Typically, the owner of the dog that was the victim of the attack will want to sue the homeowner for the loss of the society and companionship of their dog. Unfortunately, under Wisconsin law, dogs are considered livestock and the only damages you can be awarded for livestock is the fair market value of the livestock at the time it was killed.
It’s shocking and dismaying to dog lovers like myself when they learn that all they can get for the loss of their pet is the cost of getting a new pet, regardless of the emotional attachment they have to it.
Is there ever pain and suffering damages that goes with the loss of a dog?
No. You can argue extreme emotional distress, but it has to be really extreme. It isn’t just, generally speaking, that sort of level of pain or distress that you would commonly see in this sort of event.
If a child is bitten, maybe not seriously, but in connection with the loss of the pet, and the events were traumatizing to them, then it’s definitely recoverable. Sometimes the recovery for the emotional trauma can be more than the bite itself.
