How to get compensated for a dog attack

A dog bite can mean stitches, shots and bills. If the dog belongs to a neighbor, friend or relative, it’s normal to feel uneasy about reporting it or asking anyone to pay.

Here is the plain answer. You’re compensated through a claim against the dog’s owner, and when the owner has homeowners or renters insurance, the policy typically covers dog-bite liability up to its limit (Insurance Information Institute, or Triple-I). The claim can cover medical bills, lost pay, pain, scarring and fear. It starts in the first hours: clean the wound, get it checked, ask about tetanus and rabies, and report the bite.

Michigan rules are in the boxes marked “In Michigan,” current as of September 2026.

Hurt and not sure where you stand? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

What should you do right after a dog bite?

Care for the wound first. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises:

1. Stop the bleeding with a clean, dry cloth, and get medical attention right away for a deep wound. Call 911 if the bleeding won’t stop or you feel faint or weak.
2. Wash the wound with soap and water; the CDC’s rabies guidance says for 15 minutes. Cover a minor wound with antibiotic cream and a clean bandage.
3. Get the dog’s rabies record if you can: the owner’s name, address and phone number, the dog’s rabies vaccine license number and the veterinarian who gave it.
4. Report the bite to local animal control or the police, especially if the dog’s rabies vaccination is unknown.

Then photograph the wound and the scene, and ask the owner who insures their home.

When should you see a doctor?

Within 24 hours for any bite that breaks the skin, says MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s health site. Contact your provider or go to an emergency room if the bite is on the head, face, neck, hands or feet; it’s deep or large; it’s still bleeding after a few minutes; it’s swollen, red or draining pus, or red streaks spread from it; or you haven’t had a tetanus shot in 5 years.

Infection is more likely with puncture wounds, a weakened immune system, diabetes or poor circulation (MedlinePlus).

Do you need a tetanus shot for a dog bite?

It depends on when you last had one, so ask the doctor who treats the bite. CDC guidance counts wounds that contain saliva, such as animal bites, as “dirty or major” wounds, which carry a higher tetanus risk. For those wounds:

CDC also lists TIG for people with HIV or a severe immunodeficiency, whatever their vaccination history. Take this CDC background to your doctor; it isn’t medical advice.

Do you need rabies shots after a dog bite?

Not always, but it’s a decision to make quickly, with a health care provider. Rabid dogs are uncommon in the U.S. because of prevention and control programs, but once signs of rabies appear, it’s nearly always fatal. The treatment, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), includes wound care, human rabies immune globulin and a series of four or five rabies vaccines. It must be given as soon as possible after an exposure, and it’s nearly 100% effective (CDC).

See a provider if you don’t know whether the dog is vaccinated, describe any strange behavior, and ask the owner for proof of a current rabies vaccination. Your provider may consult the health department to help decide (CDC).

What do dog bites look like?

A bite can break, puncture or tear the skin. Besides pain, bleeding, numbness or tingling, you may see puncture wounds, cuts or tears, bruising, crushing injuries that can tear tissue and leave scars, or a tendon or joint injury that limits movement (MedlinePlus).

What does an infected dog bite look like?

It may be red, painful or swollen, or cause a fever (CDC). Pus or red streaks spreading from the wound are reasons to call your provider or go to an emergency room (MedlinePlus).

Photograph the bite the day it happens and every few days as it heals. Once it closes, photos are the clearest record of how it looked.

What happens when a dog bites you?

After first aid, the usual steps are:

1. Medical care, including tetanus and rabies decisions.
2. A report to animal control or the police (CDC).
3. A 10-day rabies watch of the dog (CDC).
4. A claim against the owner, typically paid by their homeowners or renters insurance if they have it (Triple-I).
5. A settlement, accepted by signing a release, or a lawsuit filed before your state’s deadline.

What happens to the dog?

The first question is rabies, even for a vaccinated dog: CDC guidance says to confine and observe a healthy dog that bit a person for 10 days, because vaccine failures, though rare, do occur.

Who pays for a dog bite?

Usually the owner’s insurance. Homeowners and renters policies typically cover dog-bite liability up to the policy’s limit, often $100,000 to $300,000, and the owner is responsible for damages above it (Triple-I). Dog bites and other dog-related injuries accounted for more than one-third of the liability claim dollars homeowners insurers paid out in 2021 (Triple-I).

So if you know the owner, the claim is against them, but their policy typically pays, and under the standard homeowners form the insurer also pays for their legal defense (Insurance Services Office sample policy, posted by Triple-I). The policy may include:

• Personal liability: damages the owner is legally liable for, up to the limit.
• Medical payments to others: a guest’s medical bills, paid without a liability claim (Triple-I). The standard form also covers people hurt away from the home by an animal owned by or in the care of someone the policy insures. Renters can generally get $1,000 to $5,000 of this coverage (Triple-I).
• An umbrella policy, if the owner has one, adds coverage above the home policy’s limit, usually $1 million to $10 million (Triple-I).

Coverage has limits. Some insurers won’t insure owners of certain breeds they consider dangerous, and after a bite an insurer may exclude that dog (Triple-I). In Michigan, the state insurance department said in 2019 that home insurers generally can’t deny, cancel or refuse to renew coverage because the policyholder has a particular animal (DIFS Bulletin 2019-20-INS). The standard form doesn’t cover injuries to the policyholder or relatives who live with them. With no insurance, you’d collect from the owner personally.

If a health plan or Medicare paid your bills, it may be owed repayment from a settlement (for Medicare, 42 CFR 411.24(h)); see what comes out of a settlement. If a dog attacked your pet, see who pays when a dog bites another dog.

How much is a dog bite claim worth?

There’s no standard dog bite settlement; the amount depends on the injury, the proof and the insurance. For scale, in 2025, homeowners insurers’ average cost per dog-related claim was $65,450, down from $69,272 in 2024, across an estimated 28,450 claims costing about $1.86 billion (Triple-I and State Farm). The figures include other dog-related injuries, such as fractures, and an average isn’t a prediction for your claim.

What can a claim include?

Michigan’s model civil jury instructions list the kinds of damages a jury can award, including medical expenses, past and future (M Civ JI 50.05); lost earning capacity (50.06); physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, fright and shock, denial of social pleasure and enjoyments, and embarrassment, humiliation or mortification (50.02); and disability and disfigurement, each its own category (50.03).

Value also depends on your state’s liability rule and the insurance available, since a claim is usually worth only what can be collected. See how insurance adjusters value injury claims and how pain and suffering is valued and proven.

Has the dog owner's insurer called you or made an offer? Get a free case review first. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

How long does a dog bite take to heal, and will it scar?

There’s no set time. Most animal bites heal without infection or lasting loss of function, but some wounds need surgery to clean and close them, and deep or extensive wounds can leave significant scarring (MedlinePlus). Ask your doctor what to expect.

A scar usually fades but never goes away completely; treatments such as surgical revision, lasers and injections might make it less noticeable (MedlinePlus). You may be able to wait for revision surgery until the scar lightens, which can be several months or even a year after the wound has healed (MedlinePlus). Until a doctor can say how the scar will look and what treatment it needs, you can’t know what that part of your claim is worth.

What happens when a dog bites a child?

Children are more likely than adults to be bitten, their injuries tend to be more severe, and most bites to young children involve familiar dogs (CDC). They’re also much more likely to be bitten on the face, head or neck (MedlinePlus), where a bite needs a doctor right away.

Fear can outlast the wound. Most people recover from a traumatic event, but symptoms that last and interfere with daily life can be signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (National Institute of Mental Health). If your child’s fear doesn’t fade, tell the doctor and note what you see.

Should you give the insurer a recorded statement or sign a release?

Not before you’ve had advice and know how you’ve healed. The obstacle is usually the claims process, not the owner: the insurer handles claims like yours routinely, on its own schedule.

• The adjuster works for the owner’s insurer, which under the standard form defends the owner and decides which claims to settle.
• You don’t have to give that insurer a recorded statement, and it’s safer not to before you’ve had advice. Ask for questions in writing.
• Tell your doctors, not the adjuster, about your pain and limits, and keep a short, honest journal.
• Don’t sign a release early. A release is essentially a waiver of your right to sue (Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, or LII), so it generally ends the claim, even if a scar turns out worse.
• Answer a low offer in writing, with records behind your number.

See what to say, and not say, to an insurance adjuster.

Can you sue for a dog bite?

Yes. Whether the owner is liable depends on your state’s rule. There are three kinds (Triple-I): a dog-bite statute, which makes the owner automatically liable for injuries the dog causes without provocation; the one-bite rule, which requires proof that the owner knew, or should have known, that the dog was likely to hurt people (LII); and negligence, when the owner was unreasonably careless in controlling the dog. See how dog bite liability works.

When does a lawyer add value in a dog bite case?

For a small bite that healed quickly, with bills the insurer agrees to pay, you might settle it yourself. A lawyer adds the most when the bite scarred, needed surgery or hurt a child; the insurer disputes provocation or coverage; losses may exceed the policy limit; or the deadline is near.

Most injury lawyers work on a contingency fee: a share of what you recover, set out in a written agreement. Depending on the agreement, you may also owe case costs such as filing fees, records and experts. In Michigan, the fee in an injury case can’t be more than one-third of the net recovery after costs (MCR 8.121). See how contingency fees and case costs work.

What to do next

1. Get the bite checked within 24 hours if it broke the skin; ask about tetanus and rabies.
2. Report it, and get the owner’s contact details, the dog’s rabies record and the insurer’s name.
3. Build your record: photos, medical bills, missed work or school, and a short journal.
4. Keep insurer calls short: no recorded statement or release until you know how you’ve healed.
5. Get a free case review before your deadline gets close. Get a free case review, or in Michigan, compare injury lawyers near you. Get any fee agreement in writing.

What waiting can cost

• Rabies protection. Rabies is deadly if care doesn’t start before symptoms do (CDC).
• Evidence. A healed wound can’t be photographed fresh, and witnesses forget.
• Your right to sue. Every state sets a deadline, and talks with an insurer generally don’t pause it; in Michigan, it’s three years for most injury lawsuits (MCL 600.5805(2)).
• The claim itself. A release signed too soon generally ends it for good.

What a good outcome looks like

The bite is treated, your tetanus and rabies questions are answered, and the report is on file. Based on your records, the owner’s insurer pays your bills, your lost pay and a fair amount for the pain, the scar and the fear, and a child’s settlement is approved and protected. From wondering whether you can ask anyone to pay for a dog bite to knowing who pays, what your claim covers and when to act.

More help: dog and animal bite claims and Michigan personal injury law in plain English.

Updated September 25, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.