My dog killed another dog that ended up in my fenced in back yard (TX) Need legal advice.

[Kandi]

It is so sad to hear what happened to the dog the neighbor was babysitting. I would be devastated if that were to happen to my beloved pet that I entrusted in a friends care.
Absolutely, positively preventable. Where were you? Kids will be kids, and need adult supervision, especially in situations like this. You knew your dog to be dog aggressive. I assume you knew the neighbors were dogsitting, and am sure you know they have a daughter. Common sense tells you the two girls would want to interact if the opportunity arises. Sadly, the small dog got caught in the middle and you were not there to prevent it, as you should have been.
Get a lawyer. Improve your fence--6 foot at least. Wooden would probably be better than chainlink, but no matter what you use. 4.5 feet fences are not enough to contain a large breed dog, be it a Rottweiler or a lab, doesn't matter. Another thing, if your Rottie is still intact, as you say he is, he will jump that fence if he smells a bitch in heat. That fence is not tall enough to even cause him to hesitate. He wants out bad enough, he's gone.
I completely understand your neighbors concerns about the fence and your dog. You are not doing what you need to do for your dogs sake. And, banning the dogs to the fenced in back yard is not good enough either. Dogs are social animals. Assuming you are its alpha, you have basically abandoned that dog to its own devises. Given time, it will be out of your control. Bring the dogs back into the house, and work with them. Continue with training them. They are a part of the family, baby or not. But again, never leave the baby or any other children alone with the dogs. And, never put the baby on the floor with the dog, for him to cuddle. Accidents do happen. You are talking, big dog here. But, such things are preventable if you act responsibly. Yep, your dog might decide the baby's toys are more fun to play with than his, then what?
MO, no reason to put the dog down for just being a dog, but you need to be a responsible dog owner, as do we all. My dogs are never left alone with my nephews and nieces. I have a 13 year old niece and i would still not leave my dogs alone with her. They are never left unsupervised, even in my home. If I am not downstairs, where I can keep an eye on them, they are confined to their crates. It is for their safety and mine.
Again, get a lawyer, and raise the fence. Good luck with the situation.

[harleychik66]

You have a post from Nov of 06 stating at that time your dog was 8 months old. Assuming this is the same dog he is now a little over 2. Yet your new baby is 9 months old and your dog is now spending a majority of his time outside. Why?? You should have known that this breed is a breed that needs to spend most of their time inside with their owners. You have let your dog down.

You now have a two year old, poorly socialized, unneutered male, who is left on his own much of the time.

Yet you allowed young children unsupervised to be outside. I don't care what the breed CHILDREN MUST BE SUPERVISED WHEN AROUND DOGS!!!!!!! You are very lucky. This could have been a far worse story than what already happened.

You need to take a good long look at your situation.

#1-Are you willing to put up a 6' fence? If not, are you at least going to ALWAYS be outside when your dogs are out?

#2- Are you going to bring your dogs back into the house and allow them to be part of your family? Remember it's not their fault you chose to have a baby and abandoned them to the backyard.

#3-Are you going to neuter your boy and get a trainer to work on his animal aggression? Spending extra time working with and training him not only in class but at home as well.

#4-Are you going to remember that a dog is still a dog and not allow any unsupervised time between your dogs and children?

If you can not answer yes to these questions, then I truly think you need to reasses the situation you have put yourself in. You will just have another "accident" waiting to happen.

The four things listed above are not all that difficult to accomplish. You have made your child a priority. You need to make your dog a priority too. Please don't let your boy down, he deserves so much better.

[gilby00]

well said harleychic and it's very true

[CleasMommy]

I'm so sorry to hear that this happened. Something like this happened to my Clea, and that's how I got her.

She had been living in a townhome with a small back yard. They neighbor had a pomeranian that would bark and harrass her thru the fence. Clea was on a walk with her owner (leashed) and her pomeranian neighbor had gotten loose and ran to Clea, attacked her and bit her on her neck a few times, then Clea defending herself bit the dog back, and broke the small dog's neck.

The pomeranian was dead, and the big bad rottweiler had killed it. The owner's home owners association told her she either needed to move out of the complex, or get rid of her dog (she was a renter). Clea was sent to an Los Angeles County Shelter. They refused to euthanize her, and by the grace of god ended up in a rescue in San Diego. This is where I got her.

When I went to pick up Clea she was lying in the lady's living room, with a POMERANIAN lying curled up next to her butt! The lady also had 3 autistic children and they were playing hopscotch over her head!!!! I could tell my little Clea was not a mean, vicious dog. Her unfortunate run in with the pomeranian was a horrbile accident. (I have contact with her previous owner who confirmed the story)

So long story short, I brought Clea home. She has never shown any signs of aggression. I can pull food right out of her mouth, or take a toy. We go on walks every day and there are little dogs all over the place, and she's never had a problem. We had her tied to a lead inside of the garage (so she couldn't get passed the garage opening) while we were working on the garage and we had a chihuaha run into the garage and start sniffing her and she was fine!

***After reading the rest of the thread (I was only on page 1 when I replied) I would really hope that you are going to make the suggested changes with your Dog.He needs to be apart of the family and just because you have a 9 month of baby is no reason to put a dog outside! You should put the time and energy into training your dog, and making him apart of the family. and have 6 foot high fences!!

[QuietDaze]

Poohbearsmom - thanks for the reply I'm still not sold on the vet responsibility, but I appreciate your point of view.

Actually I am thinking about how I manage my own animals. I have a fenced backyard and there are two small dogs to the right and one small dog to the left. Because Bella IS dog aggressive she is never outside alone. She's also a jumper AND digger so her getting into either neighbor's yard is a possibility. What I hadn't considered is Kane. He is not an escape artist, isn't dog aggressive to my knowledge - however, I don't know how he would respond to one dog in his yard. (there was an incident last year where a little pack of dogs had him cornered in our old yard) It is definitely something to think about because I have no problem leaving him out there alone. I don't even think about it, just visually check on him here and there. It's something to consider.