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Posted

I wonder if anyone in this forum can help me with some information about liability and practice here in Thailand when your dog bites a person.

This is the situation: While we were away during Songkran, our son invited some friends over to our house. We have a small dog, and one of the girls sat down on the floor to play with him. Without any warning, the dog jumped up and bit her in the face. It took 11 stitches on her upper lip to close the wound, so it was quite severe. Her own insurance took care of the medical expenses.

Now we are waiting for her parents to contact us, and I assume the question of compensation will be brought up.

Would appreciate any relevant input in what to expect, and reference to any laws or practice on the matter.

Posted

You are legally culpable for any dog allowed in your home, whether or not you are the owner. You should expect to pay for medical treatment as well as compensation. However I think you will find a good meal, ready smile and a bottle of whiskey will oil the situation far better than the grinding wheels of justice.

Be proactive. Approach them first so their face is also saved.

Posted

and as a side note, u might want to find out why your dog 'suddenly, with out warning' jumped up and bit her... like if the dog jumped up to lick her and caught her lip or whatever... for your own knowledge and future situations... was the girl eating something and the dog wanted to lick it? was the dog being teased? doesnt make u less 'responsible' but it will help u possibly prevent a possible re occurrence. what breed of small dog? some small dogs are less tolerant of small children, and will respond rather sharply also.

dogs dont often do something 'without any warning'; just we or the person especially a child, might have missed the warning....

--- and i will say right now to all the posters that will start with the 'dog mauls child' type response, i wont let them run here. only constructive comments pertinent to this particular case.--bina

Posted

My dogs haven't bitten anyone, but one of my dogs ran out onto a road and caused a motorcyclist to come off their bike.

I had seen my dogs run from the garden (I'd only just moved in and hadn't put a gate in yet) and gone chasing after them. I didn't see what happened (I can't run as fast as them!), but immediately realised what had happened and, horrified and obviously v upset, tried to help and apologised, explained it was my dog that had caused the accident.

An ambulance eventually arrived, but fortunately neither of the people on the motorbike were seriously hurt.

A policeman turned up a couple of hours later who was v nice and said it was my responsibility to cover any medical costs etc. as my dogs caused the accident. I accepted this anyway, which is why I had apologised and made it clear where I lived. He said he didn't know whether further action would be taken, but he would talk to his superior and explain that I was more than happy to pay the medical costs involved.

One of the ladies (Thai) on the motorcycle came round shortly after and was thanked me ( :o ) for owning up and accepting responsibility! (My dogs had run home immediately so no-one knew where they came from)

I paid them somewhere between 5 -7 thousand baht (if my memory serves me correctly), which more than covered any medical expenses, but is still a relatively small amount considering the pain and suffering they incurred. When the policeman came back the next day he was v happy that everyone was satisfied and said no further action would be taken. (Yes, I do realise now that it was highly unlikely that they could be bothered to prosecute me over this, but am still grateful that everyone was so nice about it. They certainly wouldn't be in my home country!)

In short, I think anyone whose dog is responsible for causing hurt to another should consider themselves lucky that they will get off relatively lightly here. And, yes - the police might get involved.

Posted
Now we are waiting for her parents to contact us, and I assume the question of compensation will be brought up.

As this post is already a few days old I assume it is too late to mention this -- but your dog bit a child and now you are waiting to be contacted??!

Should it not be the other way around, you contacting the parents and apologizing... if it would have been my kid I certainly would have waited a short while to give you this opportunity to own up and find an amicable solution, but without such contact from your side I would then have gone after you at the fullest of my ability.

Posted

At risk at offending someone I met just yesterday, while visiting a third person's house he was told very clearly that one of the dogs roaming within a enclosed walled garden has a history of snapping when people touch the dogs back due to a previous injury. However he and his wife were IMHO very slow to correct their young child's desire to touch the dog's fur and tail.

The dog's owner is a responsible person and has taken measures to prevent his dogs escaping and causing trouble locally, warning people to control their children is also a factor in dog-child incidents.

Posted
At risk at offending someone I met just yesterday, while visiting a third person's house he was told very clearly that one of the dogs roaming within a enclosed walled garden has a history of snapping when people touch the dogs back due to a previous injury. However he and his wife were IMHO very slow to correct their young child's desire to touch the dog's fur and tail.

The dog's owner is a responsible person and has taken measures to prevent his dogs escaping and causing trouble locally, warning people to control their children is also a factor in dog-child incidents.

True, children should be under adult supervisions and the parents of this kid are also to blame.

However the bite needed 11 stitches, so was not a trivial matter.

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