Q. I was shopping at Pet's Discount in Kane'ohe. As I was walking to the leash rack, a large pit bull that was in the store on a leash held by its owner lunged at me and bit me on my thigh, through my pants. I have a large bruise and two teeth marks. The owner's response was that the dog is "nervous." The store manager's response was that leashed dogs are allowed into the store, so there was no violation of store policy.

A. You bring up two different issues.

The store's policy doesn't violate any laws. In fact, Pet's Discount advertises itself as pet friendly.

The dog bite, on the other hand, raises liability issues and could be the responsibility of the owner, although I understand that Pet's Discount has offered to pay your out-of-pocket medical expenses as a courtesy.

Capt. Frank Fujii, spokesman for the Honolulu Police Department, said any dog that bites someone unprovoked is considered a dangerous animal.

"Dog bites can be reported to us and we will make a miscellaneous crime report and it will be forwarded to the Humane Society," he said.

Pet's Discount did not return calls about this incident.

Q. My 15-year-old son and I had a disagreement over whether or not he could get a facial piercing. I said no. The next thing I knew, he was sporting a ring in his eyebrow. How can businesses let children mutilate their bodies without parental consent?

A. In Hawai'i, there is no age limit on body piercing, so individual studios can decide whether or not to pierce minors.

I checked with a few body piercing studios on O'ahu and some, like Hawaiian Tattoo Co. in Kapahulu, won't pierce kids younger than 16 and require parents to come to the shop before they pierce folks between 16 and 18.

At Sudden Rush Tattoo and Body Piercing, kids younger than 16 need parental consent and those older need to show ID.

Jerry Deguzman said Sudden Rush decided to do piercings for older teens to try to deter them from using piercers who do house calls and are considered less safe.

Neither shop will perform erotic piercings on minors.

Deguzman pointed out that any standardized regulations regarding the piercing of minors will have to come from the state.

Legislation has been introduced on this subject before and a 2003 version would have included body piercers in the law regulating tattoo artists. Since it failed to pass, you might want to contact your state legislators to see if the subject can be revisited.