Greene

This is an action to recover damages for a dog bite. The jury returned a verdict for defendants, the court denied plaintiff’s motion for a new trial, and plaintiff has appealed from the judgment. The facts in the record most favorable to defendants are as follows:

Plaintiff, who was then 3% years of age, and his brother, age 5, were taken by their grandmother to visit defendants’ home. Defendants (or one of them) owned a male chow dog and a female German shepherd. When the visiting children petted the dogs, Douglas Watts, the 18-year-old son of the defendants, “told them to stay away from the rear end of the dogs.” It does not appear that the children were given any other warning or instruction concerning the dogs, or that any attempt was made by anyone to keep the children apart from the dogs.

Later in the day the two visiting boys were in the yard wrestling with Douglas. Douglas was on his knees and the younger boys were on top of him. The dogs were standing a few feet away. The shepherd was excited but the chow was standing quietly. Plaintiff either fell or climbed off Douglas, and then ran over to the chow and jumped on his back. Douglas called to plaintiff to stop but it…