My dog has bitten another dog. Help

My dog was out in the back garden, and my neighbours dog was out in theirs, and my dog jumped over mine, and their fence and attacked it, and bit it. The other dog was ok, but I'm worried as the other dog owner says he is going to contact the police. I admit, this was totally my dogs fault - and therefore mine, as neither dog had a leash on. I'm worried now that i might be prosecuted. The thing is, my dog is 7 years old and has NEVER done this before. There were concerns as there were a lot of children out playing at the time, and his concern, was what if a child had got attacked. I told him i am very sorry, and that it had never happened before, and obviously my main concern would be the children too, but my dog is usually ever so friendly and is fine with kids. He said he will phone the police about it, and i am scared as to what might happen. No people were attacked or injured, just his dog, and like i said , this has never happened before. I am so disappointed with my dog, but i cant help it if she doesn't like another dog, and as nothing like this has ever happened before, i didn't have her restrained etc. Please tell me where i stand. Thanks
Additional Details
Yes, i have already apologised to the neighbour and i dont think their dog needs to go to the vets as he said she was ok, and was happily playing around in the garden.

Veston Pants

Further to previous answers which appear to be all WRONG the law in the UK can be summarised as follows.

Where a dog of previous good behaviour suddenly behaves in this way the owner is put "on notice". The doctrine is known as "first bite" and the dog is let off minor altercations such as this one.

As I mentioned, you are now "on notice". This means that you are now aware your pooch has these tendencies and may very well be legally liable for future behaviour as it is now not totally out of character.

I wish you luck. Incidentally your household contents insurance should pay for any liability.

xx VP

Meghan C

i would consult your neighbor and tell him what you just told us. apologize for your pets behavior

RaWr

you can be charged to pay or compensate the owners of the other dog for medical bills and emotional distress .

Cotton headed ninny muggins

You should just hope they don't contact the police - the worst case senario is that your dog is deemed dangerous and has to be destroyed. I know this because i have been in a similar situation but luckily enough the owner of the other dog did not contact anyone. You should maybe try and speak to the owner of the other dog and maybe offer to pay for a vet check up as a bribe to stop them calling the sspca/rspca or the police. Remember - this is the WORST case senario!

Good luck. I hope it all works out for the best. Try not to be too upset or worry yourself too much, i doubt the other owners will call the police!

svengteach

The animal control may remove your dog for 30 days since there was an attack. Did your neighbor take his dog to the vet? Offer to pay the bill. Also, look into reinforcing your fence so that it won't happen again.

ella,UK

i really don't know what to say but i am hoping your neighbours will not call the police and you can both try and get the fence fixed and talk about why it happened and stuff.
My thoughts are with you and i sincerely hope it was just a one off and you can talk about it with them and pray it doesn't happen again.

H3LP ? :(

hello
i think u wont get in trouble because ..
my nana used 2 own a BIG german shephard
one day a boy was touching its tail and it got angry and bit his leg quite bad.
my nana didnt get in a lot trouble and her dog was on its last chance if it attackted anyone else it had 2 be put down
so everything should be ok.
ur allowed to let your dog run freely in the back garden it was just a mistake
hope i helped [dont worry]
xxx

joan k

You will most probably be advised to keep the dog under better control in the future. I would suggest that you increase the height of your fence before any further problems occur

jolyth_a

Your dog was in your backyard, so it was restrained. If the man calls the police, then tell them what happened. I do not think that you are required to keep your dog chained in your back yard because that is considered cruel and unusual treatment by the SPCA. The police may ask you to raise your fence or build a kennel with a top to keep your dog in while you are out. Also, if they police have not shown up yet and this happened a few days ago (?) then I would say that you are okay.

Deonaid

There's differences between Scots law and rest of uk, the bottom line is - it's not people that were fighting, the husbands or the kids. It was dogs, it's in their nature regardless of breed and handling.

Witnessing dogs fighting is much more scary from an owners point of view, the sounds etc. It's just normal doggy behaviour, of course your neighbour is upset, but the police will have a calmer more rational view as they don't have the same bond the pet owner has.

Should your neighbour over react, and insist the police get involved, you point all of this out, the vet's the expert and they said their nothing wrong with the other dog. Your dog biting another dog is a different scenario from biting a person or dog fighting, that the only real dog offences the police are interested in.

Finally,your neighbour, as a dog owner, has the same responsibility for keeping his dog out of harms way, and even if his dog's a blind, 17 year old "rat on a rope" with three legs, if it has teeth, it's capable of harming a child.

Michael S

Usually in a first time scenario the police will simply tell you to keep your dog better restrained in the future. Especially if the other dog was not injured. This however depends on your local state and city laws

Marcus

In the UK the police would refer the matter to the local dog warden, (it's a civil matter not criminal). The dog warden is going to give you a warning and advise on what precautions you need to take to prevent it happening again.

You will have to pay his vets bill if there is one and the council will act if this happens again.

It's not as bad as it seems, the bloke is venting his anger because nobody likes their dog being attacked, but you will have to wait for him to calm down, to review fence arrangements.

Brad_J

Well from what info you have gave me, without adding in any other laws from specific states u will more then likely be liable for the vet bills for the dog, the cant sue u for any other things besides that, also its not likely u will be arrested over this. But more then likely u will have to go to a court date and pay some vet bills. also depending on what breed your dog is there might be some breed restrictive laws in your state that may hamper your pooch. hope that helped

xayanexchanx

You would not be getting prosecuted for this considering it is not your fault that your dog bit the other dog. (Did you atleast have a fence put up though? If you did not than you can get in trouble for failure to contain the dog)
Sadly however, depending on the ruling, and how bad the dog bit the other dog they might take the dog in.

SueBeeRoo

Do you have a pit bull, by chance?

Legally, since this is your responsibility, I wish you the best of luck. It appears your dog is unpredictable and can't be trusted.

ROBERT R.....

YOU ARE TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES AND DAMAGES. WHAT MAY HAPPEN IS THE AUTHORITIES MIGHT EVALUATE YOUR DOG AND COULD POSSIBLY HAVE YOU PUT HIM DOWN. A LOT MAY DEPEND ON YOUR NEIGHBOR AND HOW HARD THE ISSUE IS PUSHED. THERE IS A LEGITIMATE ARGUMENT IN TERMS OF THE KIDS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

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