Rottie attacked by unleashed dog, yet is blamed?

[BrianG]

Here's the situation. This weekend my 10 year old daughter was walking my 10 month old Rottie down a street next to mine when she noticed a white puff ball (Bichon) running after her and the dog, it caught up and bit the ankle of my dog, my dog turned around and grabbed that little dog by the tail and swung around a few times dropped it and went after a bird. My daughter did try to pull him away but once he had hold of the dog that was it. Once the dog was dropped he got up walked over and urinated on a bush with a very limp tail, then its owner came and retrieved it and proceeded to the vet. A neighbor of mine helped my daughter back home with the dog and I had her calm down and write a statement as to what happened. About this time animal control pulls up with the owner of the little dog and I go outside to deal with this. The owner asked me to help with the vet bill, I asked her why her dog was not on a leash, she said "excuses... why your daughter walk that monster, she is too small". Well needless to say owner went to the vet, I stayed and had a conversation with animal control and she concluded both parties were at fault, mine allowing my daughter to try and walk a big dog. I was not cited but was given a 10 day quarantine due to peircing the skin of the little dog. I attempted later that day to reimburse the owner half the vet cost and she blew me off and said she was too busy to deal with it. Sunday passed till about 8 pm when her and the breeder who lived 2 doors down came to my house with the bill in hand and they showed it to me and I explained I had cash to cover half since their dog was not on a lead. The breeder, said that's irrelevant, you had your daughter walking a dog she can't control, we want full reimbursment. At this time I called my wife out and I told her what the lady had said, my wife said "No, your dog attacked mine first and was not on a leash, therefore you will get only half." The breeder said in a belligerant tone "It does not matter about the leash" Your in the wrong here, Your daughter walked that dog down and it attacked ours".. An ourright lie and my neighbor is witness to prove that.
My wife said "this is done, get off my property", the breeder said "You'll be hearing from WAVY news 10". and left. We then went to my neighbor's house and he said call the police to get a record adn let them know you were harassed. We did and the officer said if they return, call me back but I am turning this over to animal control now and the A/C officer stayed answered more questions and put us at ease. He said the only way these people can do anything is to sue and they don't have a leg to stand on since their dog was not on a lead and the fact we were willing to cover half was more than enough.
Well needless to say, I think the local news is busy covering tornados, we've not seen them yet and the initial A/C is coming tomorrow to follow up and my wife will then fill her in. I've since documented all events with a time line to keep our ducks in a row should this go farther. Any worthwhile advice is appreciated. I don't hate little dogs, I have 2 of them, this was an unfortunate incident and we are trying to recoupe with out having a "dangerous dog" designation stuck to our Rottie pup.

[rytek1]

I would walk by that house every day with video recorder in hand. These people sound like they feel they have done nothing wrong at all and most likely will continue to allow their dog off leash. Video tape it when it does.

[angel girl]

I hate little puff ball owners like that. It makes me look bad.

It's sad that a girl can't walk her dog anymore, regardless of breed. I always was the one walking/running/hiking/biking Lucky. I was the only one to take her to obedience, and I was 12/13 at the time.

I probably would not have offered any money if the little brat bit my dog, but that's just me. My view is that the owner of the fleabag is 100% responsible because this incident could have been 100% avoided if they knew what a leash was. I've gone so far as to hand out spares (cheap Wal-Mart ones) the same as I hand out scooper bags when I see an owner not picking up after their dogs.

[Anne]

Originally Posted by angel girl

I hate little puff ball owners like that. It makes me look bad.
It's sad that a girl can't walk her dog anymore, regardless of breed. I always was the one walking/running/hiking/biking Lucky. I was the only one to take her to obedience, and I was 12/13 at the time.

I probably would not have offered any money if the little brat bit my dog, but that's just me. My view is that the owner of the fleabag is 100% responsible because this incident could have been 100% avoided if they knew what a leash was. I've gone so far as to hand out spares (cheap Wal-Mart ones) the same as I hand out scooper bags when I see an owner not picking up after their dogs.

There's no need to call the small dog nasty names Angel Girl. It's non productive. Why upset those of us here who have small dogs and Rottweilers? It's the owners of the small dog who are at fault for allowing their dog to run off lead. Of course the incident was avoidable, most incidents are if we know what to expect but they usually take us by surprise. Tell us how "puffball" owners can possibly make you look bad. Only you can do that.

BrianG I would not allow a 10year old child to walk a Rottweiler. Most children of that age are small and have neither the physical strength nor the emotional capacity to deal with a problem should it arise.

I'm sorry for your daughter, this isn't her fault. Please don't place the responsibility of walking your Rottweiler in her hands, you need to walk your dog yourself or at least have an adult walk him.

I don't see how you are responsible for part of the vet bill for the little dog. Had it been on lead and under control this wouldn't have happened. I believe you made a generous offer that was clearly not appreciated by these irresponsible dog owners.

I wouldn't worry too much about the threat to get the local news involved. I doubt they would be at all interested. It's not really riveting news.

I hope this all works out well for you and please keep us posted.

[angel girl]

Tell us how "puffball" owners can possibly make you look bad. Only you can do that.

I am a little "puffball" owner. Granted she just got shaved down for the summer, so there isn't much "puff" left on the ball. I love her dearly, but even she has her moments I want strangle her. Then she turns those big boogley eyes on you and you think 'damnit, i'm supposed to be mad at you.'

And its simple. Many people (quite often "big dog" people, but by no means all of them) see small dogs as annoying ankle biters who constantly aren't held to the same standard of behavior as larger dogs for the sake of their size. They are harassed by these pint-size pups repeatedly and finally just throw in the towel. It's irresponsible owners of small dogs that make the rest of us look bad because they are so much more visible.

Even with a leash and training, mine can be a brat. Lucky let her get away with a lot of attitude while she was alive and so does her LabXPitt buddy (who grew up with small dogs). So to be responsible and for her safetly, she's on a leash when not in a safe zone, especially since the focus work with the clicker isn't going so well.

[targonrotts]

i totally agree with anne.
in this day and age, i would not let a 10 year old walk a dog of that size alone. he can be a great and friendly dog, but it is incidents like these to try to avoid.
but she walked him and it happened.

i think you were generous enough to offer to pay for 1/2 her bill when it was her dog that was off leash and ran up to them. and as A/C put it, both were at fault, so at most, even if goes to court, i believe the most you would get is 1/2 her bill.

unfortunately, due to our breeds reputation- even if we were not involved, somehow they will put us on the spot.
if you are in training class and a dog growls, everyone looks towards the rott.
if you are in a dog park or activity and someone says a dog bit another, they all turn towards the rott.
i know. been there gotten that.

hopefully the news stations in the area are not sensationalized reporters like here. they love those stories to blow out of proportion.

good luck and hope things calm down.
be careful.

[zorro13]

BrianG: I agree with the others, do not have your daughter walk your dog, she is too young. Check your local laws, here minors are not permitted to walk dogs without adult supervision for the very reason of what happened in your case. Any loose dog is a threat to a person and the dog they walk, what if this were a bigger dog and attacked your daughter as well?

[GypsysMom]

I feel you were more then generous to offer to pay 1/2 the vet bill, I myself probally would not if a dog came off the property and go after one of my dogs, when we had the neighbors dog attack mine, the owner did pay my vet bill, he actually should have paid the recurring bill after my dog had a seronma due to the attack, but I paid that.

With animal control here, I did contact them the next morning and they did nothing about it and this was the 5th time I had called on this dog being off his property, now I do feel if the situation was reversed something would have been done becuase of the different breeds.. I also agree not to allow your 10yr old to walk the dog, I know my 10 yr old daughter cant walk my 10month old he out weighs her by 15 pounds. we dont have any laws stating the age you can start walking certain breeds, except Detroit, you have to be over 16 to walk a pitbul.. if you are caught the dog is sent to ac or the humane society and i beleive the parents receive a violation


Good luck

[BrianG]

Thanks to everyone for response and opinions. We have eliminated our daughter from walking Sirius. It's also good to know all of you are one the same sheet of music as to how my wife and I see the situation. Today we'll talk to the first animal control officer and go from there, I'll keep you posted and thanks again for the insight.
Brian

[keller27]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Thanks to everyone for response and opinions. We have eliminated our daughter from walking Sirius. It's also good to know all of you are one the same sheet of music as to how my wife and I see the situation. Today we'll talk to the first animal control officer and go from there, I'll keep you posted and thanks again for the insight.
Brian

I would hate for your daughter not to be able to walk her dog. When I am working with children in class I or the parents will have an extra leash on the dog and be walking behind them. So if a correction has to be made or if there needs to be more control there is someone to back up the child. I just think that its important that she walks the dog.

Yeah, there are chihuahuas who live behind us, and they will run up behind Khori and try to bite him. They are nasty little dogs who will bite the hand who feeds them.

We got approached by a german shepherd off leash too last week. Why people don't think leashes are important I have no clue except that they are stupid.

In my opinion, I wouldn't pay anything to them. They were not watching their dog and they put their dog in a situation to be harmed. I know my rottie wouldn't have tolorated that.

This has happened to a Mastiff with a chihuahua, and these neighbors has put up flyers all over the neighborhood saying this lady has a dangerous dog. She won't even take her dog out for walks anymore. I think that is harrassment. The flyers should be on the chihuahua and the owner.

[Weily4Life]

I agree with A/C officer, both are at fault.

The owner of the puffball should have been in control of there animal and a 10 year old does not have the physical strength or mental capacity to deal with a situation such as this should it arise. There could be other situations that also might arise that would need intervention that requires an adult, this was just one example.

IMHO though, DO NOT eliminate your daughter from the enjoyment of taking the dog for a walk. You or the wife also go. Then you will have the opportunity to teach her skills or techniques to use in various situations and enjoy the family activity.

[poohbearsmom]

I love folks who blow off leash laws. Sigh.

You are also at fault, as the A/C officer stated, and others have concurred.

It's an awful big responsibility to put onto a 10 year old. I wouldn't even let my 16yo son walk our dogs around the neighborhood.... specifically because of the possibility of occurances such as this one.

Had your daughter been in the middle of a dog fight, that might have turned out disasterously! As it is, she likely feels responsible for the incident (as children can when put into situations like this), so I'd suggest that you make sure you discuss this with her and put her at ease.... that all the adults in the situation were wrong, and tell her why. It's not that you don't trust her, but some responsibilities are better left to adults, for very good reason.

It's good that you have record of contacting the Police, and that A/C is now aware of the situation.

[jlaack]

This weekend my 10 year old daughter was walking my 10 month old Rottie down a street next to mine when she noticed a white puff ball (Bichon) running after her and the dog, it caught up and bit the ankle of my dog, my dog turned around and grabbed that little dog by the tail and swung around a few times dropped it and went after a bird.

It is quite obvious at 10 months and based on your pups behavior that she is not a well trained dog with excellent leash manners. Therefore your 10 yo daughter should not be walking her unless in your presence. I walk my dogs on a slack leash in one hand on a martingale collar but there are very few persons beside my husband that I would entrust with the responsibilty of walking my dogs. One reason is most people don't have the ability to really read my dogs and redirect them before they react and I wouldn't expect a 10 yo to have this ability either, let alone the judgement skills to react appropriately after the fact. Heck, I've made mistakes before in handling my dogs and I have more years experience than your daughters 10 years of age!

I completely understand your frustration as far as the dog being at large. I experience this a lot here or dogs on 25' foot fully extended leashes that IMO are basically 'at large'. I think both owners are at fault, but since the damage was not excessive, please use this as a learning experience.

Had your daughter been in the middle of a dog fight, that might have turned out disasterously!

No doubt! I'm glad that wasn't the case this time.

[StephanieandToby]

I believe in my area there's a bylaw stating that a dog needs to be in the care of a "competent" person.
IMO, a 10-year old child is not competent enough to walk a large dog.

Therefore, I side with AC who says you are both at fault.

I think paying half the bill is fair and the owners of the small dog should accept your payment.

Do not pay them cash...pay them by cheque.

[rockygirl78]

i'm not sure of your leash law in your area but if it were me i would get a copy of it and mail it to the owner and her breeder along with a long lead training leash that can be tied to a tree or a fence so that this doesn't happen to you or anyone else in the future.
best of luck in dealing with this issue