Connecticut Dog Bites: Dogs Can Attack Those They Know

Recently in New Britain, a woman was placed under arrest after her dog attacked four family members. Dog bites can happen more often over the winter season. During these months, we keep our celebrations indoors; and that typically includes Fido, too.

In the state of Connecticut, the dog bite law is strict liability. This means that when the dog you care for harms another, you are responsible for the injuries. There are very few exceptions.

Dogs show their stress in their behavior by licking their lips, pulling back ears, whites of the eyes showing. growling/barking, turning their head/body away, stiff body and resisting following their owner’s commands.

As people are indoors celebrating, our dogs might be getting stressed out. Here are a few ways to keep everyone safe.

1. Keep children supervised. Children love dogs, but dogs don’t always love them back, mostly because of their unpredictable movements.
2. Stick to their diet. Avoid feeding Fido anything other than his normal diet. When dogs eat foods outside of their routine diet, it can cause them not to feel well and become irritable.
3. Turn down the volume. Extra noise in their home can cause dogs to stress and become less tolerant.
4. Eyes open. Children are not the only ones who do not understand that a dog needs space. Adults often miss a dog’s signals and don’t realize the dog needs time alone.

If you or a family member suffered a dog bite, contact our firm immediately.