I came home today to find one of my 2 dogs all bloody. The neighbor to my back has 2 pittbulls, and 1 got through the fence to my yard and attacked my Boxer. My German Shepherd defended my dog and nearly ripped the pitt's ear off. The neighbor apparantly had to jump in my yard and spray the dogs off with hoses to get them to quit. My dog is having to have surgery on some infected puncture wounds, and the bill is $725. Is it the neighbor's responsibility to pay the bill for my dog? The board that the dog got through was on his side of the fence, if that makes a difference. Thank you.
2007-11-22T08:15:53Z
The fence is wood, 5 yeard old, and 8 feet high. There were no issues with this fence until this guy moved in in May of this year and his dogs kept jumping on it trying to get at our dogs. We ended up putting plywood to the fence on our side the same month they moved in for extra protection. As far as why were my dogs out side when we werent home, I dont know where you live, but here in Calfionia and I'm sure many others states, the dogs live outside in the backyard. We bring them in at night to sleep. One reason we have them is protection. My mom is an attorney and told me that this guy is legally reseponsibe for our vet bills, and will be sidning him a demand letter. if he doesn't pay we're taking him to small claims court .
Thankn you all for your answers. Our dog was saved by our German Shepherd, who will be getting extra treats today. She will be allright.
MyPinion2007-11-21T21:10:44Z
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Well, someone is to blame and responsible for the bill. It sounds like it is his fault since the board you mention was on HIS side. If its on his property, he should be responsible. I would take pictures w/ a digital camera if the damage is still intact. You need to talk to your neighbor, sort things out, and if it is his fault (in your mind anyhow), get him to pay for it. Otherwise, this is heading to small claims court, which given the 1000 dollar bill , may be worth it.
It does sound like your neighbor should offer to pay the vet bills if it was his fence that was damaged, thereby allowing the dog to get into your yard or if his dog tore through the fence to get in, however I have a question that I didn't see anyone else ask: why the heck are your dogs outside unattended when you're not home? Thank goodness your neighbor was home to witness the fight and to break it up! I hate to think what would have happened if his dog had broken into your yard with no owners around for hours.
I don't mean to suggest that you are at fault or that your neighbor is off the hook if his dog broke through the fence to go after your dog, but for the future, keep in mind that your responsibility toward your dogs is to 1) not leave them outside when no one is home, and 2) regularly inspect the fence to ensure that it's a safe containment area for them and from neighboring dogs that could break in. Now that this has happened once, I'm sure you'll want to be super vigilant to prevent this from ever happening again.
I hope your boxer recovers quickly. Bites injuries can be so nasty and painful -- I wish him speedy healing.
Here in CO, we have a law called the "Make my day" law.... If someone comes into my home, and I ask them to leave, give them ample opportunity to leave and they don't, I have every right to shoot them.
Translate your situation from Dog-ese to English. The Pit was trespassing. Your dogs probably growled and their hackles raised ("Get out- this is our territory!... If you don't leave, we'll attack!"). The Pit stayed, ignoring the warning, and attacked. Your animals defended themselves.
Your dogs were completely within their rights both by dog culture and by human law to respond to your neighbor's dog in your yard.
A couple things your neighbor shoulda done... 1) Train his dog. Pit bull dogs aren't a bad breed, but without training, ANY dog can be a royal pain. Sadly, there are many irresponsible animal-owners.... but training alone is not a fail-safe.
2) Contain his dog. Fence, chain, kennel- whatever it takes to control his dog's access to the world. Sure, your neighbor had a fence, but dogs that wanna play Houdini will surely find a way out. He needs to keep better control of his dog. If he has to build something to contain his animal, then so be it.
3) Maintian his property. The board was on his side of the fence.... Was it a patch? Has the dog gotten out before? If so, then this is becoming a behavior pattern in the dog that his owner needs to address, and fast! Dogs that get out end up hurt, or dead, or at the pound.
Well, all I have to say is that you are lucky your dog is alive. Any yes, I believe that as long as your dogs were in their back yard confined to a fence it is your neighbor's responsibility!
And people, please stop w/ the bad ownership deal. It is in a pit bull's blood to be dog aggressive, you must socialize them properly for them to not be dog aggressive. Even after proper socialization a pit can still become dog aggressive.
Like I said, you are lucky your dog is still alive. I love pit bulls and am an owner of 1...but I have learned to respect what type of damage she can do.(No I don't train her to be mean at all!)
What is your objective? If you just want compensation for damages, give the bill to your neighbour and ask him to pay. Then that's the end of it. If not, talk to a lawyer, and call whatever they call the animal control officer. Don't threaten to do it, just do it. Some cities and towns have special bylaws about "vicious" breeds. I'm open-minded enough not to consider any particular breed vicious (as long as there was inbreeding and no stupid owners), but you may have the law on your side with this one.