Dogs roaming free: who's liable if they get hurt?

[Marseeya]

When I was leaving to take the kids to school this morning, yet another little dog was wandering around free, tormenting my chained-up big dog. He was the cutest little beagle and I was so afraid he would get just a little too close as my dog was lunging at him. Then he ran behind my car as I was backing out, so DS tried to chase him away.

It just got me to thinking -- what if I HAD hit him? What if my dog HAD grabbed him and hurt him?

Am I legally responsible for paying vet bills?

Am I ethically responsible? (I would feel at least partially ethically responsible)

Drives me nuts. We have leash laws (don't most communities?). Why should I have to go through the guilt and heartache, plus having to pay for someone else's roaming dog?

What say the rest of you?

 

[CheshireVal]

If you have leash laws, then I doubt you'd be responsible.

 

[Laz]

In most states it comes down to whether you took reasonable care in containing your pet and the fact that the other owner did not take reasonable care in containing his/her pet. The question becomes what is "reasonable."

Please understand I am not a lawyer and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

 

[Marseeya]

Please understand I am not a lawyer and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

I do have to say, I love living in such a dog friendly neighborhood. Nobody really worries about barking because everybody's dogs bark! For some reason, though, our house is the one they seem to gravitate to. My dog has made friends with some of the other dogs, but there's still a chance of her hurting them because she's so much bigger.

 

[mickeyminnie]

the owner of the animal is always liable for controlling him or her. If the dog is wandering the neighborhood it is not under control. If it bit someone, you can bet that owner would be liable and probably sued. People like this are the reason leash laws were invented, obviously common sense is beyond them.

People who don't take care to control their animals and protect them from traffice and such, must not care a great deal about that animal.

One more thing, I am talking about town animals mostly here, farm animals seem to be better at being loose and staying off the road, but not always and then the owner is to blame for the training, however, I do realize that farm dogs often have a "job" and being loose is part of that job. In town there are too many opportunities for a dog to get into trouble to be loose without supervision.

 

[ElizK]

We had a dachshund get into our fenced back yard through a hole in the fence between our yards. Our male chow mauled this little dog. The other dog's owner spent $1500.00 trying to save him, but he ended up dying anyway. While we certainly felt terrible about this, and we made the decision to give up this dog since we (and the other family) had small children, we were not legally responsible since our dog was in our yard. What an awful experience that whole thing was.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

We have two 100 lb. labs who have a huge fenced in yard to run in. Our neighbors ACROSS THE HIGHWAY got a puppy - not sure what breed but it's white with a stocky body and short legs.

ANYWAY.... this puppy immediately started coming into the fenced in yard (it could squeeze between the fence post and the brick house). If anything would have happened, there is NO WAY I would have paid a cent to help their dog - it would have been their negligence that allowed the accident to happen. As the dog grew... I think it became too "fat" to squeeze through, so now it just comes over and torments my dogs.

Why people feel the need to let their dogs run free is beyond me.

 

[Disney Doll]

I trhink people who allow their dogs to roam are being abusive. There is so much that can happen to a roaming dog.

 

[HoneyPooh]

Our dog is never loose, he is always on the zip line, on a leash or inside the house. Our neighbors however, have a large dog that they let out a few times a day and just let it go wherever. He doesn't seem mean, but he barks at everything that moves. Since we live on a street that lots of people walk up and down it causes a problem because people keep having to run from him. Also, if he's outside and we have anyone coming and going from our house he comes in to our front yard and barks at them. Bugs the heck out of me and scares visitors. I REALLY wish they did not let him out loose.

 

[WIcruizer]

Am I ethically responsible?

Legally responsible, probably not. Ethically? I think that depends on the attitude of the owner. If they wold accuse me of hurting or killing their pet and putting me in a defensive position, I would not pay for anything. If it was someone who took responsibility for letting the dog run free, especially if it's someone I know, I would offer to pay for a portion.

 

[Crankyshank]

It's pretty likely the beagle was an escape artist and got himself out of his yard. not all dogs running free are abused or allowed to roam at their whim. I wish there weren't so many irresponsible pet owners, though.

If the dog came into your yard and was injured you wouldn't be found liable. Especially if you show that you put forth every effort to protect the public from your dog.

 

[Pam]

It's pretty likely the beagle was an escape artist and got himself out of his yard. not all dogs running free are abused or allowed to roam at their whim.

That's what I was thinking, too, Crankyshank! I'm the "mom" of a beagle, too. They are great escape artists and if they get on the scent of a rabbit, they are faster than a lightning bolt! (Well, that's my opinion! )

 

[Crankyshank]

That's what I was thinking, too, Crankyshank! I'm the "mom" of a beagle, too. They are great escape artists and if they get on the scent of a rabbit, they are faster than a lightning bolt! (Well, that's my opinion! )

oh yeah. I have a 52lb harrier beagle that you never see run unless she's caught a scent and then it's blink and you miss her. My other one can jump my 4ft 6in retaining wall easily. We spent thousands of dollars making our backyard beagle escape proof and he proved us wrong on day one. Fortunately he's too much of a mama's boy to go far.

 

[mrsheppo]

Unfortunately, I am going through this right now. My next door neighbors have 5 pit bull pups about 10 weeks old. This is the 2nd litter this year and each time the pups are weaned, the neighbors open the gate and let them roam free. I have called Animal Control 3 times last week. Yesterday, a lady stopped by to ask where the dogs were because she had seen them wandering in the middle of the street and we live on a high traffic road.

I came home one day last week and 3 had crawled under my gate and were provoking my dogs. I have a chain link fence around my entire property and my dogs are not allowed outside the fence without a leash. Animal Control told me they can't do anything unless they find the dogs loose or if they come back in my yard and I capture them until Animal Control arrives.

I wish they would just get their dogs fixed to avoid any further litters since they don't seem to care about the welfare of their pets.

 

[Marseeya]

It's pretty likely the beagle was an escape artist and got himself out of his yard. not all dogs running free are abused or allowed to roam at their whim. I wish there weren't so many irresponsible pet owners, though.

If the dog came into your yard and was injured you wouldn't be found liable. Especially if you show that you put forth every effort to protect the public from your dog.

The beagle was just one instance (OMG, he was so cute too -- beagles are among my favorites). There are three neighbors on either side of me who have what look like ****zus (they're tan colored, not sure) and all three of them are allowed to run free. Those three are out every day, plus there's a whole variety of dogs here and there that come around on any given day.

 

[Marseeya]

We had a dachshund get into our fenced back yard through a hole in the fence between our yards. Our male chow mauled this little dog. The other dog's owner spent $1500.00 trying to save him, but he ended up dying anyway. While we certainly felt terrible about this, and we made the decision to give up this dog since we (and the other family) had small children, we were not legally responsible since our dog was in our yard. What an awful experience that whole thing was.

That's so sad. Did you and your family witness the whole thing? That would be so traumatizing.

 

[boomhauer]

I was driving to work a few months back. I had just left my house, wasn't going fast. However, out of nowhere, 2 big dogs came running out in front of my car. I slammed on the brakes, but I hit one.

The dog got up and limped off. Nothing I could do. When I got to work, I called the police to tell them. They told me it was the owner's responsibility as we have a leash law in the town. They also said I did the right thing by calling the police.