mess, which means rules for appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Not dealing with her aggression and trying to explain it away does not do anyone any good.

In the meantime, this dog should be nowhere near anyone outside of the family. If she must be, she should be muzzled.

I would suggest you seek some serious behavioral training if you plan to keep this dog It is entirely unacceptable for a dog to bite when not provoked. The fact that it has a tendancy to go after children is even worse in my opinion. Children don’t always know what to do in this type of situation as most adults would.

My brother in law adopted a dog that turned out to be excessively protective in their home. He and his wife feared that this aggressive nature might some day be turned to a child. Rather than return the dog to the shelter, where it could be possibly adopted out again and risk another possible bite to someone, they decided the best thing was to put the dog down.

It’s a tough call, but seek some professional help to see if this can be worked on. This is what I would do and if that did not seem to be effective, I would consider putting the dog down. If the dog has more bite situations in the future, local law may require it anyway.

Under the circumstances I don’t think anyone can take the dog away legally. The dog sounds normal to me- What you have to do is to keep people off your property-period. Put up a fence, and a sign warning of a dog. Then, sue your neighbor when their children come to your house. This is not rocket science. Git rid of the dog, or get rid of the people. To do neither puts the dog’s life in jeopardy.
Dogs bite. They can not tell some one to “go away, or leave me alone”.

I don’t think you need to worry about saving the dog, as long as it doesn’t have a long sheet showing multiple unprovoked bites I don’t think anyone will give you any problems. The 10 day quarantine is pretty standard everywhere in a dog bite incident, some times even if the animal has always been current on shots.

Call your home owners insurance and ask them if it would be OK to call and apologize for the bite. Even though you and I both know it was the kids fault for being in your yard uninvited. I’d make sure that it won’t cause any stupid legal problems like “admission of guilt” first though, plus if you get sued for medical the home owners insurance would handle this. Then see if you can smooth out the problem with the family. Tell them you are sorry the kid got bit, and in the future to make sure it won’t happen again to make sure the kid stays out of your yard or you will have to press trespassing charges to protect him and the dog.

I am so sorry, your dog will always be stigmatized as a biter. I love dogs, but I also understand people do not want biters near their kids. Take the dog to training, keep it away from kids at this point (provoked or not) your dog is a known threat and you will face consequences if you do not take precautions. A bigger picture item..that I think you dog unfortunately got caught up in…Do not allow kids to come over when you are not home to supervise them! You may have older kids you trust at home alone but do not allow them to have friends over, or at least not large parties, maybe one to do homework. Talk with other parents and make it clear to everyone, I would prefer you not send so and so over to play when I am not home. Kids may be good, but they are never equipped to deal with emergencies as an adult.

Do you really believe the dog needs to be saved? Aggressive dogs are a menace, and one that has bitten someone without provocation is considered aggressive. In order to keep the dog, you would have to always have it on-leash and not let it be around company and guests. Do you really want to only have your dog locked up in the house while your guests play outside?

You’ll probably get your dog back, depending on what the bylaws are where you live. Most places don’t require that you put your dog down after one bite, although some people choose to out of principle.

If the dog did it once, it could do it again. It sounds like the bite was out of predatory behavior. If for some reason a child in your own family or a beloved relative goes running and screaming through your yard just for fun, the dog might bite them, too. I think you should consider letting your dog go.