Many people throughout the U.S. own a dog as a pet. For the most part, dogs seem to make pretty good pets. Even though most of the time dogs are good pets, sometimes they bite. Because dog bites can cause serious injuries and high costs for medical care, it is important to know what to do after a bite. The following are some steps that you should take if you or a loved one is a victim of a dog bite.

1. Seek medical care. Medical care is especially important for puncture wounds and more serious injuries. Puncture wounds resulting from dog bites are prone to infection, so it is of the utmost importance to seek medical care to help prevent or treat an infection.
2. Exchange information of the owner of the dog and/or the person who was with the dog at the time. Important information to exchange includes the dog owner or caretaker’s name, address and phone number. This information is important because it will helpful in contacting them after the incident to get the dog’s vaccination history.
3. Obtain the contact information of any and all witnesses to the incident. Eye witnesses can be helpful in providing an account of what happened.
4. Document any injuries from the incident. If possible, you should try to get pictures of the bite before receiving medical treatment to document the harm done as accurately as possible.
5. Contact law enforcement or animal control to file a report about the bite. This can help to prevent future bites and will also provide documentation of the incident.

If you are the victim of a dog bite, you should consider contacting an attorney with experience handling cases involving dog bites. An experienced dog bite attorney will be well-versed in the laws involving dog bites and can help to ensure that you receive fair compensation for the incident.