Any friendship, even one that has lasted many years, can be strained when someone is injured. When a friend's dog has managed to bite you and you think your friend is to blame, that can cause a deep rift in addition to a possible financial problem for you as your bills and costs mount. If you're considering a lawsuit, the pointers below are smart to follow.

See a Physician
 

Your first stop after you've had a bite of any kind should be your family physician's office. You may feel sheepish or silly sitting in the waiting room if you think you could have cleaned the wound yourself, but it is important that a medical professional look at your skin and do a full assessment of your condition. Your physician is likely to focus on whether you're feeling any symptoms that could be associated with the disease tetanus, including:

• stiff jaw
• excessive sweating
• fever
• strong irritability
• constant headache

Whether you have symptoms or not, your physician is likely to send you for a booster shot to be safe.

Take Pictures and Notes

When you've had a chance to visit a physician and have some time at home, it's important to create some kind of paper trail for your own memory and to assist your lawyer with the information they'll require to build your legal case. A quick writeup about what happened to you is a good start; if other friends were there and saw the dog bite you, contact information for them would be smart to pass on to your attorney. It's also a good idea to take a couple well-lit photographs of the area where the dog bit you. Those photos can serve as evidence when you're in court.

Avoid Your Friend

You might believe you and your friend can come to some kind of understanding about the event and they might offer to pay any medical bills or costs associated with your missed work time. However, your beliefs could be misguided and any contact could escalate and cause even more problems. Let your lawyer handle all contact with them until a verdict is reached.

By doing the above things, your case should go smoothly and you should be able to recover some or all of your costs successfully after your court date. Seek out personal injury legal help from an attorney that has worked on dog bite cases in the past. They can advise you about the particular circumstances surrounding your situation.