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(OT) I need advice


sfladave

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I was walking my dog in my apartment complex today and a BIG German Sheppard attacked my dog. He got a couple of bites in before I was able to separate them.

 

Rocco, my dog, has several 3-4 inch lacerations, one of which is 2 inches deep. They had to operate on him, but he should be ok in time, but I'm going to have a BIG vet bill($5-7 hundred). The dog that attacked Rocco has done this twice before to other dogs in the complex. The owner lets his dog walk around with out a leash, and several people including myself have told him that he needs to keep his dog leashed, but he has brushed off the suggestions saying we worry too much.

 

The owner of the dog, who I know, said he'll pay the vet bill. The problem is that I know he is currently unemployed and was evicted from this complex at the beginning of December, and has since moved into another person’s apartment in this complex. I'm sure that he will have a hard time coming up with any money.

 

One of my neighbors said that perhaps my apartment complex could be held liable because they knew he was still living here without being on a lease. Does anyone know if that is true? I'm going to call the police or animal control to document the incident, does anyone have any other suggestions for me?

 

The kicker is that I know this guy, but he isn't a close friend. I wanted to bash him upside the head with a baseball bat because it was his stupidity that did this to my dog, but he's a big guy (in fact he played for the Bills and several other football teams a few years ago).

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One thing for certain is to make sure Animal Control knows about this dog anytime anything like this happens. They want to know about any episodes like this, so if necessary they can remove the dog.

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You have to decide if the money is the issue for you, or stopping his dog, or what. I'd ask him for a check immediately, and consider a police report if one is not immediately available. You could at least say filing the report was the only hope of geting any $ from home owner / renter's insurance.

 

Tough spot.... I'd add a bit more, but I've got to run (my ride home is leaving).

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THis sounds like a lawsuit against the apartment complex owner waiting to happen.

 

- You get the money back you spent

- He will kick out the idiot tenent

 

By the way.....it sucks that this guy wont control his dog....I happen to love German Shepards who are extremely smart, good family dogs if they are brought along correctly. I own one and he is awesome

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Very sorry to hear about your dog (along w/ your nasty vet bill); hope he comes out okay.

The guy promising to pay the vet bills is a good step, but by your description appears to be an empty promise. I don't know if he would actually be liable or not.

Question - was your dog leashed? If not, it could be claimed that your dog was the instigator. (My dog got attacked by a pit bull in a similar situation.) If he was, I don't know.

As suggested elsewhere, I would suggest contacting animal control. Depending upon what they say, it might be worth contacting the police.

There's 2 important issues - the paramount one being that this dog needs to be controlled so that this doesn't happen again (or worse). If this means euthanizing or more desirably removing this dog from this man's custody, then so be it. Secondly, ideally, this man should be finanically accountable for the damage his dog caused.

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If you want to, you might give the guy a deadline to pay your vet bill. In the meantime, I'd head straight to a lawyer who will give a free consultation. The only thing I wonder about a lawsuit is how courts look a pain and suffering of pets. No lawyer is going to bother with a few hundred dollars for a vet bill. The question is whether courts would award the kind of big bucks that would interest an attorney for pain and suffering for you as a pet owner orfor your pet. I don't know much about law in general, and about the status of pets in a court of law I know absolutely nithing.

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One more thing. I would look into whether there are any weapons I could leagally carry with me, and let the owner of the German Shepherd that I have whatever might be allowed, that I would carry it when I walk my dog, and I would not hesitate to kill or severely injure his dog to defend mine.

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One more thing.  I would look into whether there are any weapons I could leagally carry with me, and let the owner of the German Shepherd that I have whatever might be allowed, that I would carry it when I walk my dog, and I would not hesitate to kill  or severely injure his dog to defend mine.

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I wouldn't tell the owner anything. Walk silently. Carry big stick.

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