How to Tell A Dog Owner About A Fight

We continue our discussion of bites and fights by entering the realm of client conversations.  How do you tell the owner about a fight? What do you say? Who is responsible for any medical bills? Do you dismiss the dog from playgroups? Keep reading to learn The Dog Gurus thoughts on these topics.

Pet facility owners take on a huge responsibility when they bring a dog into their care. Pet owners are paying for services that should keep their dog safe.  However, when an injury happens, how you respond to the incident is vital to determining how the client will respond to your business.

Transparency is key. Never try to hide the incident from the owners. Honesty is always the best policy.

When should you tell the owners?  If the fight resulted in an injury, the owners should be notified immediately. This is especially important if the dog was taken to the veterinarian. Call the owner to assure them their dog is ok, and provide them with an update on the dog’s medical condition. Assure them you will follow up with them throughout the day. This first phone call is hard to make and will likely cause the owner stress and anxiety, but you need to be upfront with what happened. Make a follow up call to the owner after a couple hours just to check in with them if the dog has not gone home yet.

 What do you say? Again, honesty is the best policy.  Let the owners know what happened, but be careful with your choice of words.  Explaining there was an incident between two dogs is better than saying one dog attacked another.  Saying the incident resulted in a single puncture is better than saying one dog bit another.  Be clear on the length of the fight. Most dog incidents last less than 30 seconds so be clear the owner understands it was over quickly (assuming it was).  Spend the bulk of your conversation focusing on the current condition of the dog and explain all the positive actions of the dog (: i.e. explaining the dogs have been separated, they are calm, they are eating, drinking, etc.) If the dogs are acting normal, playing with toys, interacting with the staff as usual, let the owner know.

This initial conversation with the owner serves to notify them what happened but also attempts to let them know the dog is ok (again, assuming this is true).  If the dog is doing well, paint a picture of a happy dog that is enjoying the day because the owner is going to assume their dog is injured, scared, and depressed.  If you can take a picture of the dog looking happy and relaxed, I would send a picture to the owner (perhaps several).

When the dog is picked up, reinforce all that has been done. Apologize for the anxiety of the day, and remind the owner to call overnight with any questions.

Who pays the bills? Most pet care facilities have a policy signed by the owner which puts the responsibility of medical treatment on the shoulders of the owner whose dog did the damage.  However, there are times when you may want to pay the bills yourself.  If the cost was minimal (under $300), it may be worth the good will you will receive to pay for any bills yourself).  Additionally, as you review the incident, you need to make an honest assessment about the role your facility or staff may have played in failure to provide quality care. If there were things you could have done differently, if your staff failed to perform their job adequately, or if you have an unsafe environment for safe play, then you should pay for the medical bills and commit to making changes in your policies and procedures.

Do you dismiss the dog from playgroup? Use the dog incident checklist to help make a valid assessment about whether or not a dog should continue to attend playgroups.

If you keep a dog, you should discuss the decision with the staff and makes sure your staff is comfortable supervising the two dogs who were fighting.  If not, consider having them attend on separate days. If you dismiss a dog, try to find other alternatives for the owner to give their dog an outlet for the day (ideally these are other services you provide).

For a helpful article about dismissing a dog from daycare, review, “My Dog Got Kicked Out of Daycare Today.”