Babies: 9 - 12 Months

NBR: Need opinions on who pays for this (long)

Heya,

we have been watching our friends dog while they were out of town.  He's a huge yellow lab, generally very sweet, but somewhat high maintenence.  He had gotten in several tiffs with the neighbor dog through the fence, so I started tying him up whenever we put him outside.  So he dug a HUGE hole (big enough to fit his 80 lb self).  It was funny but a pain.  DH felt we were tying him up too much, so let him run free in the backyard without being tied when DH was there.

Long story short (or a little shorter) he got in another tiff with the neighbor dog (through the fence) and ended up with a huge gash in his leg.  You could see tendon, it was pretty bad.  DH is a doctor, wanted to sew it up himself, but it required restraining a huge dog who is known to bite.  And DD was crying, so I was distracted even though I was helping.  It was a mess.  I talked him into taking our friend's dog to the emergency vet, I just didn't feel comfortable doing it.  The vet had to sedate him (see??  I was right that he's big and can bite) and give stitches.  The whole thing ended up costing $370. 

So my question: who pays?  DH felt like we should.  That hadn't even occurred to me, I felt like our friends should.  Now I'm thinking we should offer to split it?  Our friends already said they'd pay, I just don't want this to cause a rift... what would you do? 

Re: NBR: Need opinions on who pays for this (long)

  • i think you should at least offer. you should not have left him unrestrained if you you even had an inkling he could cause trouble.

    good luck-- i hope everything turns out okay!

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  • since i don't have a spare $370 lying around, i would hope they would pay.

    quick question...did they make you aware that this dog had some behavior issues?

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  • Yikes that's a tough question.  On one hand you were doing them a favor by watching the dog, and since it is their dog they should pay. But on the other hand you accepted the responsibility of watching over the dog, and he was hurt in your care.  I guess I'm not really comfortable picking a side of which YOU should do.  However if it were me I would probably feel so bad that the dog got hurt while in my care that I would take care of the bill, even if it was tough financially on you. 

    If they've already offered to pay I would just split the bill, since it's not like you're asking for $ at that point.  I hope it works out for you!  $ is not worth causing a rift between good friends, and I think that's what's most important.

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  • I think since they offered to pay for it already I would offer them money to cover ? of it - as in directly attempt to give them a check or cash.  If they adamantly refuse it, then don't worry about it.  If they take it then I think that is fair too.
  • imagettmccoot:

    i think you should at least offer. you should not have left him unrestrained if you you even had an inkling he could cause trouble.

    good luck-- i hope everything turns out okay!

    Not sure if this changes anything, but the neighbor dog was not in the backyard, so we thought it was fine.  Turns out the neighbor dog was loose in the neighborhood (neighbors fence has issues) so he had come to a part of the fence we didn't even think to monitor. 

  • I think you should offer to pay.  If it was my dog, I would pay the bill, but it would be nice for you to offer.
    J - 9/6/09 L and A - 1/17/12
  • sam19sam19 member

    I agree with Cooter. Or at least offer to pay half.

    You said he got in a tiff with the dog before so you left him unrestrained knowing it could happen again. Was the other dog hurt at all?

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  • if they've offered to pay then i'd offer to pay half.

    the dog was under your watch after all.

  • imagekiwi443:
    I think you should offer to pay.  If it was my dog, I would pay the bill, but it would be nice for you to offer.

    This. I assume you were doing them a favor by watching the dog?

  • It's their dog, but it was your call to untie him. I would go halfsies.
  • Wait, did the neighbor dog cause the gash or did the fence?

    If the neighbor dog did it while the dog was in your backyard, I think the neighbor dog's owner should pay.

  • imageTrixie6717:

    Wait, did the neighbor dog cause the gash or did the fence?

    If the neighbor dog did it while the dog was in your backyard, I think the neighbor dog's owner should pay.

    This.  Ifthe neighbor dog was in YOUR yard b/c it was loose then THEY should pay for it.  Depending on how friendly you are with that neighbor you can take them to small claims court to try to get the $ (never done it myself but I've seen a million similar cases on the People's Court!).  I think it depends on which dog was the agressor and the instigator. 

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  • Honestly, if the neighbors dog was running around unrestrained and caused the gash, I think THEY should be offering to pay for half of it. I'd be mortified if my dog did that.

    Otherwise I think you should offer to pay half. If it were my dog, I wouldn't let you, but the offer would be nice.

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    Annelise 3.22.2007 Norah 10.24.2009 Amelia 8.7.2011
  • I don't know if it was the fence or the neighbor dog that ACTUALLY caused the gash.  It happened through the fence; the neighbor dog was on the other side of the fence, I don't know how he could possibly have gotten his teeth through.   It was unclear enough to me that I'm not about to take our neighbors to small claims court.  I feel like our society is far too litigious.  And I think the agressor was probably our friends dog (my husband was there when this happened, not me, I just heard it when it happened and came outside.) 

     

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