Certain pets and animals can quite literally become part of the family. Growing up with you and your children and providing a barrel of laughs and love. But, either with pets or external animals, they can sometimes bite or attack. They are instinctive, so will sometimes act quickly without thinking. Yet, unfortunately, this is usually due to how the pet was brought up and taught, especially with dogs. There are ways in which you can deal with these attacks, some are more serious than others, but all require due attention.
Dog Bite
Ranging from playful to lethal, dog bites can be seriously dangerous. Remember, these used to be pack animals like wolves, and use their teeth to hunt and bring down prey. If an angry dog gets hold of you or a family member, you must remember not to shake or pull your arm or leg. It’ll only help the animal get a firmer grip on you and injure you further. You need to stay calm, fight through the pain, and try to dislodge the beast as quickly as possible. A key weakness is the nose, which is always sensitive. So give it a punch or kick and the beast will quickly let go. If it attacks again do the same. Fend it off with your foot and kick at it until it leaves you alone.
Treatment
Once you’ve been bitten, you need to get it looked at straight away. Even if the bite is small and seemingly insignificant you need to get checked out, especially if you think the dog is a stray as it could be rabid. You can find treatment easily enough, and you should strictly follow whatever the experts say. You may need stitches, in which case you should use antibacterial wash on the affected area often.
What Next?
After you have been treated, you need to tell the relevant authorities. If the dog has an owner or is a guard dog, consider compensation. There are some great lawyers out there like Christopher Dixon, who can represent you and seek relevant compensation for your injuries sustained. This is essential if it has made you miss work or has affected any hobbies or plans you had in place before the attack occurred.
Take Action
You owe it as a duty to the public to stop the dog attacking again. Whether it means getting the dog trained in disciplinary classes or even getting the dog put down if the attack was severe enough. Doing this will stop the dog attacking again. Next time it could be much worse and even fatal, so take action, otherwise you could be left feeling pretty bad if it does happen again.
Heal
If your child was hurt by a dog bite they may need ways in which to build trust back. Take them out with a friend’s dogs so they can see that not all dogs are bad, even consider taking them to the local kennels. In the worst case you may need to seek therapy, but you should not stop until you or your family are okay again, otherwise it will scar them for life.
