It's a tiny puncture and barely bled. Does it still need a call?

Yes. Punctures are the ones most likely to become infected precisely because they seal over quickly with bacteria inside. The guidance is any bite that breaks the skin.

It was our own dog and it's vaccinated. Is that different?

It removes most of the rabies question, which is the main thing. It does not remove the tetanus or the infection question, so still make the call.

Should the dog be put down?

That is not a decision to make in the first hour, and it is not usually the automatic consequence of a single bite. Report it as your local rules require and take advice.

When it happens · 3 min read

A dog bit my child

It has usually just happened, it was usually a dog the family knows, and everyone involved is upset. Most bites to young children come from a familiar dog rather than a stray, often in a home rather than a street.

The immediate steps are simple. The part people skip is the phone call afterwards.

Last updated August 17, 2026

The first few minutes

If it is bleeding, press firmly and continuously over the wound for five minutes, or until the bleeding stops. Continuous is the important word — lifting the pressure every thirty seconds to check restarts it.

Once the bleeding is controlled, wash the wound gently but properly with soap and running water. This is not cosmetic: flushing a bite wound thoroughly is one of the most effective things that will be done for it, and it matters most for exactly the punctures that look least impressive.

If the wound is large, gaping, or the bleeding will not stop, keep the pressure on and get to urgent care rather than continuing at home.

Why every bite that breaks the skin needs a call

Contact your pediatrician for any animal bite that breaks the skin, no matter how minor it looks. Dog bites, particularly punctures, drive bacteria deep while leaving very little to see on the surface, so appearance is a poor guide to infection risk.

The call covers three things you cannot assess yourself: whether their tetanus immunisation is up to date, whether there is any rabies risk that needs addressing, and whether the wound needs antibiotics.

Bites to the face, to the hand, or across a joint are treated more cautiously than bites elsewhere, and often need review by someone more specialized — the face for scarring, hands and joints because infection there does more damage.

What to find out before you leave

Whose dog it is and how to contact them. Whether the dog is up to date with its rabies vaccination, and if so, when. Whether the animal can be observed over the following days.

If the animal was a stray, unknown, or wild, say so immediately — that changes the urgency considerably, and rabies treatment after an exposure is highly effective but is time-sensitive.

There may also be a local reporting requirement. Ask rather than assume; it is not about getting anyone into trouble, and it is how a dog with a bite history gets picked up before the next child.

Afterwards

Watch the wound over the next couple of days for spreading redness, increasing pain, swelling, warmth, discharge, or fever, and get it seen again if any of those appear.

Children are bitten more often than adults and are injured more severely when they are, largely because of height — bites land on faces and heads rather than legs. Supervision around dogs, including trusted family dogs, is the single thing that changes those odds, along with leaving a dog alone while it is eating, sleeping, or with puppies.

Fear afterwards is common and usually settles. If it does not, or if they are having nightmares or refusing to leave the house weeks later, that is worth raising too.

Common questions

It's a tiny puncture and barely bled. Does it still need a call?: Yes. Punctures are the ones most likely to become infected precisely because they seal over quickly with bacteria inside. The guidance is any bite that breaks the skin.
It was our own dog and it's vaccinated. Is that different?: It removes most of the rabies question, which is the main thing. It does not remove the tetanus or the infection question, so still make the call.
Should the dog be put down?: That is not a decision to make in the first hour, and it is not usually the automatic consequence of a single bite. Report it as your local rules require and take advice.

If it's this, not that

They hit their head — what actually matters →

Still not sure

This page is the general answer. Yours is a specific child.

The advisor can be. It has read everything here, and it knows how old your children actually are — which is the whole difference wherever guidance changes with age. Ask it anything.

She's got a temperature of 100. Is that something to worry about?
He's obsessed with space and galaxies — what toys are worth getting him?

Get the weekly note — and the advisor

Free. It comes with the note.

It answers from the same cited pages you are reading, and when the question is where to go, from the real clinician, hospital and childcare records behind this site — not a link to go search them yourself. It says so when we have not written about something, and it is not a doctor; for anything urgent it gives you the threshold and tells you to call.

Where this comes from

Every claim on this page traces to one of these. See every source we use →

Written from the sources named above, and it is not a substitute for your own doctor. If something feels wrong to you, that instinct is a good enough reason to call — you know yourself and this family better than any page does.