After work I walked my dog (black shepherd/rottweiler cross) around the neighbourhood. It's like any normal day. Dog walking by my side and randomly going to sniff any pole(trees/poles/fences).

Both my dog, Ares, and the little dog (5lbs), Marley, were leashed.


During my walk, up ahead, we saw another dog(marley. It was an old lady (50s), a boy(4-6), and a girl(7-8). The owner of the dog is the old lady. The kids are their grand kids whom are over for the weekend. The person walking marley was the girl. At first, I slowed down to see what their reaction were. I noticed that the girl held marley back a bit then let him go forward to meet ares. At that point, I walked forward with ares so they could socialized. At first, both dogs sniffed each other. Then the small dog moved quickly to it's left, and kinda kissed ares. Then that's when ares grabbed marley by the neck. Ares had marley by the neck for about 30-45 seconds according to the girl. During this point, the lady was just yelling and shouting (let him go, omg marley, he's gonna die etc.) Once the dog was out of ares' mouth, I told her to stay, calm down and said let's exchange information. She was just walking away yelling while the dog was being held in a baby position by the lady. Marley was in shock, squealing. The girl ran back to their house and called the grandpa. I tied ares to a tree and went to the lady to calm her down. She calmed a little until the husband came. Grandpa was furious. asked wtf was i thinking. Was he on a leash etc. Then they drove off to the nearest vet only to find out it was close. I told them to go to another location that's open 24/7. When I asked the older sister to call, the grandpa was calm and told me the status of marley. They said that the vet said he got punctures on his neck and they had to shave his neck. They did an xray and found 4 punctures and no vital organs damaged. The dog is now staying at the vet overnight.


TL/DR version

Both dog was walking in the same direction. The girl let marley approach ares. Marley kissed ares or somethign and ares bit marley by the neck. Grandpa found out and furious walking towards the incident. Ares had Marley on his mouith for 30-45 sec. Grandpa was calm and told me the status of marley 30 min after they got to the vet. They said that the vet said he got punctures on his neck and they had to shave his neck. They did an xray and found 4 punctures and no vital organs damaged. The dog is now staying at the vet overnight.


Question.

As i am young not financially stable, my main concern is the bill. I know that my dog have encountered small dogs before - all were fine. This was the only instance this happened.

How do i go abouts with the bill. Is it a 2 way split or a one way to me?

I don't know of any rule that forces a dog owner to pay for a vet bill. As far as I know, people pay them to be polite about it.

If I'm wrong, you could always try to deal with the lady and explain to her that you're not in position to pay the bill in one payment and try to agree on something with her ...

We manage to agree in a payment in installments. The guy was very generous. told me that he doesn't care when i give him the money as long as hell get it.

If it was her dog's fault, take her to court and get her to pay the vet bill. I've seen it plenty of times. Dogs are considered property, so the owner is liable for what they do.

EDIT.

I misread that. Yeah, expect to pay for her dog's vet bills. You are at fault for what your dog does. Sorry, but expect the owner to be calling you or possibly a notice to appear in court.

This post was edited by BunnyGirl on May 20 2013 09:41am

I decided to make a redflag account and this is the rest of the story
I know being a student and financially instable isn't an excuse

I was talking to the 2 kids that were home and were present during the time. the kid didnt know anything but the girl walking the dog saw their dog bite or whatever on my dogs nose. After that incident, that's when my dog bit their dog. My dog has been with small dogs, played with small dogs, and our neighbours dog from last year was a small dog. That dog would run to our yard and play with my 2 100+ pounder dogs.

I also found out that their dog has nnever been/encountered small dogs like that before. So i suppose the way their dog reacted gave a negative feedback to my dog... who knows right?


accidents do happen and no matter how good of a temperament your dog has, ***** happens. It's practical.

TL/DR
It was the small dog that went first.


/need-your-help-large-dog-bites-little-dog-1340136/
tons of flamers lol