Dog Bite Lawyer Elmhurst

When a dog bites your child, the world narrows to one small arm or cheek or hand. Everything else, the owner’s apologies, the crowd, the paperwork, feels far away. If that’s where you are right now, we’re sorry. This guide is written for you, the parent, and it tries to answer the questions that tend to come up later, once the first fright has passed and you’re sitting at the kitchen table wondering what to do next.

You’re not alone in this. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, millions of people in the U.S. are bitten by dogs each year, and about half of them are children. Kids are closer to a dog’s face, they move quickly, and they don’t always read a dog’s warnings.

Why Children Get Hurt Differently

Elmhurst is one of the densest parts of Queens, with big apartment buildings where hallways and elevators are shared with neighbors’ dogs. A child stepping off an elevator at eye level with a large dog is in a very different position from an adult. That’s partly why bites to children so often land on the face, head and neck.

The injuries you may be dealing with include:

• Puncture wounds and torn skin, which can look small but run deep.
• Infection, a real risk with any bite.
• Nerve or tendon damage, especially in small hands.
• Fractures, if your child was knocked to the ground on a sidewalk on Broadway or a path in Elmhurst Park.
• Rabies shots, if nobody can confirm the dog was vaccinated.

The Scar Question

This is often what keeps parents up at night. Children’s bodies are still growing, and a scar that looks one way at age six can look quite different at sixteen. Some children need plastic surgery or scar revision years after the bite.

That’s one reason it helps not to rush. You’ll want your child’s doctors to have time to see how healing goes. Meanwhile, take photos of the wound every week or so. You’ll be glad to have them later, both to track progress and to show what your child went through.

The Part You Can’t See

Many children seem fine physically within a few weeks, but something has changed. They won’t walk past a certain door in the building. They cling to you on Queens Boulevard when a dog comes by. They have nightmares, or they wet the bed again, or they won’t go to the park.

Emotional trauma is a recognized part of a dog bite injury, and it can be especially strong in kids. If you’re seeing changes like these, it’s worth mentioning to your pediatrician, and worth writing down: what you noticed, and when. Those notes help paint a full picture of what the bite cost your family.

What to Do in the First Days

1. Get your child seen by a doctor, even if the bite looks minor.
2. Find out who owns the dog and ask whether it’s had its rabies shots.
3. Make sure the bite is reported to NYC Health within 24 hours. The hospital often does this; ask them.
4. Photograph the injury, your child’s torn clothing and the place it happened, whether that’s a hallway or a spot near Queens Center.
5. Write down names and numbers of anyone who saw it.
6. Keep every bill, receipt and school note about missed days.

Your Child Has More Time, but You Shouldn’t Wait

Here’s something reassuring. For most adults, New York allows three years from the bite to file a lawsuit under CPLR § 214. For children, that clock is generally paused until they turn 18 under CPLR § 208. So you’re not racing a deadline in the same way an adult would be.

That said, waiting has real costs. Witnesses move out of the building. The dog may be given away. Memories blur. And if the bite happened on city property or in public housing, a notice of claim is usually due within 90 days, which is a much shorter window.

Proving the Owner Should Have Known

You might assume the owner is responsible simply because the dog bit your child. New York law is a little more demanding. Generally, you need to show the owner knew or should have known the dog had “vicious propensities,” a rule the state’s highest court laid out in Collier v. Zambito (2004).

In an apartment building, that history often exists. Did the dog snap at other kids? Growl in the elevator? Lunge at people in the lobby? Did neighbors complain to the super or the landlord off Justice Avenue? Was it kept muzzled? Each of these can help. And if the dog had been officially found “dangerous,” the owner is strictly liable for the medical costs of its attacks under Agriculture and Markets Law § 123.

A landlord who knew about a vicious dog and had the power to remove it can also share responsibility. Our New York dog bite law guide covers these rules in more depth.

Money, Insurance and Your Neighbor

Many parents hesitate because they know the owner, maybe from the same floor. It may help to know that most claims are paid by the owner’s homeowners or renters insurance, not by the family next door. If an adjuster calls wanting a recorded statement, you can politely decline until you’ve spoken with a lawyer.

A claim for your child can include medical bills, future care and scar revision, pain and suffering, and disfigurement. If you had to miss work to care for them, tell your lawyer about that too. And if your child reached toward the dog, don’t let guilt stop you: New York’s pure comparative fault rule reduces a recovery by any share of fault but doesn’t bar it. Our plain-language guide to shared fault explains how that works.

Because a child’s case can stay open for years, the choice of who handles it matters. A good Elmhurst dog bite lawyer will want to follow your child’s recovery rather than settle quickly, check in as the scar matures, and make sure any future surgery is part of the conversation before anything is signed.

We’re Parents’ First Call, Not Their Last Resort

Yakov Mushiyev & Associates has recovered over $80 million for injured New Yorkers. When you speak with a dog bite lawyer in Elmhurst from our team, the conversation is free, and you won’t owe a fee unless we win. We speak English, Russian and Spanish, and we can come to your home or the hospital, or meet by video after bedtime.

Whenever you feel ready, call 718.775.3110 or write to us about what happened to your child. Background reading: our dog bite practice page or our Elmhurst injury lawyer page.

Grandparents, cousins or friends living nearby can find us too, through our pages for a dog bite lawyer in Corona, a dog bite lawyer in Woodside and a dog bite lawyer in Maspeth.

Getting to Our Office From Elmhurst

We’re based at 1 Cross Island Plaza, Suite 325, Rosedale, NY 11422. The map below shows how to reach us from Elmhurst, though with a recovering child at home, a video call may be easier.

Attorney Advertising. This parent’s guide shares general information only; it isn’t legal advice about your child’s case.