He learned that painful lesson last week while visiting a friend.
"I walked through the kitchen and bent down to pet the dog and it attacked me and it knocked me on the floor and I had to fight it off to get it off of me," Tanner says.
The attack left this open wound on his face which required 24 stitches to close.
"We're thankful that it was not worse. Probably another 4 inches or so and it would have gotten his throat," says Brad Flick, Tanner's father.
After the attack the blue pit bull, which was similar to this dog, was taken to the city's animal services center.
"We did have the dog in quarantine. The dog was signed over to us and we did humanely euthanize it and we will be sending it away to Austin to have it tested for rabies," says Steve Dodge, Wichita Falls animal control supervisor.
Although the dog is gone, Tanner says that doesn't erase the memory of the attack.
His parents say the wound became infected and he had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics.
Tanner is now on the road to recovery but his father says his ordeal is far from over.
"This is a facial wound. He's gonna need to see a plastic surgeon and this could draw out for over a year cause he can't even see a plastic surgeon for a year," says Flick.
I spoke with the dog's owner earlier today.
She confirmed the dog had bitten two other people but says reports were never filed.
She is helping the Flick's with tanner's medical expenses and so far has given them $155 dollars.
(Texoma's Homepage - Aug 12, 2013)
