Dog bites require immediate action to protect both your health and legal rights. The first 24 hours after an attack determine whether infections develop, whether rabies exposure gets properly addressed, and whether you preserve evidence needed for potential legal claims. Understanding what steps to take immediately after being bitten helps prevent medical complications while documenting the incident thoroughly for any compensation claims you might pursue.
Our friends at Law Office of Daniel E. Stuart, P.A. emphasize that the hours immediately following attacks are the most important for both medical and legal reasons. A personal injury lawyer experienced with these cases knows that delayed medical treatment and poor documentation in the first day after bites create problems that undermine otherwise valid claims weeks or months later.
Seek Medical Attention Immediately
Your first priority after any dog bite is getting proper medical evaluation and treatment. Even bites that seem minor can cause serious infections or indicate rabies exposure requiring immediate intervention.
Visit an emergency room, urgent care facility, or your doctor as soon as possible after being bitten. Don’t wait to see if wounds get worse. Infections can develop rapidly, and rabies prevention requires prompt treatment to be effective.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear, making immediate medical evaluation after animal bites essential. Doctors assess rabies risk and initiate post-exposure prophylaxis when necessary.
Medical professionals clean wounds thoroughly, assess damage extent, prescribe antibiotics to prevent infection, provide tetanus shots if needed, and evaluate whether rabies treatment is necessary. This immediate care prevents complications that develop when bites go untreated.
Document Your Injuries With Photos
Photograph your injuries as soon as possible after the attack. Take multiple photos from different angles showing bite marks, puncture wounds, bruising, and surrounding skin damage.
Continue photographing injuries over the following days and weeks as they heal, worsen, or scar. This photographic timeline proves injury severity and progression in ways that medical records alone cannot capture.
Include reference objects in photos to show injury scale. A ruler or common item like a coin helps viewers understand wound size from photographs.
Get Owner Information
Obtain the dog owner’s name, address, phone number, and homeowner’s or renter’s insurance information if possible. This information becomes essential for filing insurance claims and pursuing compensation for injuries.
If the dog has an owner present at the attack scene, ask directly for their contact and insurance details. Most homeowner’s insurance policies cover dog bite liability, making this insurance information valuable for your claim.
When owners refuse to provide information or when attacks involve stray dogs, note everything you can about the location, dog description, and circumstances. This information helps authorities locate owners or identify dangerous animals.
Report The Attack To Authorities
File reports with local animal control, police, or both depending on your jurisdiction’s procedures. Official reports create documented records of attacks that support both public safety efforts and your legal claims.
Animal control officers investigate attacks, verify dog vaccination status, assess whether animals pose ongoing dangers, and enforce local ordinances about dangerous dogs. Their investigation reports become valuable evidence in injury claims.
Police reports document criminal aspects of attacks when applicable and create additional official records supporting your version of events. Not all jurisdictions require police reports for dog bites, but filing them strengthens documentation.
Identify And Interview Witnesses
Get names and contact information from anyone who saw the attack occur. Witness statements provide independent verification of how incidents happened and what injuries resulted.
Ask witnesses to describe what they saw in their own words. Note their observations about dog behavior, owner actions or negligence, and your injuries immediately after bites.
Some witnesses may be willing to provide written statements or speak with investigators. Others will only agree to share contact information. At minimum, obtain names and phone numbers so they can be contacted later if needed.
Preserve Physical Evidence
Keep clothing torn or bloodied during attacks. These items provide physical evidence of attack severity and circumstances.
Don’t wash blood-stained clothing immediately. Photograph stains first, then preserve items in case they’re needed as evidence. Blood evidence on clothing can demonstrate bite force and injury extent.
If you sustained defensive wounds trying to protect yourself, photograph those injuries separately. Wounds on hands and arms often result from trying to fend off attacking dogs and demonstrate self-defense efforts.
Note Attack Details While Memory Is Fresh
Write down everything you remember about the attack while details are fresh in your mind. Include the time and location, what you were doing when the dog attacked, whether the dog was leashed or unleashed, any warnings or lack of warnings from the owner, how the attack unfolded, and what happened immediately afterward.
These contemporaneous notes become more valuable than recollections weeks or months later when memories fade. Details you think you’ll never forget often become unclear with time.
Determine Dog Vaccination Status
Find out whether the dog has current rabies vaccinations. Owners should provide proof of vaccination, or animal control can verify vaccination status through veterinary records.
Unvaccinated or unknown vaccination status requires more aggressive rabies prevention treatment. Knowing vaccination status helps doctors determine appropriate medical protocols.
If the dog cannot be located or if its vaccination status cannot be verified, assume rabies risk exists and follow medical advice about post-exposure prophylaxis.
Check Your Own Vaccination Status
Inform medical providers about your tetanus vaccination history. Tetanus shots provide protection for approximately 10 years, and doctors may administer boosters if your last shot was more than 5 years ago.
Bring your vaccination records to medical appointments if possible. Knowing your status helps doctors make appropriate treatment decisions.
Document Owner Statements
Note anything the dog owner says about the attack, the dog’s history, prior incidents, or why the bite occurred. These statements can become admissions of liability or knowledge of dangerous propensities.
Owners sometimes make damaging admissions immediately after attacks before considering legal implications. Statements like “I knew he was aggressive” or “This has happened before” prove owner knowledge of danger.
Don’t discuss fault or legal liability with owners. Simply gather factual information and document what they volunteer about the incident and the dog.
Preserve Warning Evidence
If the property where attacks occurred lacked warning signs about dangerous dogs when such signs should have existed, photograph the absence of warnings. Missing “Beware of Dog” signs can demonstrate owner negligence.
Conversely, if warning signs were present, photograph them as well. These signs sometimes help prove owner knowledge that dogs posed dangers.
Report To Your Own Insurance
Notify your health insurance about the dog bite so they’re aware that injuries may generate third-party liability claims. Health insurers have rights to reimbursement from dog owner settlements, making early notification important.
If you have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance with medical payments coverage, that policy might provide immediate payment for medical expenses regardless of fault while you pursue claims against dog owners.
Do Not Sign Anything
Dog owners or their insurance companies may ask you to sign releases, waivers, or settlement agreements immediately after attacks. Don’t sign anything without legal consultation.
These documents often release liability in exchange for inadequate compensation offered before you know injury extent or long-term complications. Once signed, you cannot pursue additional compensation when injuries prove worse than initially apparent.
Begin Documenting Expenses
Start keeping records of all expenses related to the dog bite including medical bills, prescription receipts, transportation costs to medical appointments, and lost wages from missing work.
Create a file or folder collecting all dog bite related paperwork. Organization from the beginning makes claim preparation easier later.
Follow All Medical Advice
Attend all follow-up appointments, complete prescribed antibiotic courses, and follow wound care instructions precisely. Gaps in treatment or failure to follow medical advice hurt injury claims by suggesting injuries weren’t serious.
Insurance companies scrutinize medical compliance looking for evidence that injuries didn’t require ongoing care. Perfect adherence to treatment plans prevents these arguments.
If you’ve been bitten by a dog, the actions you take in the first 24 hours significantly impact both your medical recovery and any legal claims you might pursue. Immediate medical treatment prevents infections and addresses rabies risk while protecting your health. Thorough documentation through photos, reports, and witness statements preserves evidence that might otherwise disappear. These steps taken quickly after attacks give you the best chance of both healing properly and recovering fair compensation from dog owners whose animals caused your injuries.
