Are you currently facing a lawsuit or even a police investigation because your dog got worked up and bit someone? If so, you are obviously going to be interested in protecting your legal rights in addition to protecting your dog. To that end, you should consider hiring a dog bite lawyer to help with your defense. Your dog biting someone does not automatically make you and your dog guilty. There are a variety of scenarios where it can be proven that it wasn't the dog (or the owner's) fault. Here are some of the possible defenses you could try.

The Dog Was Abused or Provoked

Dog owners are expected to keep their dogs well-trained. If a person is interacting in a normal fashion with a dog nearby, there shouldn't be any issues. But if that person is going out of their way to deliberately tease, pick on or outright abuse the dog, that's not OK. If your dog bites someone, start asking around or look for video tape of the incident if possible. If the person that got bit was clearly agitating the dog for no reason, that might be a justifiable defense that you can use in court. Essentially, it passes the blame onto the person that got bit because they were up to no good.

The Bit Person Was Trespassing

Maybe the person that got bit didn't deliberately seek out the dog and try to abuse it, but they did walk onto your property uninvited. Some dog breeds are very protective of their home and might charge forward against anyone they see as a threat. If you can establish that the person that got bit was not supposed to be on your property, you might have a solid defense. You can simply say that you train your dog to be protective of its home and hey, didn't the so-called victim see all of those No Trespassing signs?

The Dog Was Protecting Its Owner

Perhaps you were out in public with your dog and got into a confrontation with another person? If so, it's understandable if your dog leapt into action in defense of its owner. If you can prove that the other person was responsible for starting the confrontation, you can say it's their own fault for acting like that in front of your dog. 

Getting hit with a dog bite lawsuit can be scary, but you should know there are plenty of defenses that could clear your name and protect your dog. Contact a dog bite lawyer today for more information