What happened
In July 2009 a 47-year-old housing officer with Bron Afon Community Housing was bitten in the face by a Staffordshire bull terrier at a tenant’s home in Blaenavon, Torfaen. She had visited the property many times before. This time the tenant opened the door wider because she recognised the officer, and the dog ran out past her.
The officer did not realise at first that she had been bitten. She felt her mouth and found her lip was hanging. She needed 30 stitches and was off work for five weeks. She said afterwards that anybody who went to that door would have been bitten.
The outcome
Bron Afon went to court and obtained a 12-month injunction preventing the tenant from keeping dogs at the property. The tenant had to give up the dog that bit the officer and two others. The dog that attacked was not destroyed.
The police took no action, because the attack happened inside the owner’s home. The association’s chief executive said that as the attack happened in the owner’s home the police could not act, and that this did not stop the association going to court.
What went wrong
The officer was alone. A tenancy visit is one member of staff at a front door, with no colleague behind her and nothing between her and the hallway.
The failure was familiarity, and it was shared. The officer had been to the house often, so she expected no problem. The tenant knew her, so she opened the door wide in welcome. Together they removed the only barrier between a loose dog and a face at the height of a dog’s head.
The association’s statement names the control it wanted: dogs locked away while staff are working in the home. That rule has to be applied by the tenant before the door opens, so it must be asked for when the visit is arranged.
What it teaches
A dog is one of the most common hazards on a home visit, and the one most often left off the visit record. The questions belong in the booking call: is there a dog, where is it kept when visitors come, and will it be secured before the door is opened.
Familiarity is what makes the question feel unnecessary. The address you know is the address where you stop asking. Doorway discipline has to survive being welcome. Stand back from the opening edge, ask for the dog to be put in another room, and do not read a wagging animal at the door as evidence of safety.
Withdrawal is the other control. The visit can be rearranged. Nothing on a tenancy visit is worth a face.
Questions for the room
- Does your visit record carry the tenant’s dog, and who updates it when the dog changes?
- The police could take no action because it happened in the owner’s home. What does your employer do instead, and how quickly?
- What would you need to stand the visit down and come back another day?
Evidence and limits
Confidence: confirmed. Three independent sources were read in full: a law firm’s case note, BBC News South East Wales and Inside Housing. The officer is not named in any of them, and the tenant, who is named by one outlet only, was never convicted of anything, so neither is named here. The 30-stitch figure and the 12-month injunction are consistent across the three. The pack gives the injury and the injunction, and no visit policy or risk assessment, so the page does not describe one.
Our lone working training covers the doorstep, where most home-visit injuries happen.
Sources
- Watson Woodhouse · Housing officer savaged by dog while on house visit · 2010
- BBC News · Woman’s face bitten in dog attack · 2009
- Inside Housing · Housing officer in dog attack · 2009
Reviewed 20 October 2026.