Quote Originally Posted by PamNY View Post
We need to keep in mind that this thread is about the false accusation of a dog bite and the legal ramifications thereof.

Emily made it clear that she regards jumping as undesirable behavior and she corrected it immediately.

Jumping up by a dog is indeed frightening for some people, but it is far, far, more common for people to regard jumping as cute and to interfere with the dog owner's attempts to train proper behavior.
Thank you Pam; this is so very true. I consider myself a responsible dog owner and of course I know that jumping up is undesirable behavior. However, whenever Paisley does this to our friends or family members (for instance, off leash in our apartment when they are visiting), and I apologize and call her off; they always say "oh, I don't mind", "oh, it's ok", "oh, she's so cute", and so forth. A lot of them encourage it by bending down to visit with her then. She just wants to see them and kiss their face. She's so little (16 lbs) that she wants to get close to people's faces. She has never even come close to knocking anyone over, and no one has ever shown any fear whatsoever of her.

In this particular case, she was on a leash (not a flexi), I had it wrapped around my hand to keep it tight, and pulled her off the man immediately. He had walked almost right into us, which is the only reason she was even close enough to him to be able to jump up. I was boxed in by a row of recycling bins and could not get out of his way in time. Whenever we are around children or any other vulnerable person, we keep her on a tight leash and never let her close enough to jump. He did not seem scared or even come close to stumbling or falling. He seemed annoyed, not frightened. And yes, it is annoying, and I take full blame for that. I felt bad, apologizing profusely at the time she jumped and later, when he showed me the scratch.

Thanks to those who have offered advice and support. And for those who feel for the man, I feel for him too. But I also think he knew he was not bitten at the time, and if he now thinks he was, he may have had this suggested to him by a relative or friend.