Neighbor's Dog Has Bitten Me, My Toddler, And Our Dog Across Three Incidents In 7 Months. Animal Control Has Taken No Enforceable Action. What Are My Next Steps?

Location: Wisconsin

My neighbor and I share a property boundary and a jointly-used driveway. Over the past seven months, we have filed three separate animal control reports involving their small dog.

The incidents have resulted in documented bites to me, my toddler, and our dog. The bites to my child and me are documented in medical records and required medical treatment. No vet visit was required for our dog. All incidents occurred in or immediately adjacent to the shared driveway.

We delayed formal reporting on earlier aggressive incidents that did not result in skin-puncturing bites and did not pursue civil litigation following the documented bites. The dog is relatively new to them and from a bad background, they mentioned they were pursuing training, and we wanted to preserve some neighborly rapport since both families are long-term residents.

The most recent incident:

The dog was off-leash with its owner, left their yard, entered the shared driveway, and charged us as we were exiting our home, attacking our dog. Our toddler was present. This was the first incident we reported after the two documented bites to me and my child (the doctor's office reported the previous two incidents).

Animal control's response:

The officer contacted the owner, who "took ownership of their mistake." No citation was issued. No dangerous dog evaluation was initiated. The officer explained they cannot issue citations without photo or video evidence of the dog leaving the owner's property — I'm uncertain whether the shared driveway complicates that threshold legally. The follow-up email also suggested we consider building a relationship with the dog so it no longer views us as a threat, calling it something that "would go a long way." I have not acted on this and am inclined to decline it in writing, as a toddler cannot comprehend the context of a desensitization approach. My child has since developed a fear of going outside.

I have not yet responded to animal control and have not pursued any civil remedies, though I am considering both.

Questions:

Should I be consulting an attorney at this stage, and if so, what kind?

Is there anything I should be doing administratively (with animal control or otherwise) before or alongside that?

How should I respond to animal control's email?

Edit: we're not looking to recover/seek damages, rather, we're just wanting to get this to permanently stop happening and want our child to be able to safely go outside without fear. Looking for the legal route to achieve this. We are not comfortable relying on their vigilance to keep ourselves safe.