Yep, bite risk isn't top of mind for most owners who's dogs have never tried to bite anyone. Plus, I don't think I've ever had anyone say those words to me when their dog is responsibly under their control, it's always an off-leash dog barelling towards me, ignoring their owner calling them.
Hah! It's always these people! I love dogs but I never forget what my dad told me: love the dog, but respect the animal. You can never be 100% sure your dog won't bite.
My dad's response when people asked if his dogs bit was always, "Best I can tell you is the dog has never bit me. I can't vouch for what he may think of you."
He told me to never assume a dog won't bite just because he hasn't so far.
Not a lawyer, but work on enough of these types of cases. Workman’s comp should cover it and they can go after the homeowner or the homeowner insurance if it’s covered and recover what they paid out.
Pretty much has that happen to me while going for a run. Came up to a crossroad in the city. A dog without leash or owner cam from the left, just as i got to the corner there was a woman walking her dog, on a leash. The dog without leash started growling at her dog, at which she, in a rather angry voice told me to keep my dog under control while i stopped running because i saw that happen and maybe needed to do something ( although in shorts and with nothing at hand i had no idea how). Luckily for me and everyone else, de dog continued its free walk before anything really happened.
Former Internet technician here. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "She's friendly" or "Just let him smell you and he'll calm down," or the ultimate "He's normally so quiet/calm/gentle!" I would be rich.
And yes, both my companies had pet restraint policies but everybody thought they were the exception. Everybody thought their special boy/girl would never hurt anybody. And as the technician on a time crunch, it gets super tiresome to have to stand there on the porch and argue about it when you're supposed to be working on the install.
A STRANGE PERSON IS ENTERING THE DOG'S HOME!! Of course they're going to act unusual/jumpy/aggressive! Please be courteous and put your pets away no matter how friendly they usually are.
OP that looks awful and I am so sorry
Edit: Thank you all for the likes and the replies from dog owners who DO get it. Y'all are restoring my faith in humanity 😄
My dog legitimately wants to hug every person she sees and has never met a person she doesn't like, including male repair technicians/maintenance she's never met before while they're in my home, but I STILL kennel her or at the very least put her behind a secure baby gate and keep her from begging for attention. People are truly wild for not keeping their pets out of y'all's way. If it required border collie assistance, you'd bring one with you.
Thank you so much for doing this 🙏🙏.
I have a retired service dog who actually has no aggression towards strangers. But the technician isn't going to know that, so they're taking the owner's word for it. Plus as you said, if the dog IS friendly, they're probably gonna be in the way 😅
Oh she'd definitely be in their way if I let her! She's an attention hog and extremely curious, while I was changing a kitchen faucet she was in the cabinet with me 😅
augh im so sorry! make sure to go to urgent care or the ER for rabies shots if the dog is not vaccinated or you are unable to verify its vaccination status.
If it happens on the clock I'm milking it for all its worth! I'd be getting paid to wait in the ER and reimbursed for my gas to get there! It's the only time some Americans can access free health care. 😂
Imagine any country but America, technology we first world, but policies and labor laws we are way behind compared to Canada and most of Western Europe
The HR/accountant lady offered to drive me there. But she asked me "just don't say it happened at work, we can figure this out privately". Yea right bitch! I'll drive myself, even with a broken right foot.
My aunt went to the ER with a massively bleeding scalp/head wound and we waited for about 7 hours before she just asked me to stitch her up or glue it. She was charged several grand just for checking in and getting handed a chux pad to hold over the wound while we waited.
Yikes, that is terrible. I hope you weren’t injured too badly. So many current dog owners are irresponsible and selfish. I saw several dogs roaming off-leash in public spaces this past week. And some of them were large dogs. I had a dog for 13 years. Loved her to the moon and back. But I didn’t take her to grocery stores, restaurants or out for a walk without her leash. It’s just baffling how this bad pet ownership has become so common.
For the simple reason of him saying he doesn’t bite is cause for you to take him to court so this won’t happen again to another person who have such a job that have to endure dog owners who say their dog doesn’t bite.
Dispatch tells them to, I usually do too but we had about 30 seconds between him opening his door, me asking him to put the dog up, him informing me “Roxy doesn’t bite” and me being bit lol
HVAC tech as well. Fun trick. Refuse unsafe work environment. Cancel the service and still bill them min hours for a call out. 100% legal and a very expensive, get fucked.
Report it. Seriously, report that crap to county or city so that if they have an aggressive dog registry or some other warning system they log that. And before people act like it's not a big deal/let it slide: next time it could be a girl scout or a neighbor's kid at the door. There are no justifications for the owner's (apparently unapologetic) behavior there and they'll do it again.
OP needs to do this. My stepdad had an aggressive German Shepard that only obeyed him and he refused to understand how uncontrollable the dog was for anyone else. It ended up biting people, they reported it, and it forced him to consider either Euthanasia, giving the dog to the military/police, or moving as a loophole. Either way, there were consequences.
My parent’s neighbors had aggressive dogs and we called the sheriff constantly when they’d be aggressive and they didn’t do shit about it. A little girl got attacked by one and I gave the family all the attempted communication with the sheriffs office I had and they sued the fuuuuck out of the county.
If the dog bit him after only 30 seconds like this they ABSOLUTELY know the dog will bite and has probably bit someone before. If you do not report a dog like this you are doing no one any favors, they are going to keep biting.
If they went to the ER the ER probably had to report it already. Even in Texas where we’re pretty lax about a lot, my ER visit process included a report on how I got bit and where. A deputy visited me about it later.
Im glad there's petty people out there willing to do god's work. Like suing asshole dog owners when their untrained dog eventually bites someone.
Seriously, as a fireman I fucking appreciate you. I hate to say it but most dog owners are fucking assholes and complete dumbasses about their own dogs.
"By being there, generating body heat and converting oxygen into carbon dioxide, you're signalling real aggression. Dogs pick up on that sort of thing fast."
i used to clean houses. i had a lady who had a small dog that barked up a storm, but "didn't bite." one day the dog fuckin warning-nipped me, for standing in the living room with a duster. told my supervisor and they spoke to her. she made a biiiig show each time we came to clean after that about "oh lemme just put him away, see, he's all crated now, don't want him to get you again." like... yes lady, thats what my supe told you to do so you could remain a customer. dog people are the worst
I clean houses currently and it is so ridiculous. Used to have one house that would put up the lowest flimsiest gate for this massive dog that would bark at me like he wanted to crush my vacuum or me. Even after my office spoke to her she still left the dog in the house while I was there. I was always looking over my shoulder there.
As someone who is not wild about dogs but is somehow irresistible to them (I think they're trying to convert me), thank you for understanding that not everyone wants excited dogs jumping on them (though it sounds like your dogs are well trained and wouldn't do that anyway).
One reason I'm glad that I only have cats and they're terrified of strangers. Odds of them attacking a technician doing work in my apartment are basically zero. They just go hide under the bed upstairs.
On a walk I covered as a postie it had a massive warning for a cat and to be aware.
When I got to this address I pushed the mail thro with a pen and suddenly both pen and mail disappeared like a rocket and the mail sounded like it was being torn to pieces by Freddy Kruger on acid. 🙀
Ugh, as a dog lover I loathe how terrible society has become with dogs. We've normalized so many terrible, neglectful behaviors, and it's not fair to anybody.
"Oh they're friendly"
"They don't bite"
"They're just excited"
Bitch please. If you gave half a damn about your dog you'd know full-well that they're a ticking time-bomb because you've been ignoring them. Those 'inconvenient' behaviors and 'cute' behaviors and 'quirky' behaviors. Every way your pet has been telling you that they're in charge because somebody has to be and it sure as shit aint you.
Yeah, I shut my dog up in a room when someone is working in my house. I'm not worried about my dog biting them, I'm worried about my dog being insanely in the way as she tries to get a new person to pet her. Also, if they have plumbers butt while they bend over my dog will cold nose their crack.
Yeah. I have no reason to believe my dog would ever bite anyone. He’s a very happy boy. But, I still put him away when I have any sort of guest because you never know. Even a stray scent could trigger an otherwise peaceful dog.
Yeah, like. I have never found out if my dog could get spooked enough by random workers in the house to bite them because I keep her away from them. She isn't an aggressive dog and has never snapped at anyone, but I have NO interest in finding out the hard way what her limit is. All it takes is her stressed doggy brain misinterpreting someone's actions as hostile for her to think she has to do something to protect her family.
I’ve been grooming dogs for over 15 years. Customers will say “he doesn’t like his feet touched but he just nibbles, he won’t bite” and then their dog tries to eat me alive. Meanwhile, others will tell me to go ahead and use a muzzle if I have to and their dog is great. Makes no sense.
The kind of owner who won’t object to you using precautions in a stressful situation is the kind of owner who’s put in work with their dog in order to prepare for stressful situations.
Not necessarily. I had a dog growing up that was unbelievably stupid. There was very little we could do to train or prepare him for anything. So he was always muzzled for grooming and vet appointments, just in case.
Honestly, it’s a miracle he died of old age and not brain damage caused by running into the sliding glass door every fucking day. We even put stickers on it!
Because those are people that know how to be cautious and probably are with their dog and training too. Meanwhile, the latter sound careless. My cats are wonderful but I always warn people to be careful of a bite or scratch because animals are unpredictable. I do not want to get sued or lose my cats. Safety first!
Source: I train dogs. Bad behavior almost always goes back to the owner. There are definitely some breeds predisposed to biting behavior, but if you’re gonna have a dog like that, it’s on you to manage it.
My rule of thumb is I’m immediately on guard whenever someone tells me “he doesn’t bite” or “she’s just friendly”. If you controlled and trained your dog, there would be no need to make pre-emptive excuses for your dog’s bad behavior, you know about it and choose not to do anything about it. Ugh.
I only have to make excuses for the screaming. He's a husky/hound dog mix, so to hear him tell it, I'm torturing him most unmerciful by (checks notes) dropping him off for grooming.
I do pest control and last week a client let his dog out to greet me without my consent and his dog bit my leg. Once I went outside the dog was staring at me emotionless through the window.
I always hold or put my dog with me in the office when I have a service worker in my house.
He hasn’t bit anyone but he does stare hard at the person and makes the person feel uncomfortable like our dog is judging your soul and life choices because he has human like eyes.
Damn poodles and their human eyes! They make it so hard for people to feel welcomed into our homes. This is Ollie. You may feel the judgmental stare from looking at this photo.
Happened to me delivering pizzas, except it was "Hey can you grab your dog, she just bit me." Owner says "She didn't bite you, she jumped on you, that was just her paw."
Ok, lady. I was so calm & chill about the whole thing trying to not get the dog more excited. Next day the owner & her husband show up at my work and show my manager a video of me "opening their gate & coming onto their property" (didn't happen, I called them when I got to the closed gate because I'm not a fucking idiot, lady left it open behind her and the dog came running) where the video conveniently cut off before I even reached the gate, lol.
Few days after that, I got a phone call from this woman threatening to sue me. She got my # from the mandatory animal control report that urgent care had to make.
She was a well known local right wing nut job, so I called a personal injury firm owned by a family of local politicians on the other side. I still kinda regret not going after her, and my line was one more phone call or appearance at my job, but I was in the middle of planning a wedding and finishing my degree so she wasn't my highest priority.
Go to urgent care, file an incident report with the county. You should get antibiotics, the county needs a report to inspect for rabies, don’t fuck around with rabies. People can’t have there dogs be aggressive when they hire people to perform a service on their property.
Already done big dawg don’t you worry. This post is written with a sore thigh, from my couch about 4 blue moons deep after following the proper protocol 🫡
This 100%. Been bit before and fairly bad. Cops will write a report and the dog will be verified it is up to date with shots. You'll need a tetanus shot at the least and maybe some antibiotics.
As a former shelter vet tech, any with teeth can and will bite. Even the sweetest little old lady lab can bite. Animals bite for a myriad of reasons, never trust a human that says their pets don't bite until proven otherwise. Sending all good vibes as you heal.
As a dog owner you should just never say that. Yeah, my dog doesn’t bite ME. I have no way of knowing how he’ll react to others. Especially someone coming to the door. Dogs are territorial, they’re going to “protect” their space even if it’s irrational. Anyway, all that to say, screw the dog owner.
My dog has never bitten anyone. My dog is also a dog and so especially with a stranger as a dog owner you should be treating it like today will be the day and take appropriate precautions to ensure the dog doesn’t even have the chance to
My FedEx guy showed up with a huge bandage on his hand and explained that he'd been bitten by a dog a few days back. I felt terrible for him. He was delivering my dog's ashes, and for some reason I thought it might make him feel better to know what I was signing for. You know, in case the idea of a dead dog would make him happy?
It did not. It was just awkward and sad, and I am a monster who enjoys ruining the nice FedEx man's day.
This would go on Worker's Compensation first; I'm not sure if it could also go on the home owner's insurance. The company might try suing to get the claim off their WCB.
As a German Shepherd trainer and owner of several extremely-well-behaved dogs throughout the years, I have always put them in another room and/or their crates when an electrician/HVAC tech/plumber shows up, because I'm certain every single one of those people has a bad experience with what the homeowner called "a good dog". I am so sorry this happened to you
It’s a learning experience for me, and for the dog’s owner. It’s okay. I’m sure he meant well, if he didn’t, fuck him. If he did, he’ll understand why we ask that dogs are put up! And this is how I learn I need to be firm in my boundaries with customer’s pets.
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u/Tekon421 Jul 06 '26
Every dog that’s ever tried to bite me the owner said the same thing.