Neighbor Wars·
THE BACK DOOR BITE
Neighbors clash after a 6-year-old unknowingly enters a house, prompting a dog bite and threats of lawsuits, as cameras, rules, and tempers collide over fault and responsibility.
Pay the medical bills or let lawyers handle it?
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A 6-year-old girl walked into a Mississippi home without knocking, reached around the back door, and got bit by the dog inside.
The poster said the scene came out of a long-running neighborhood habit: their kids regularly played with the neighbor kids, who were somewhere between 4 and 7 years old, and the families were used to seeing each other back and forth. But there was one house rule that had been repeated more than once, if the kids were out in the back yard, they stayed outside. The poster said the neighbor kids would still sometimes come over, open the door to the house, and yell for the poster's kids to come out and play. Each time, the adults told them not to do that because there was a dog in the house. "They are kids and never listen," the poster said.
On the day everything blew up, the poster's kids were not even home. They were at a friend's house in another neighborhood, playing in the snow, with the poster's wife along with them. The poster was home alone, working, because the office was closed.
Then came a bark, a scream, and the slam of the back door.
The poster said they didn't see exactly who it was at first. A few minutes later, the neighbor called. His 6-year-old daughter had been bit by the dog.
Photos followed. The neighbor sent pictures showing tooth marks and blood on the child's hand. The injury, the poster said, was not deep, but the dog's teeth scratched across her palm and left two marks where the skin broke on the back of her hand.
The call did not stay calm for long. According to the poster, the neighbor said "he was going to sue and have me pay medical and he mentioned getting animal control to put my dog down." The poster tried explaining that the girl had come into the house without knocking, but "he didn't care."
The poster said there are no warning signs for the dog on the back door, but there are signs posted on the fence entrances to the yard. There is also camera footage, they said, showing the girl entering the back yard, opening the back door without knocking, and reaching around the door. The dog had been on the couch, then ran toward her and snapped at her hand. She pulled back fast and ran.
After some time, the neighbor cooled off and said he only wanted the poster to pay any medical costs tied to the hand. The poster said they would be okay with that. But after the threat of a lawsuit and the talk of animal control, they started leaning toward letting lawyers handle it.
The poster messaged a family friend who is an attorney, though not their attorney, and was told he was out of state until next Monday. For now, the question hanging over the whole thing is simple: what happens next when a child "let herself into my house" and a dog inside bit back?