Skip to Content
News & Resources

Ohio Dog Bite Laws, Includes Other Harms Caused By Dogs

News

Dog bite law with two cute dogs in background

Ohio Dog Bite Laws Provides relief Not Just for Dog Bites but Other Harms caused By Dogs

Most people love dogs and what’s not to love: they’re cute, fluffy, and loyal. They’re our friends and our children. But dogs are animals which were domesticated by our ancestors through thousands of years. Yet through all this time dogs still retain instincts that were used to survive by their wild forebears. Its these residual instincts that often give rise to dog bites, and dog attacks.

So in Ohio what happens when a dog harms you or your loved one. And I use the word harm on purpose. A dog can cause injury or harm in other manners beyond simply biting or mauling someone. As a kid our family consecutively had three golden retrievers: Major, Raider, and Bailey. One dog would die and we would get another dog. Oddly the dogs became nice, and friendlier from one dog to the next, whereby Bailey was possibly the nicest, friendliest dog one could encounter.

Examples of Harms Not Involving a Dog Bite or Attack

That being said Bailey loved to jump on to people. It was a nefarious mean attack thing, it was “hey guys I’m so darn excited to see you, I’m going crazy to meet, let me slobber on your face, YEAHH!!” He was super friendly this way. If he jumped on a healthy adult, great, no problem, unless he’s got muddy paws then it sucks. But imagine if he jumped on our grandma who was about as infirm as one could get. It could be devastating if she were to fall and break her hip. Could be a death sentence.

So instead of a traditional, stereotypical mauling by a pitbull, we have a super friendly golden retriever causing the death of an elderly grandma by way of an overly enthusiastic hello.

Another example of harm not involving a dog bite, imagine your eight year-old son or daughter is biking on the sidewalk to his/her friends house down the block. Half-way to the their friends house they pass the fancy house with the two-car garage. Racing down the drive is a land shark, a ferocious poodle. Your child either frightened or trying to avoid the doggy, veers to the left, goes into the grass, looses control the bike and crashes. Now the poodle is no one’s image of a “dog bite dog” but he still caused harm, i.e. he chased after the bike which approximately lead to your kid break his arm.

Jim Malek goes into more detail about the specific laws and statutes which you may be able to recover for your dog bite in a video found by clicking the image below:

Jim explains Dog Harms