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Dog bites nun: how to prevent dog attacks

March 5, 2013

Sign that reads Beware of dog: dog will bite

A warning is better than a bite. Image from MySecuritySign.com.

On February 13, 2013, a Buddhist nun filed a frightening lawsuit against her neighbor, the owner of a dog grooming business.

While gardening in her yard, Linda Nguyen, the nun, was attacked by three dogs that escaped through the rickety fence surrounding Carlos Davis’ property. The dogs tore at the flesh of her arms, legs, face, chest, buttocks and stomach, and dragged her facedown along the ground, with most of her clothes torn off. The skin on her forehead and elbow was torn nearly to the bone. Nguyen said she heard only the barking of the dogs as they mauled her, and remembered hoping for a quick death. By the time another nun rescued her from the animals, she had passed out.

Nguyen underwent multiple surgeries and five months of physical therapy before she could stand, walk, or function again.

Aside from her extreme physical wounds, Nguyen also suffered mental scars. According to her complaint, Nguyen “would scream out and whimper with extreme fear in her sleep and break out in cold sweats. She underwent over four months of psychological counseling.” She’s suing Carlos Davis for punitive damages for gross negligence, pain and suffering, and medical care.

Norman, a military dog during bite training. U.S. Air Force photo by Josh Plueger, via Wikimedia Commons

Stories of dog maulings strike a nerve among people because, while few people have been mauled, most have brushed up against an aggressive-looking dog, straining against a leash or gnashing it’s teeth behind a fence.

It’s said that humans are the only mammals who can imagine their own deaths. When faced with an angry dog, it doesn’t take much for the mind to race to the conclusion that the leash could snap, the fence could give, and that dog — descended from a wolf, we’re bound to remember in that split second — could eat us alive.

However, there are far more imagined dog maulings than actual dog maulings. According to the Center for Disease Control, about 16 people die each year from dog bites. Sixteen too many, certainly, but it’s a number that represents less than 0.00001 percent of the population. Death by dog mauling is horrific, but infrequent.

Dog teeth can inflict real damage. Image from Pixabay.

Bites however are more common. Each year, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites. Of those injured, 386,000 require treatment in an emergency department. Bites can range from small nips to the severe injuries sustained by Linda Nguyen.

If you own a dog with aggressive tendencies, you may want to warn strangers to stay away from the animal. While the dog may be an effective deterrent to would-be thieves, keep in mind that half of the 800,000 people bitten each year by a dog are children, who may not know any better and are of little threat to your property.

Beware-of-dog signs usually play up the deterrent factor of a dog with vicious-looking graphics or serious fonts. They can keep people away long before they are close enough to put themselves in imminent danger. However, a responsible dog owner should make sure all eventualities are covered by ensuring that fences, pens and leashes are properly maintained and appropriate to their dog.

While we haven’t heard Carlos Davis’ side of the story, unless he’s clinically sociopathic, the vicious, unnecessary mauling of the neighbor nun can’t sit easily on his conscience. Any one who puts up a sign should hope that their dog’s bark is worse than its bite.