Massachusetts dog bite law: who is liable

Chapter 140, section 155, opens without qualification: if any dog does 'any damage to either the body or property of any person,' the owner or keeper is liable for that damage. Where the owner or keeper is a minor, the parent or guardian carries the liability instead. The text does not make liability depend on whether the dog had bitten before, or on whether anyone knew it might. In plain terms the question it asks is whose dog did the damage, not whether the owner was careless, and it reaches damage to property as well as injuries to people.

The defenses sit inside the same sentence. The owner or keeper is not liable if the person hurt was, at the time, 'committing a trespass or other tort,' or was 'teasing, tormenting or abusing such dog.' For a child under seven, the statute presumes the child was doing none of those things and puts the burden of proving otherwise on the defendant. What counts as teasing, or where a trespass begins, is decided on the facts of each case, so read those words as questions for a lawyer rather than as a checklist.

The reporting duty comes from MDAR's rabies regulation, 330 CMR 10.00, rather than from chapter 140. Section 10.04 says any person who knows of a domestic animal that has bitten or scratched a person or another domestic animal 'shall report immediately' to the Animal Inspector of the municipality where it happened, giving the date, a description of the animals, where the animal is now and the owner's name if known. The inspector then investigates, including whether the dog is vaccinated and whether it has behaved unusually.

If the inspector finds there was a bite or scratch, section 10.05 requires a written order placing the animal under a Ten Day Quarantine, and the regulation states plainly that the order applies regardless of vaccination status. The quarantine is strict confinement: an escape-proof, solid-walled building with a roof, approved by the inspector, from which the dog may be leash walked by an adult or under an adult's direct supervision. If signs compatible with rabies appear during the ten days, the regulation requires euthanasia and testing, and the owner bears the cost of the quarantine.

A dog under a ten-day order stays in the confinement the inspector approved, so daycare, Academy days and at-home walks wait until the dog is released in writing. When you rebook, tell our front desk what happened, so our handlers can plan the return with you. Every daycare dog needs Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella on file and a current city dog license, and the free evaluation, held on weekday mornings between 6:30 and 9:30 by appointment, is where our handlers judge whether group play suits a dog.

Sometimes the right next step is training rather than play. Our trainers run fear- and force-free behavior programs, among them React Less, Relax More over 8 weeks and Polished Pup over 10, and sessions start from $94. If the bite came with a sudden change in your dog, see your vet first. Our guide to dogs with a bite history covers how we assess them; this page covers only what the law asks of you.