My Neighbor’s Dog Attacked Me And I Ended Up In The Er With Thousands Of Dollars In Medical Bills. What Are My Options?

Location: Wisconsin, USA

So context: I live in Wisconsin with my husband and my 6 month old, 8 pound puppy (Theo) who is very shy around other dogs, especially bigger ones, and tends to avoid them if he can. We’ve done lots of socializing with our some of our friends bigger, gentle dogs to help him be less nervous along with bringing him to dog parks and beaches on a leash or while carrying him to let him get used to being around them.

So 3 nights ago I was taking Theo on a walk by my husband gone. We usually tend to walk on the opposite side of the street as this particular neighbor’s house (we will call her Sharon) because she has 2 dogs, one of which is a very aggressive bulldog mix that weighs probably around 60 pounds and spends a lot of its day behind a baby gate makeshift fence that Sharon put up in her yard.

This time I got to the end of our cul-de-sac before I saw my husband pull in so I turned around to walk back to our place to ask if he wanted to come on our walk with us. By that time I had already crossed the street of the road that I was on was Sharon‘s side, but I just kept Theo on a tight leash and we walked quickly by their house since I saw that Sharon was outside on the patio with her dogs so I figured it would be OK. But as we were walking past the house, the dogs ran up to the fence and started barking at us and then pushed on the fence and knocked it over. they came bearing at me and Theo and immediately started grabbing at him with their teeth and biting him all over and he was screaming and I kept trying to get him away from them, but they were so much bigger than he was so it was hard to reach him.

This ordeal lasted about 20 seconds all of which Sharon stood on her patio and just watched. eventually, I got Theo up in my arms and the bulldog jumped up and grabbed his leg with his teeth, pulled him back down, so I pushed the dog off and essentially just ran back to my house two houses down, sobbing and told my husband what had happened. Theo and I were both covered in blood and my fingernail had been almost ripped completely off and was bleeding profusely. I also had a bite on my other arm that bruised up pretty bad and Theo had two puncture wounds that we saw one of which was relatively big and bleeding.

My husband called the cops pretty immediately and they came to the scene to take our statements. We had two neighbors who came over when they saw what happened and explained that they had had issues with these dogs in the past as well and have had to muzzle their German Shepherd (?) every time they take him outside because Sharon’s dogs routinely knock over their fence and pick fights with their dog. this is also unfortunately, not the first incident that we have encountered with these dogs however, the two prior were much more minor and Theo and i were able to get away safely. i can go into more details if that’s necessary.

anyway, I had to go to the ER and get an x-ray and stitches as well as my nail removed. I also had to receive the rabies vaccine and the rabies treatment which has cost us thousands of dollars so far my husband and I are not in a financial situation to put this bill and as much time as we spend saving, we are recently out of college and are not able to afford this without significant setback and complete loss of all of our savings.

What can we do? Sharon has not taken any responsibility and claimed it was Theo‘s fault (?) and also would not tell the officers whether or not her dogs were vaccinated. The officer that we spoke to also told us that this was not the first time that he has had to speak to Sharon about her dogs, so I don’t know if that is a factor, but we are really just trying to figure out a way to not have to foot, this entire medical bill ourselves, considering it was not our fault. all advice is welcome, we are open to suing, but I have also heard that there is not a lot of follow up when it comes to making the other party pay restitution, regardless of a win in court in that situation so I’m open to any suggestions. Thank you so much for your help and I am willing to offer any other relevant info.