How to document a dog bite so the file still works in six months

A dog-bite claim is a stack of ordinary objects: pictures, a chart, a municipal report, a name. People lose claims because they have a scar and nothing else. This is the kit.

• Photographs the day of, day two, week two, month two. Include a coin or a keyboard for scale once. Then never do the cute ruler thing again if it looks staged — consistency matters more.
• The ER or clinic visit with the words “dog bite.”
• Animal control or police report number.
• Owner name, phone, address, insurer if you got it.
• Witness names. A neighbor who will not “get involved” today may talk to a lawyer later.
• Torn clothing in a bag.
• Time off work, with something from the employer later.
• Every bill and explanation of benefits. Medical-pay and health insurance both generate paper.

If you do only one extra thing: report the bite. The quarantine record is the cleanest proof of which dog, which owner, which day.