Florida Dog Owners Can Reduce The Chance Of A Dog Bite
Brian O Sutter
Premises Liability
Whether it’s a home in North Port or a park in Punta Gorda, SW Florida is full of dogs and people who own them. This is no real surprise, as the dog is one of the most popular pets in America. The SW Florida climate makes this area a great place to be a dog owner as you can enjoy a more active, outdoor lifestyle throughout the year, which can be a great match for larger breeds that need more outdoor activity.Unfortunately, while dogs are wonderful companions, they aren’t perfect or completely safe like anything else in life. Accidents can happen with dogs, with dog bites being one of the more severe outcomes. Statistically, 1 in 5 dog bite victims requires professional medical treatment to recover from their wounds. Like other parts of the United States, Florida has strict laws about dog injuries and responsibility.
It’s Your Fault, Not The Dog’s
Dog owners in Port Charlotte, Englewood, and other parts of SW Florida need to understand that whatever action a dog takes is the owner’s responsibility. It does not matter if the dog bit someone and you didn’t; as far as the law is concerned, you, as a dog owner, will be held accountable for the actions of a dog and expected to bear the consequences of that action. In other words, if a dog breaks the law, you will be punished, not the dog.
As a dog owner, you may not feel that a dog biting someone else constitutes an attack, as you may feel only when someone’s life is at risk of ending does it qualify as an attack. However, in the eyes of the law, even a single dog bite is legally constituted as an attack and will be treated so in a court of law, even if no one died or was at risk of dying.
Dog owners in Florida, the same as car owners, are expected to follow a set of laws that lead to everyone being safer around dogs. One of the most prominent, for example, is not letting a dog wander around outdoors, unleashed and unsupervised. While this is acceptable practice for cats, they are smaller, less likely to be aggressive, and more difficult to provoke. On its own, a dog can potentially cause serious damage if it is unsupervised and unrestrained due to its larger size, greater territorial sense, and higher levels of aggression.
However, the best way to prevent a potential dog bite and the legal ramifications it brings with it is to take precautionary measures that reduce the chances of a dog attack occurring at all. Aside from ensuring a dog is leashed outdoors—when not at designated “off-leash” dog parks, there are a few other precautions owners can take as well.
Properly Fitted Leash
This is critical. It’s not enough to buy a collar and leash and call it a day. If a dog breaks from a leash and bites someone, and an investigation concludes the leash was never going to properly restrain the dog due to improper fitting, this is the same as having an unleashed dog.
Don’t simply get a leash for appearance’s sake because a properly fitted leash can properly restrain a dog, while a poorly fitted leash will lead straight back to you and make you legally accountable.
Keeps Dogs Enclosed
This is especially crucial at home. Some owners believe that everything is fine as long as a dog stays on the property, but a dog doesn’t necessarily understand where the boundary of the front yard ends and the sidewalk begins. An unrestrained dog attacked one Florida resident in its front yard, startled by a car’s exhaust. The dog saw the man walking past the property, assumed he had made the noise, and left the front yard to attack him. The owner was held responsible for the attack.
Supervise Children
Perhaps the most important thing a dog owner can carefully supervise is interactions between dogs and children. Children are the most frequent victims of dog attacks because they don’t always understand that their interactions with dogs may be perceived as threats. They think they are petting a dog, but the dog interprets the action as being slapped or hit and retaliates.
If a dog attacks you or someone you know, talk to a dog bite lawyer about your legal options.