Neighbor’s Dog Got Loose And Attacked My Wife And Our Dog.

Location: Ohio

This past weekend, my family and I were taking a walk in our neighborhood. One of our neighbors has a husky mix that is attached to a tie-out in their backyard. As we approached the house the dog started barking at us, causing our dog to bark back. When we got to their driveway, the dog came running around from the other side of the house and attacked my dog who was on a leash held by my wife. In the attack, my wife was bit as well as my dog. I was able to grab the braided wire cable that was still attached to the dog’s harness and get the neighbor’s dog away from my wife and our dog. I was able to control the dog by grabbing it’s harness and pull it up to the neighbor’s front door. Other neighbors had come out to check on us after I got the dog separated. After ringing the bell and knocking on the door the neighbor answered and got the dog inside. I went to check on my wife, who was bit on the hand and bleeding, and my dog was also bleeding on his head. The other neighbor who came to help us offered to help walk our dog home while I attended to my wife and kids. My kids witnessed everything but were not physically harmed. Once we got home, we assessed everything and called the police. My wife filed a report with the police and they took a statement from her then went to the owner of the attacking dogs house to get a statement from them. Afterwards, I took our dog to the emergency vet where he had to receive stitches in multiple places. My wife went to the ER and received multiple vaccines and shots to prevent any diseases or infections. She also had X-rays taken since the wound from the bite was so deep. The next few days my wife’s hand was very swollen and sore, so she had to take some time off work. I also had to take some time off work to get our dog checked out and make sure there weren’t any additional issues or complications with the stitches.

In Ohio, anytime a dog bites someone, the county shelter are supposed to be notified and they are supposed to be quarantined for 10 days to test for rabies. It has been 5 days and we have not heard any follow up from the police or shelter, so I called both. The shelter had no record of a report filed. I requested a copy of the police report but there was no information on it other than the names of my wife and owner of the dog that attacked her.

We were originally intending to file a claim with our neighbor’s insurance ourselves and not involve an attorney since Ohio has strict laws about dog attacks, and figured it would be easier to handle it ourselves. But after finding out there’s no report filed with the shelter we are considering getting one, especially if the police failed to notify the shelter.

What would be pros/cons of seeking help from an attorney? Could there be any liability for the police if the shelter was not notified in a timely manner?