Animal attack especially dog bites are quite common in United States . Each year more than 800,000 people seek medical attention for injuries received from these kinds of attacks. According to Center for Disease Prevention, more than 4.9 million dog bites happen each year. Most people do not appreciate how dangerous dogs are until they become a victim. Injuries from the dog attacks can be very severe and cause serious damage to muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves and bones and can lead to serious complications such as infections, scaring and post traumatic stress disorders. 

The risk of being attacked by a dog is much greater when they are in a pack (such as two or more dogs in a home or yard) or when a dog is disturbed while resting or when a dog feels the need to protect itself. Growling, baring teeth, and snapping are warning signs for both the potential victim as well as the dog’s owner. When a dog exhibits these signs, the dog owner should take steps to keep people away from the dog by keeping the dog in a secure area such as a home or yard or on a leash when out for a walk. Children are most susceptible to dog attacks because they are small and vulnerable. 

When someone gets bitten by the dog, the first thing to do is get proper medical attention because the risk of serious infection is particularly high when a dog’s bite breaks the skin of its victim. Next, get the dog owner’s information (name, telephone number, address and the name of the dog’s veterinarian so you can check to see if the animal is current on its vaccinations). Tell the owner what happened. Dog owners are always required to control their dogs but even more so when they know the animal has attacked someone or some other animal.  Next, notify your local animal control agency and make a report. Often aggressive dogs have a history of such behavior and when it escalates to a certain point, the animal control officers are required to take steps to make sure the dog is confined and in some instances, have the dog put to down. This is always tragic because a dog’s aggressiveness is almost always the result of the way the owner raised the dog.