Some people love their furry household friends, and treat them like family members. Others… not so much. Whether you are a dog person, cat person, or people person, no person likes being intimidated or injured by another person’s pet.
In Idaho, all persons have the duty to use ordinary care for the safety of themselves and others. Consequently, pet owners have a duty to see that their animals, whom they have responsibility, do not injure others. Under Idaho law an “at-risk dog” is any dog that without justified provocation bites a person without causing serious injury. A “dangerous dog” is any dog that without justified provocation inflicts serious injury on a person or that has previously been found to be at-risk and thereafter bites or injures a person. “Justified provocation” means any act that a reasonable person with common knowledge of dog behavior would know is likely to instigate a bite or attack by an ordinary dog. Consequently, a dog is justly provoked when it dog is defending another from an attack, it attacks a person committing a crime on the property of the owner, the person was tormenting or abusing the dog, the dog was protecting offspring, the dog was a service animal or other hunting or herding dog that was performing its trained function, the person was intervening between two or more animals engaged in aggressive behavior or fighting.
If a court finds a dog dangerous, it may order the dog destroyed. If a court finds a dog at-risk it may order the dog confined.
Idaho law specifically provides that the owner of a dog that injures another, so long as the person was not trespassing and did not provoke the dog, is liable for that person’s injuries. The law is specific that the owner is liable even if the dog has not previously been determined to be an at-risk or dangerous dog.
So love your furry friend – enough to properly train or restrain it for its own safety and the safety of others.
This website includes general information about legal issues and developments in the law. Such materials are for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal developments. These informational materials are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances. You need to contact a lawyer for advice on specific legal issues.