Our dog was attacked. Liability??

Calibos

We've two West Highlands and a ShihTsu who bark at our solid wood gate when they hear dogs walking past. There is a particular Airedale terrier that is walked past everyday by its owners and if our guys happen to be in the yard at the time will bark furiously at the gate on one side while the Airedale lunges at the gate on the otherside. For a long while now I have been saying to myself that I should ask them politely if they wouldn't mind walking past on the otherside of the road so as to minimise stress on our dogs as well as their dog.

Today only one of our guys was in the yard when the airedale was walked past by a friend or a family member of the couple that own him. Our lad put his nose under the gate and his paws and the airdale went for him and ripped two toenails off right to the nail bed as well as pulling a little human fingernail sized patch of skin/flesh off one of the toes. There was so much screeching and blood, at first I thought he had lost a toe or two. Found the toenails on the other side of the gate.

As per usual something like this happened on a Weekend so we had to bring our fella to the Emergency clinic in UCD. €150 for the consult and wound cleaning, bandaging, pain killers and antibiotics with further costs at our regular Vets for checkups and dressing changes etc

Would I be naive in thinking that the owners of the airedale are liable?

thebullkf

ihave you spoken to the owners?

ppink

was your dog on your property when he was attacked? If so I would be presenting them with the bill.

Walking the airdale on the other side of the road will not minimse the stress i think. the best thing may be to deal with your own dogs and not allow them to bark furiously at the gate.

fryup

Calibos wrote: »

. For a long while now I have been saying to myself that I should ask them politely if they wouldn't mind walking past on the otherside of the road so as to minimise stress on our dogs as well as their dog.

ah come on now..they should cross the road:rolleyes: are you for real

ppink wrote: »

Walking the airdale on the other side of the road will not minimse the stress i think. the best thing may be to deal with your own dogs and not allow them to bark furiously at the gate.

exactly

piperh

Firstly let me say i'm sorry that your poor dog was hurt, however this was an accident waiting to happen. I understand the feeling your dogs are on your property but they are the aggressors in these situations and you really should be correcting this behaviour as it is unfair and unreasonable to expect people to avoid walking on that part of the street because they have no manners. What happens if someone is unaware of your dogs and their reactions they will walk past and next time the damage could be worse.

I hope your dog recovers quickly.

lrushe

Legally I think you could possibly present the Airedale owner with the bill for you dogs injuries.

Morally though I think you should also except your hand in the incident. Allowing your dog to boundary guard can lead to accidents such as this. Not so long ago there was a dog put down for biting a child who put it's hand through the dogs' fence to get it's ball back.
Any well socialised dog would find your dogs incessant barking at them everytime they walked by as extremely bad mannered and try to reprimand them.
Is the Airedale owner blame free, no of course not, so you could present them with the bill if you see fit.

paultf

Sorry to hear about your dog - nasty injury - hope he gets better soon.

Does your wooden gate lead directly onto the outside pavement/road? Or is there a drive leading up to your house?

If there is a drive and the offending dog came on to your property that might make a difference to whether you can claim or not?

PS I have metal side gates on the sides of my house and my dogs, the short time they would be outside, would bark at animals passing bye i.e. a cat in the front garden, a dog etc. Not sure how you would train them to stop them doing this. My next door neighbour has been broken into twice so at times I want my dogs to be vocal. Anytime they bark I always go outside to see what it is and to stop them (I don't want my neighbours to start complaining about noisey dogs). (A couple of weeks ago there was a couple of teenagers sitting on my front wall - my dogs started to bark - when I went outside I caught one of the teenagers on my drive teasing my dogs through the gate with a jumper!)

Oranage2

the other owner could just say your dog attacked his through the gate and he was defending himself.

also what if a kid but his hand through the gate, if your dogs bit the could find themselves put to sleep.

ISDW

This is a tough situation. We have a lot of threads on here about people walking their dogs and other dogs flying out of gardens and having a go at them, so posters get angry and say the dogs should be kept in their own gardens. The OP does that, but is still getting a bit of a slating for it.

I don't know about the legal situation I'm afraid OP, but I think that if this dog gets walked past your house every day, that the first thing you should do is talk to the owner. If they are reasonable, then maybe you could work together on this problem, as it is obviously an issue for both of you. Perhaps you could swap phone numbers, and they could phone you the next time they are going to be walking past your house. Then, when they get to your property you can be out with your dogs in your garden. You both work together with your respective dogs, you make yours sit, give them treats, they do the same outside with their dog. Maybe if you did this a few times, and every now and then thereafter, the dogs on both sides of the fence would come to view the other dog(s) as a good thing, and the animosity could stop. But, I do think that you and the other owner need to talk first.

Hope your dog is okay.

Calibos

First of all I would like to thank the many tactful replies.

I'll explain where I am coming from. I've never ever encountered a dog in a gated garden while out walking my own dogs that didn't bark at the gate while we walked past. I was under the assumption this was normal territorial behaviour, though it seems not, going on what has been advised in this thread. The fact that I thought it only right for myself to cross the roads at certain houses with my own dogs so as not to stress either set of dogs, made me assume it was wasn't too much of an imposition to ask if the owners of this particular dog wouldn't mind doing similar when passing our gate. Apparently I am wrong. Rationally, I'll accept that if thats what the experts say but I can't help my gut reaction which is that if it were me, I would cross the road of my own volition to avoid any stress or conflict whether it was my own or the other dog at fault or whether or not it was my god given right to walk wherever I pleased on the public highway.

The fact that our dogs are well behaved on walks and do not attack the gates of houses with dogs in the garden made me assume that the Airedales behaviour was aberant, its left on a long extendable leash and lunges and scrapes at the bottom of the gate with teeth bared every single time it is walked past. The owners invariably smile at me when I come out to correct my own dogs but only pull it away when its had enough itself. I didn't realise that it was my own dogs behaviour being territorial in their own yard which was aberant. I do always bring them back inside and scold them when they do this but they still do it the next day regardless.

Ironically it was the dog that needed the lesson least that got the harsh lesson. The ShihTsu female and other male Westie are the ones that bark 'furiously' at the gate at this Airedale, though never with teeth bared. The guy who got injured is the one who usually hangs back and who's barks are less rapid fire but more of a normal, 'Just lettin' you know I'm here' kind of bark. This time he was on his own in the yard, heard the dog coming, barked two or three times and went to the Solid Wood gate and stuck his nose and paws under the gate and started some deep sniffing. I was already on my way out the door of the house to call him in when I heard him start to bark when he started screeching as his paw was mauled.

The gate is mounted with litterally a 1 inch gap on the bottom between gate and ground. The gate is not down a driveway but on the public footpath. On one occasion last year the springed gate had been left unlatched by a family member(duly reprimanded) without anyone noticing. The gate opens into the yard but the spring held it closed over. ie. our dogs could not pull the gate open from the inside but it could be pushed open from the footpath side. When the Airedale went past that morning and did its usual lunge at the gate while left with about 20ft of slack on its extendable leash by its owner, it found the gate opened under its onslaught and it barged into the garden after our dogs before the owner could reel in the slack. Our guys jumped back and only for the fact that I was on my way out to call them in after the barking started, was I able to jump between the Airedale and out dogs and push him back out the gate by which time the owner had finally deigned to start reeling in the leash.

TBH, even if behaviourly my dogs are in the wrong and paw mauling is a suitable reprimand, I can't see how the owners could claim that their dog was attacked. Which dog has got the tiny paw that can fit under a gate with a 1inch gap. Who's two nails were found about a foot outside the gate on the footpath. Remember, This is a solid wood gate.

Like I said, rationally, I'll accept what you experts are saying but my gut keeps telling me that you don't let your dog lunge and scratch at the bottom of a gate to get at barking dogs inside day in day out.

I've blocked off the inch gap with some bricks which we'll move any time we need to use the gate.

Cherry Blossom

OP, I'll be as honest as I can here. I think that if my dogs were in the situation that yours are I'd come up with some sort of barrier to keep them back from the gate a bit, something like those moveable dog run panels that can easily be slid away when not needed.

That said in this case from what you have said in your last post there is absolutely no way the people walking the airedale have effective control of their dog in general, not just in this case when someone else was walking it. I would ask them politely if they would cover the cost of the veterinary bill and please consider getting help and advice from a qualified trainer in relation to keeping their dog under effective control while walking it on a lead.

<ETA> Just saw your last sentance now but I'd still go with keeping them back a few feet so as a dog on the other side has a little more space between it and them.

piperh

Calibos thank you for clarifying. Your right in saying most responsible dog owners wouldn't let their dog lunge at the gate and it does seem as though the Airdale was not under control.

And i'm certainly not an expert, seem like far from it some days my concern was that one day the damage caused could be far worse or if the dogs do continue to approach the gate in an aggressive manner and a child is hurt then you will be held accountable and no doubt feel guilty.

You have said you correct the dogs and the owner has seem you do this and you sound like a reasonable person so i would take others advice and talk to the owners. Perhaps without handing them a bill you could say your dog hurt mine and i had to pay x amount and see what they say.

Please persevere with the corrections for everyones sake and i really do hope the little fella recovers quickly.

Calibos

To clarify, I don't want anyone to think I am just looking for vindication of any sort. I welcome the critiscism of my own assumptions about responsibility or dogs behaviour (when made tactfully like nearly all here did).

From what I have learned in this thread, I accept that the blame can be shared equally. What I thought was normal territorial behaviour on my dogs part is infact not normal and actually can hopefully be dealt with with proper training. I had thought replacing an iron gate with a solid paneled wood gate was all I could do to mitigate these type of events. The gate was replaced with a solid gate a year ago now due to the territorial barking and me not wanting a kid to put his hand through the bars and get bitten. I witnessed a child put their hand through the gate once while I was in the garden with the dogs and while they didn't bite but instead moved back away from the gate and started barking, I realised at that time that I did not want to take that risk again. The new solid gate made the barking 10 times worse instead of better like I thought it would, because now the dogs couldn't see anything and just started barking at any strange noise other than human footsteps instead of just at the odd cat or dog they used to see going past. However, at least there was no risk of a kid getting bitten.

I now understand that there is more I should/could have done.

I just can't understand how up till now it didn't seem to wreck the other dogs owners heads every time our dogs made a racket and theirs pulled on the leash to lunge at the gate.

I've seen the Airedale out and about on the seafront with the owner/s and it seems well behaved and socialised around other dogs off the leash as are mine, though I have seen the Airedale also lunge at the gate of a house up the road that also have a little dog that barks at the gate at passing dogs. I can accept that the Airedale isn't necessarily a bad dog and isn't exactly in the wrong in terms of doggie etiquette. Its more the owners that I cant understand. Were they more aware of the rules of dog behaviour than I and felt my dogs needed to learn a lesson and that thats why they always seem to wait till their dog has had enough instead of pulling him away straight away??

Well, lesson learned by myself and a very painful lesson learned by the poor Westie that needed it least of my 3.

Given what I've learned here and that I must accept some of the blame, I'll put this one down to experience, not ask for the bill to be paid, but if offered only accept half due to some of the responsibility I must share.

lrushe

OP can I just say how refreshing it is for someone to come on here and completely take on board the replies he/she gets dispite them prehaps not being the replies they would have liked.

I hope your little guy gets well soon

Discodog

From a legal viewpoint I do not think that you would have a hope because their dogs did not enter your property. You might be able to argue that they failed to keep proper control of their dogs but they could equally argue that you should keep your dangerous dog fully enclosed. Your honour what would of happened if a child put it's hand under the gate ?

I am not suggesting that you were at fault or that your dog did anything wrong. I am just playing Devil's Advocate in how it might appear if it got to Court.

Graces7

As we were talking with our lawyer on another issue... The responsibility is totally with the owner of the Airedale, as it was not under control and was on public land. Period. And is known to behave aggressively to other well-confined dogs

We would in this case send the bill to that person; this dog is an accident waiting to happen. and unless someone calls the owner to account?

Wondering if the kind of lead you mention is accepted as proper control even.

You have gone to heroic lengths to prevent this kind of encounter...

Our guess is that the owner will simply pay the bill and make no fuss and think they have got off lightly.

Discodog

Graces7 wrote: »

As we were talking with our lawyer on another issue... The responsibility is totally with the owner of the Airedale, as it was not under control and was on public land. Period. And is known to behave aggressively to other well-confined dogs

We would in this case send the bill to that person; this dog is an accident waiting to happen. and unless someone calls the owner to account?

Wondering if the kind of lead you mention is accepted as proper control even.

You have gone to heroic lengths to prevent this kind of encounter...

Our guess is that the owner will simply pay the bill and make no fuss and think they have got off lightly.

If any lawyer thinks that it is that simple then I would make sure that they charge on a no win no fee basis. The OP's dog's paws were also on public land !. By all means send them the bill & they may pay it but if they don't then you need to be very sure of winning if you sue. You could easily find that you win the case, get your Vet bills paid but the Judge rules that each side pays it's own costs as there is an element of shared liability.

Graces7

Discodog wrote: »

If any lawyer thinks that it is that simple then I would make sure that they charge on a no win no fee basis. The OP's dog's paws were also on public land !. By all means send them the bill & they may pay it but if they don't then you need to be very sure of winning if you sue. You could easily find that you win the case, get your Vet bills paid but the Judge rules that each side pays it's own costs as there is an element of shared liability.

Lawyer is family..

The Ops dog was not the aggressor and the aggressor's owner was not in control.

A some stage, we get what we deserve in these cases; if we allow this to go unchecked?

Most of these matters simply never get to court so introducing legalism was not really here. Most of us submit the bill and that is enough for all parties.

A mention of court is often counter-productive thus. And scares the good folk off setting matters right.

The Sweeper

Calibos, you'd probably have more of a realistic case if the dog had bitten you, or if you had livestock believe it or not. The provision under the Control of Dogs Act 1986 for damage done by a dog is as follows:

Liability of owner for damage by dog.


21.—(1) The owner of a dog shall be liable in damages for damage caused in an attack on any person by the dog and for injury done by it to any livestock; and it shall not be necessary for the person seeking such damages to show a previous mischievous propensity in the dog, or the owner's knowledge of such previous propensity, or to show that such injury or damage was attributable to neglect on the part of the owner.


(2) Where livestock are injured by a dog on land on to which they had strayed, and either the dog belonged to the occupier of the land or its presence on the land was authorised by the occupier, a person shall not be liable under this section in respect of injury done to the livestock, unless the person caused the dog to attack the livestock.


(3) A person is liable in damages for any damage caused by a dog kept on any premises or structure to a person trespassing thereon only in accordance with the rules of law relating to liability for negligence.


(4) (a) Any damage or injury for which a person is made liable under this section shall be deemed to be attributable to a wrong within the meaning of the Civil Liability Act, 1961 , and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.


(b) Sections 11 (2) (a) and 11 (2) (b) of the Statute of Limitations, 1957 , shall apply to such damage.

So in theory you could hit the Airedale owner up for the bill.

However, if you were to present the owners with a bill for the injury their Airedale did to your Westie, chances are they could retaliate by presenting you with a notice to complain of nuisance barking...

Nuisance by barking dogs.


25.—(1) Where, on a complaint being made to the District Court by any person, it appears that a nuisance has been created as a result of excessive barking by a dog, the court may—


(a) order the occupier of the premises in which the dog is kept to abate the nuisance by exercising due control over the dog;


(b) make an order limiting for such period as may be specified in the order the number of dogs to be kept by the respondent on his premises;


(c) direct that the dog be delivered to a dog warden to be dealt with by him in accordance with the provisions of this Act as if the dog were an unwanted dog.


(2) Before any person makes a complaint to the District Court in relation to a nuisance caused by the excessive barking of a dog, he shall serve notice in the prescribed form, within such time as may be specified in the notice, of his intention to make such a complaint on the occupier of the premises in which the dog is kept.

The gap under the gate problem is rectifiable - hang your gate off the outside or centre of the gatepost, and place a barrier across the bottom of the gate posts on your side - including the option of putting in a shaped concrete ramp - just something to stop your dogs having access to the gap under the gate.

It was really unfortunate that your Westie managed to get any bit of himself under the gate.

Irish law isn't as strict as the laws where I am on the nuisance barking bit - in Victoria, nuisance barking includes dogs that rush at gates or fence lines when there are passers by. That's because, in all honesty, dogs that rush fence lines and gates really are a pain in the arse. They've frightened the life out of me more than once.

I have to be honest it irritates the bejesus out of me - myself and the dog ended up in the road one evening when walking a new route. We were passing a colourbond panel fence that had, bizarrely, a 4" square hole in it at ground level (like a proper cut hole? god knows why). We were tootling along and this border collie male was watching us through the hole, unbeknownst to us. When we drew level he attacked the fence line - so from silent to battering snarling and barking and throwing itself at the fence. Well Jesus the dog and I both went around in on the spot circles in the fright of our lives and he just took off in any direction, pulling me into the road with him. Thankfully it's residential and there was no traffic coming.

It is a territorial thing for a dog to attack a fence line or gate line, so yes, you were right about that - but it's still an unwanted behaviour. On that basis it's the same as other unwanted behaviours - it's up to you as the owner to do something about it.

I hope your westie will be okay. If I were you I'd chalk this one down to experience.

Calibos

Well, just back from a trip to our local Vet with the Westies (Butch and Sundance) and the ShihTsu (Cassidy). Butch and Cassidy for a checkup and yearly vaccination and they are due their next worming and Flea/Tick treatments about now anyway. Poor Sundance for all of the above and for his first dressing change in our regular vet as opposed to the emergency one in UCD.

The Vet always comments on how well behaved they are when being examined and poked and prodded. Especially Sundance what with the hair pulling as the dressing was being removed. God it looks nasty. An open fleshy wound where I presume the Airedales incisors scraped down the toe as it pulled, removing a patch of several layers of skin/flesh and then the nastiest looking bit which is the two long fleshy bloody nail pulps. The Vet wants him back for a dressing change on Thursday but if he doesn't see any drying out/pre keratinisation by then and he doesn't really expect to, he wants us to bring Sundance back in on Friday where they will put him under anesthetic and remove the nail beds/pulp to hasten healing and start nail regrowth from scratch. Lovely, thats another hundred or two :rolleyes: Cost is no object where the dogs are concerned but jaysus, I could do without this right now.

Was just out of bed this morning when I saw one of the actual owners walk past with the dog like as if nothing had happened. Now either the friend who walked the dog for them on Saturday who said nothing to me also said nothing to the couple that own the dog or she did tell them and they don't give a £$%^ I wasn't dressed so couldn't go after him to have a chat. That'll have to happen another day.

I'm also waiting to chat with a regular customer to our business nextdoor who I heard having words with the person who walked the dog on Saturday. While I stood in the yard tending to a screeching dog covering me in blood the person stood a few feet from the gate with the Airedale barking for a minute or two. Never said a word and then walked off. It was then I heard the customer have words with her out of sight behind the wall/hedge of our yard. With all the noise from the Airedale and Sundance I couldn't hear what was being said, so it will be interesting to talk to the customer about it next time he is in.

sambuka41

Calibos wrote: »

Was just out of bed this morning when I saw one of the actual owners walk past with the dog like as if nothing had happened. Now either the friend who walked the dog for them on Saturday who said nothing to me also said nothing to the couple that own the dog or she did tell them and they don't give a £$%^ I wasn't dressed so couldn't go after him to have a chat. That'll have to happen another day.

Wow thats cheeky as hell, unless like you say the person walking the dog didn't tell them. I would have a chat with the owner about what happened, even if its not for the costs. Its important that they know what their dog done and that the person walking him was not able to control him.

Having said that I'd agree with some other posters, dogs barking at the gate are a nuisance. I had two westies (both passed on now) and they are very territorial guys, more so than any other dog I've had but we did train them out of it. I found getting in between them and the gate and telling them to shut up worked!!

Maybe its a thing with all dogs but man could my Westie hold a grudge, he got into a row with our neighbours boxer when he was about 1, and for 13 years he hated that dog!! The boxer would ignore him but Scott went mental at the gate as the boxer went by, no stopping that. So be careful that when your guy is well enough again, he may hold it against the Airdale :rolleyes::D

ppink

When I was small I had 3 cats called Butch, Cassidy and Sundance:D

Hmmm it will be interesting to see what the owner has to say. If it was me and my dog did that i would be mortified and at least offer to pay half. Like you say though the owners amy not even know that happened on Saturday.
Hope Sundance does not need this op, poor little fellow

Discodog

Graces7 wrote: »

Lawyer is family..

The Ops dog was not the aggressor and the aggressor's owner was not in control.

A some stage, we get what we deserve in these cases; if we allow this to go unchecked?

Most of these matters simply never get to court so introducing legalism was not really here. Most of us submit the bill and that is enough for all parties.

A mention of court is often counter-productive thus. And scares the good folk off setting matters right.

Well with respect no lawyer can ever make any decision until they know what the argument of the other party will be. People have a funny habit of adjusting their story. The Control of Dogs Act is criminal law so unless one could persuade the Garda to act then it's pretty irrelevant.

But in reality legal action is going to be pointless because, as far as I know, it wouldn't be covered by the small claims Court & so the cost of suing would be astronomic with no guarantee of getting the money back.

Squall19

Calibos wrote: »

We've two West Highlands and a ShihTsu who bark at our solid wood gate when they hear dogs walking past.

Our lad put his nose under the gate and his paws and the airdale went for him.

Would I be naive in thinking that the owners of the airedale are liable?

Yes you would be naive.

Think of it as a lesson learned:D

Next time your little dog wont bark at the gate everytime a dog goes past as he will remember the time he had his ass kicked!!!

Your dog was barking, put his head out the gate for a scrap and got his ass kicked, he will learn his lesson now and will know better next time, simple ass.

Case closed.

Squall19

Calibos

Squall19 wrote: »

Yes you would be naive.

Think of it as a lesson learned:D

Next time your little dog wont bark at the gate everytime a dog goes past as he will remember the time he had his ass kicked!!!

Your dog was barking, put his head out the gate for a scrap and got his ass kicked, he will learn his lesson now and will know better next time, simple ass.

Case closed.

Squall19

:rolleyes:

Calibos

Talked to the owner last night. His wifes cousin was walking the dog for them while they were away at the weekend, he had warned her to have the dog on a shorter leash walking past our particular house, and while she did tell them there was an 'incident' she didn't tell them how bad it was. He was very apologetic. We showed him the vets bills as well as telling him about the probable operation on Friday, not to get him to pay but to show him how serious the incident had actually been. He had hoped both sets of dogs would eventually get used to each other but he has no problem crossing the road. We let him know that we knew our dogs were not blameless either and we would be making increased efforts to stop this behaviour. Hopefully we get things back to the point where he doesn't have to cross the road. I know the crossing the road thing was a sore point for a lot of posters and to re-iterate, I never said I would tell him to cross the road because obviously I have no right to, I said I would ask him and of course he was well within his rights to refuse. In the end he was very obliging and had no problem doing that and hopefully it will only be a short term measure while we give the dogs a 'timeout' from each other and work out how to modify the dogs behaviour.

ISDW

Squall19 wrote: »

Yes you would be naive.

Think of it as a lesson learned:D

Next time your little dog wont bark at the gate everytime a dog goes past as he will remember the time he had his ass kicked!!!

Your dog was barking, put his head out the gate for a scrap and got his ass kicked, he will learn his lesson now and will know better next time, simple ass.

Case closed.

Squall19

If you read the thread, the OPs dog didn't put its head out of the gate at all.

A lot of dogs 'fence fight' some of mine do it, but it is only that, its not real aggression. Sometimes one of mine will go into a pen, the gate will stay open, they will fence fight all along the pen with another dog outside, they get to the open gate, stop, look at each other and then go back along the fence again the other way, going mad at each other. They have the opportunity to actually fight, but they don't, its all a game.

Calibos wrote: »

Talked to the owner last night. His wifes cousin was walking the dog for them while they were away at the weekend, he had warned her to have the dog on a shorter leash walking past our particular house, and while she did tell them there was an 'incident' she didn't tell them how bad it was. He was very apologetic. We showed him the vets bills as well as telling him about the probable operation on Friday, not to get him to pay but to show him how serious the incident had actually been. He had hoped both sets of dogs would eventually get used to each other but he has no problem crossing the road. We let him know that we knew our dogs were not blameless either and we would be making increased efforts to stop this behaviour. Hopefully we get things back to the point where he doesn't have to cross the road. I know the crossing the road thing was a sore point for a lot of posters and to re-iterate, I never said I would tell him to cross the road because obviously I have no right to, I said I would ask him and of course he was well within his rights to refuse. In the end he was very obliging and had no problem doing that and hopefully it will only be a short term measure while we give the dogs a 'timeout' from each other and work out how to modify the dogs behaviour.

Thats good, if I was the airedale terrier's owner I would probably have started crossing the road myself tbh, to keep my own dog calm as much as anything else. Well done to both of you for being responsible owners and trying to find a solution to it.

westies4ever

hi OP, i also have two westies and I know how territorial and noisy they can be! Mine are the most well behaved and sociable dogs when out but when someone walks past or comes on to my property they go mad!

I'm lucky that i have a drive way so the gate to the side of the house is well back from the road, otherwise I'm sure I would have run into this issue myself!

You sound like a sensible and caring dog owner - points for not getting dragged into some of the frankly ridiculous, dramatic and antagonistic comments here.

Talking to the dog owner like a normal person rather than going off half cocked appears to have done the trick - I'm just glad your little dog will be ok - and I love the names btw!

KylieWyley

Calibos wrote: »

I just can't understand how up till now it didn't seem to wreck the other dogs owners heads every time our dogs made a racket and theirs pulled on the leash to lunge at the gate.

It probably did wreck their heads. However, the fact is that it was a public road they were walking on a pathway that they are entitled to walk and they should be allowed the right to walk along a row of houses without being harassed.

OP, your eloquent writing is masking the fact that your attitudes and assumptions are very flawed. Why do people assume that just because their pets are small, their barking is any less stressful/annoying/intimidating to passers-by than if their pets were big.

If you regularly had to walk past a house that had, for example, a German Shepherd or a Doberman, that (although well fenced in) was regularly permitted to bark at you as you passed, I'll bet you'd feel peeved and consider complaining.

I regularly encounter this bias when out walking. People immediately expect the larger dogs to be on leashes while the smaller dogs are allowed to run riot and run up to other dogs yapping away. The irony is that often times, the larger dogs are the more docile, calm creatures. Small dog owners have this "arragh, sure he won't do any harm attitude".

While its unfortunate that your little guy was hurt, I don't think it's right for you to expect, or accept any form of compensation. Your dog was the aggressor and the other dog was only defending itself.

The guy who got injured is the one who usually hangs back and who's barks are less rapid fire but more of a normal, 'Just lettin' you know I'm here' kind of bark. This time he was on his own in the yard, heard the dog coming, barked two or three times and went to the Solid Wood gate and stuck his nose and paws under the gate and started some deep sniffing.

- Aggressive, charging behaviour. Can you really blame the other dog for defending itself? It doesn't understand the physical constraints of walls and fences. As far as it's concerned, it's under attack and must defend itself. It is only an animal after all!

kildare.17hmr

completly agree with the above post, i certainly wouldnt be compensating you if it was my dog that had hurt yours in the same cercumstances. when ever my dogs are in the front garden they are tied up so they can only get to about 2 feet from the gate so nothing like this can happen

**Vai**

Totally disagree, that sounds like curiousity to me. Its not aggressive in any way. The poor dog got a ripped paw for being curious, I'd be furious if it was mine.