“advice on dealing with the aftermath of an incident between my dog and another dog”

“Dear PoPville,

I need advice on dealing with the aftermath of an incident between my dog and another dog over the weekend. My dog was off-leash and playing in the park, surrounded by several other unleashed dogs, when another unleashed dog approached him. My dog and the other dog circled one another and barked at each other several times before they were separated. I was watching my dog closely the entire time and never saw him put his mouth on the other dog. Two other owners who observed the incident also said they did not see a bite.

The other dog however, did start whimpering

– and the owner came over after she heard her dog whimper. I approached her to ask if her dog was okay and she did a full body check of her dog and said she was fine and unhurt. All of this was witnessed by multiple people much closer to the incident than the other owner and no one present saw any injuries or blood or anything. It was about an hour after she left that she texted me a picture of a large wound on her dog and demanded payment (over $1,000) for the emergency visit to the vet. I should add that the other owner does not have pet insurance for her dog. I offered several times to discuss the situation with her so we could come to an agreement and potentially split the bill. I even offered to go to the clinic with her when she texted me to speak to the vet and provide assistance as needed. However, she has been rude and gets extremely defensive when I ask her for additional details about the wound (e.g. can the vet confirm the wound is a dog bite? Is the vet able to determine the age and cause of the wound?). She refuses to discuss the incident further.

Again, there were several other dog owners who witnessed all of these events (and from a much closer vantage point than the owner of the other dog) who corroborate my account. I do not understand how my dog could have caused a wound that large if he never put his mouth on the other dog. Additionally, my dog has been going to daycare for multiple years, is properly socialized, and has never bitten another dog. Every dog day care and friend who has taken care of him over the years (many who have their own dogs) has always attested to his good behavior. If I had seen my dog but his mouth on hers, I would have offered to compensate her in full immediately. However I find it outrageous that she expects me to pay over $1,000 when she is unable to provide any sort of corroborating information from the vet and refuses to discuss the situation with me entirely, despite my polite requests.

She recently threatened to call animal control and take me to small claims court, any advice for how to proceed? Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Thank you!”

From James:

“Animal control’s role in this situation would most likely not extend farther than verifying that both dogs have up to date rabies vaccines, or conducting a precautionary ten day at-home-quarantine if they do not. If both dogs were off leash and interacting voluntarily, I doubt animal control would be interested in taking this further. They will remind you of the leash law. So, you do not need to be afraid of their involvement. In fact, they will gather evidence and put it into a report which you can later obtain via FOIA, so it may even serve your purposes. (The only caveat is that at some point animal control will be empowered to issue citations for things like letting dogs off-leash in public spaces. I don’t think that has happened yet.)

Regarding the injury, I concur that sometimes wounds become apparent after the fact. I have several years of experience with these things. People’s descriptions of injuries can be highly subjective, but photos or medical records are generally reliable. Depending on how the photo was sent, you may be able to check the time and location the photo was taken. The $1000 vet bill is also probably legitimate for urgent care.

Regarding next steps, I applaud your neighborliness so far and only encourage you to continue to keep your head up. There’s no clear answer. Clearly something happened to the injured dog, but if the dog was off leash it could have been any number of things.”