(509) 525-4744 
Hablamos Español
October 7th, 2024 If you’re reading this with a hurt child nearby, the short version is this — get them away from the dog, get the bleeding under control, and get them seen by a doctor today even if the bite looks minor. Most pediatric dog bites need professional medical evaluation because a dog’s teeth can do damage under the skin you can’t see from the outside, and infection risk is real.
The rest of this guide walks through what happens at each step, what’s worth doing in the moment, and what comes after — including the legal side, which most parents don’t think about until later but matters more than they realize.
The first few minutes matter more than anything else.
Get the child away from the dog. If the dog is still loose or agitated, get distance before you do anything else. If it’s your own dog or a family pet, secure the dog in a separate room or crate before tending to your child. Don’t try to handle the dog and the child at the same time.
Stop the bleeding. Apply firm, steady pressure with a clean cloth or towel. For most bites, bleeding will slow within a few minutes of pressure. If the bleeding is heavy and won’t stop after 15 minutes of direct pressure, or if the wound is on the face, neck, or head, call 911 or get to an emergency room immediately.
Once bleeding is controlled, clean the wound. Rinse with running water for several minutes. Wash gently with soap and water. Don’t scrub. Don’t try to close the wound with butterfly bandages or tape — closing a contaminated wound traps bacteria inside and increases infection risk. Cover loosely with a clean bandage.
Look at the rest of your child. Children are often bitten in more than one spot during a single attack, and a panicking child may not be able to tell you everything that’s hurt. Check arms, legs, hands, head, and face.
This is the step parents skip most often, and it’s the one that causes the most problems later.
Pediatric dog bites are different from adult dog bites in important ways. Children are smaller and lower to the ground, so they’re more often bitten on the face, head, and neck. They’re more vulnerable to deep tissue damage. And dog bites carry a real infection risk — a dog’s mouth contains bacteria that can cause cellulitis, MRSA, and other serious infections, and signs of infection often don’t appear for 24 to 48 hours.
For Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington families, the right place to go depends on the severity:
At the medical visit, the provider will typically clean the wound thoroughly, evaluate for damage to muscle, tendon, or nerves, decide whether stitches are appropriate, and update tetanus protection if needed. They’ll also assess rabies risk based on whether the dog is known and vaccinated.
Two things to ask for at the visit, because they matter later: detailed written notes about exactly what was bitten, where, and how deep, and photographs of the wounds in the medical record if the provider does that as standard practice.
If you don’t already know, get the following information about the dog:
If the owner is uncooperative or refuses to share information, that’s worth noting — and it’s one of the reasons reporting matters.
In both Oregon and Washington, dog bites that break the skin should be reported to the local animal control or county health department. In Eastern Oregon, that’s typically the county sheriff’s office or the Umatilla, Morrow, or Union County health department depending on where you live. In Eastern Washington, contact the Walla Walla, Whitman, or relevant county health department.
Reporting matters for several reasons:
The animal control or health department will usually want a description of the dog, where the bite happened, and the names of the dog and owner if known.
Memory fades fast, especially in the chaos after an attack. Write down what happened while it’s fresh:
The behavioral and emotional impact is something a lot of parents underestimate. Children who’ve been bitten — particularly small children — often develop persistent fear of dogs, anxiety in unfamiliar spaces, sleep disruption, or post-traumatic stress symptoms. These are real injuries, and they can be part of an injury claim. They’re also a lot easier to prove with a contemporaneous record than from memory months later.
Even with proper initial care, some dog bites get worse before they get better. Get back to the doctor or to an ER if you see:
Pediatric dog bites can also have longer-term consequences that show up months or years later — visible scarring as the child grows, the need for revision surgeries, ongoing emotional or behavioral effects. None of this should be assumed away in the first week.
Most parents we talk to didn’t know the legal piece existed until weeks or months after the bite, when the medical bills started showing up.
Here’s the part worth understanding: in most cases, the dog owner — or more precisely, the dog owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance — is responsible for the costs of a child’s injury. That includes the immediate ER visit, follow-up care, plastic surgery for scarring, mental health counseling, and the impact on your child’s life. Homeowner’s insurance policies in Oregon and Washington commonly cover dog bites, even when the bite happens off the property and even when the owner is a friend or family member.
That last point is the one that catches people. The vast majority of pediatric dog bites happen with a dog the family knows — the family pet, a relative’s dog, a friend’s dog, a neighbor’s dog. Parents understandably don’t want to “sue” someone they know. But making an insurance claim isn’t the same as suing someone personally. The insurance company is the party that pays. The dog owner doesn’t pay out of pocket. The relationship doesn’t have to suffer.
A few things to know before talking to any insurance company:
Children’s dog bite cases are different from adult cases in one important way: a child’s injury can keep affecting them for years or decades — through visible scarring as they grow, additional surgeries, emotional and behavioral effects, and developmental impact. A settlement that covers today’s medical bills but doesn’t account for what’s coming over the next several years is a settlement that leaves your child paying the difference.
Not every dog bite needs a lawyer. A minor bite that heals cleanly with no complications, a cooperative owner, and an insurance company paying medical bills without a fight may not require legal help.
But when any of the following are true, talking to a dog bite attorney is worth doing — most consultations are free:
At Hess Injury Law, we handle dog bite cases for families across Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington from our offices in Walla Walla, Hermiston, and Pullman. We can answer questions, help you understand what your child’s claim might be worth, and deal with the insurance company so you can focus on your child’s recovery.
The consultation is free. Contact our office when you’re ready to talk.
Disclaimer: The content of this blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel.
Peter J. Hess grew up in Walla Walla, Washington. He is a 1996 graduate of Walla Walla High School and a 2000 graduate of the University of Washington, with a B.A. in Business Administration/Information Systems.
Peter graduated from Willamette University College of Law, with honors, in 2007. While at Willamette, he was an Associate Editor of the Willamette Law Review, he was a Teacher’s Assistant for a Legal Research and Writing professor, and he worked as a Personal Injury Law Clerk at Swanson, Lathen, Alexander & McCann in Salem, Oregon. After graduation from Willamette, Peter began working here at Hess Injury Law. In 2012, he became a partner in the firm. He is licensed to practice law in both Washington and Oregon.