DC law would probably not hold this woman legally accountable for the bites (it's weak on owner responsibility).

Four year old girl, teeth to face, no owner slap on the wrist? Y'all should become part of the United States. There are downsides, but still.

My dog has delusions of grandeur, and I think if he finds out about DC, he might move there to become an evil overlord.

Get ready to worship Kato, the canine god of peanut butter.

no one bears responsibility if their dog is an evil overlord?

DC does have a dog bite law, but DC applies contributory negligence (rather than comparative) so if Bonny's injuries were found to be at all the result of her own actions she would be barred from recovery.

ETA: I am not a DC lawyer and I am only dipping my toe in here.

Is she aware that if it had been a stranger that the possiblility of her dog being put down is high?

That is a fucking excellent point.

Ironically, as she was driving me to the Minute Clinic, she asked why I didn't want to go to the ER. I specifically steered us away from that option because the ER is mandated to report all dog bites. The Minute Clinic wouldn't even treat me. The private health clinic didn't care. Weirdly, I didn't even fill out any paperwork...except signing the credit card receipt, of course.

I didn't now that DC law is lenient because, in two situations, one where the dog was immediately put down, (against my better judgement) and more recent one where I took responsibility for keeping the animal on our service, Animal Control was pretty severe.

In fact, when that client dog bit one of our walkers, Animal Control came to take a report and I had to sign an affidavit saying that, as the responsible party for the company, I certified that we were not going to take the option of having the dog put down...which was absolutely on the table, despite the fact that that bite was much less severe than mine.

The clients feel all over themselves to pay the walkers medical bill, they were so grateful for your discretion.

Truly, my former friend really is lucky that it was me. My concern now is that the dog has ready and easy access to a three year old. I just can't see it going well.

But there is NO WAY in which you were negligent in this situation.

One of the bizarre upsides of this whole circus of pain is that I was rock.fucking.solid through the whole thing. I didn't scream. I didn't harm the dog. I did everything I teach others to do.

Even when the artery got punctured and blood was fountaining out of my hand...by fountaining, I mean a two inch arc...just like you see on tv ...I literally said to myself, "I'm going to go into shock pretty soon. Huh. I should prepare for that."

When I asked my hapless neighbor, god bless him, if he could leash up the dog who was totally calm by this point, he took one look at me...and the blood all over both dogs...and whispered, "no." I have to chuckle now because, dude, I understand!

In an even more bizarre story...I tried to refer a problem client to the bull dog specialist who came to help me with Cagney in the beginning.

This is the 'just fix him' client.

The trainer said that she took a dog in a similar situation where they dropped him off for a week's worth of intensive training. A few hours later DC Animal Control showed up to confiscate the dog because the owners declared him dangerous and wanted him destroyed.

The trainer said she cried, offered to buy the dog, and did everything she could to save him, but no one would listen.

She changed her policy about 'training camp' and won't ever put herself in that situation again. I'm still gobsmacked.

Triple Post!

smonster, insent.

ND & Pix, I'm itching to know what the CU says. Clearly y'all are more patient than I am. Still have digits crossed.

Hopefully we will hear something today. I sent in a bunch of paperwork documenting my business accounting and fun things like that. I believe they are checking to make sure I have cash flow to support the business line of credit. Things like that are always a bit daunting to me. I know how to run my business, and I make money doing it, but I didn't go to business school and I don't have any sort of background in accounting so they inevitably start asking me for all of these standard accounting forms and I have to scramble to figure out what they even mean.

Do you know, if I ever thought about starting my own business, one of the first things I would do is talk to the people at my CU - expecting them to have a handy-dandy guide to business accounting for the not-so-business-y. At the very least, I am confident they would point me in the right direction as far as "idiot's guides" go. Of course, my CU holds all kinds of little seminars and classes at various branches - estate planning, retirement, investing, getting out of debt, teaching children about money. So maybe not every credit union will offer the same resources.

Aims, how is MiracleBorn household doing?

We are doing alright. I've spent a large part of the day in the basement getting ready for our yard sale tomorrow and Saturday (SELL ALL THE THINGS!). Emeline has been watching "Ruby Gloom" and making yard sale signs and a sign for her lemonade and coffee sale. We dangled the carrot of "Whatever you sell, you get to keep the money." in front of her to entice her to be more aggressive with her purging. It's gone pretty well, so far. She is, as the sign implies, selling lemonade and coffee to make money for more American Girl doll stuff.

And can I just ask, Is your house ever so crazy making dirty and disorganized as it is right before a yard sale and moving?

Though, my emotions must be catching up to me because I just got weepy at the end of "Kitt Kittredge" and I'm sobbing through "Touch the Sky" (Brave. It's been my mantra song for the past year.)