Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
- Posts
- 8,560
Did the dog deliberately bite you or was it just over eager when getting the kit kat? bear in mind you were in primary school, what could have been a terrifying bite to you could have been a truly accidental nip to the dog. Dont get me wrong, dog owners need to be responsible but at the same time feeding a dog if not done carefully can lead to accidents with even the friendliest of dogs - but that said a bite IS totally different to an accidental nip but i do question if a primary school age kid can tell the difference.
this thread is interesting reading... i really dont like small dogs, they IME are more agressive and have been bit many times by the little *****s. thankfully never properly bitten by a bigger dog.
BUT this notion of dog owners being irresponsible because ONCE a dog slips a lead and if it gets unlucky and mauls a cat or a rabbit is just unfair imo. AS others have said, if a garden is not dog proof it isnt not fox proof either... which is not blaming the rabbit / what ever owners either.... the burden of protection for a rabbit is far less than a child, just as the "crime" of attacking a rabbit or a cat does not mean the same animal would attack a person.
if your dog as a one off gets into someone elses garden and does damage.... a sincere appology and offer to pay any damage / vet bills / new pet bills should be enough..... if it becomes a recurrence then it is different. To the recent post.. damn straight i would expect the dog owners to pay for damages! but after that i would consider it done and evens.
shoe on other foot here... a family friend had some expensive coy carp and a neighbours cat kept killing them..... ended up with some very unsightly netting on the pond. it all got very nasty however when the fish owner got a hunting catepult and started firing it at the cat every time he saw it worrying the fish.... his aim was not to kill the cat but to hurt it enough so it would not come back....... things went downhill and it got so far that he threatend to put rat poison out with cat food if he did not solve it..... not fair really as you cant control cats, but i do get how annoying it is having cats come crapping in your garden let alone killing your pets.
I recently lost the last of my pets - chickens - life is so less stressfull now
(shame i cant get rid of the child 
)edit to add to the thread ... I would be interested to know the opinions here from the masses... for the record, my neighbour has imo done exactly the right thing and I have no complaints... just wondering if any dog lovers here will think i was unreasonable.
my neighbour has a spaniel, when ever you go near our fence it jumps up and goes mental. it has never jumped the fence however i suspect if it really wanted to it probably could.... it is just a boundary thing and the dog is technically on its side.
but my 3 year old is just at that height now - face height for the dog when it is up against the fence.... obviously we told the lad to keep way, but kids can be kids so out of curiosity i decided to test if it was all bark and no bit so i put my arm over to stroke it....... (follwoign on from my above comment that i have not been properly bitten by a big dog.... this is the biggest bite i have ever got!). The dog bit me... it was half hearted, didnt draw blood and no harm done................ but bear in mind this is face height for a 3 year old.
I spoke with my neighbour about it and since then the dog has never been out in the bottom of the garden which overlaps my garden, when the owner is not out with him it is gated off out of reach.
For me a successful conclusion with everyone happy.... BUT i do wonder if some of the more doggy types would consider my actions out of order, after all my arm was over the boundary when the dog bit (/nipped) me.
Last edited:
