Attacked by a Dog

This is how Mel initially wrote about it:

At 1:30pm Sunday, my youngest son (Kai aged 7) asked if he could go out and play in the street. As it was sunny, a Sunday and quiet, we said OK. So he ran off up the road to call for his friends. On the way up the street, he passed a woman sitting on the front step of her house whilst behind her, in the open doorway, were 2 German Shepherd dogs. As Kai ran past, one of the dogs got past her, jumped the gate and attacked Kai. Kai tried to run away and either fell or was knocked over by the dog who held him down and bit his back.

The woman eventually managed to call the dog back, took the dog into the house (as one might expect) but then went into the house herself and closed the door without even checking to see how badly my son was hurt. There were no other children or adults out at the time to help him, so Kai had to get back to our house by himself.

We had no idea what had happened until he turned up on the doorstep screaming.

Rich then had to carry him to a walk-in clinic where a nurse took one look at Kai and immediately sent us on to A&E at the local children’s hospital. So we spent most of the afternoon there whilst his wound’s were assessed, cleaned, butterfly stitched and dressed. The lower left quarter of his back had been scratched by claws and teeth, I saw at least 4 bruise impressions of teeth and there was a very deep puncture wound just above his left kidney which needed extensive cleaning.

From the hospital we went to the local police station (which, luckily, is only next door to the hospital) and filed a report. We then went home, grabbed something to eat and went straight back out to the local clinic again as Kai’s dressing was already coming loose and we were
concerned about the continued bleeding.

At 8:30pm, wound re-dressed and armed with a replacement dressing, we finally got home.

Kai’s at home now – on antibiotics and painkillers. All things considered, his injuries are lighter than they could have been. He is a small 7 year old. This was a big dog. Falling over during the attack may well have been the best thing that he could have done. He’s not in a lot of pain, as long as he doesn’t have to bend or move too much, and seems to have recovered from the ordeal quite rapidly – although what the long term effects will be, we don’t yet know. The police, so far, have reacted very quickly, so both Rich and I are also having to deal with
talking to them at various points through the day and try to cope with our own delayed reactions to the whole thing. I don’t think either of us will be exactly compos mentis for a few days.

We have since seen the police dog handler, who isn’t happy with the dog. he has strongly suggested that the Ministry of Defence take the dog, to which the owner has agreed. But we have yet to hear what is happening on that score.

However while he was here we asked if Kai could meet his dog, also a german shepherd. Kai agreed and was quite willing to go up to it – though flatly refused to pat it – understandable. He was a little bit scared but didn’t run away and talked quite happily about it.

We are still discussing the possibility of taking the owners to court – but we need a bit more information as what would happen first.

Kai has gone back to school today(Wednesday), but just for the morning, and likewise the rest of the week. Today is the first time that he seems affected, he mentioned having a nightmare last night, and looked close to tears at school. Though hopefully he has coped with no problems.

Kai has seemed OK in telling people what happened.

Kai has shown various signs throughout the week that he been affected, mainly his temper, and getting upset over things quicker than normal.

In the middle of the week we rang the police to find out what was happening, only to find that they had closed the incident! So that got reopened, and we had decided to press charges, so someone was going to pop round to take a statement. We were also waiting to hear what had happened to the dog.

Friday, still nothing, so after ringing again we were still waiting for them to get in touch. Finally at 10:45pm a call from the police dog handler. The MoD never got back to him, but in the mean time the owner of the dog has had it put down. He has also stated that the other dog in the house will be sent for training.

As such, the Crown Prosecution Service will not be getting involved, as the main reason for them is the dog, which is no longer an issue. It is also highly unlikely that civil proceedings would be successful, so we have decided, reluctantly, not to go down that route. Though obviously another reason for not doing that is having to go though the details of what happened yet again.

Not only that but he has requested to see Kai, to check on how he is. After talking it over with Kai, we passed on our details to him earlier, and will leave it and see what happens.

The dressings have finally come off Kai’s back, it looks a bit of a mess, but will hopefully heal fully over time. We still can’t tell whether he will be scarred or not. But we can breathe a sigh of relief now.