Q: Is it true that your dog can be put down after biting someone when it had no prior history of violent behavior?
A: Dog bites are treated as strict liability in Illinois, with the exception if someone provoked the dog, or is some was trespassing. Under Illinois statutes, if a dog, without provocation, attacks, attempts to attack, or injures any person who is peaceably conducting himself or herself in any place where he or she may lawfully be, the owner of such dog or other animal is liable in civil damages to such person for the full amount of the injury proximately caused thereby. There would have to be special circumstances to put down a dog on its first bite.
Charles Candiano agrees with this answer
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