FrodofromAus Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 As of now the incident has not been reported. I spoke to the authorities myself as the dog was registered in another district and they wouldnt have been able to locate the dog. I wanted to do the right thing and they said unless a complaint is made there is nothing they can do. The have all my details and about the dog etc and I have been ringing every couple of days to remind them I am still around. I have told them we would co operate with any investigation etc. One of the people who checked the dog within 4 or 5 minutes was me. I have no doubt in my mind as to the condition of the dog when I checked it. I was very thorough as I have had numerous dogs at my place from time to time and have seen and checked the results of a dog fight once or twice. The other person is a neighbour who we dont know only to wave to. She asked me how the dog was and we got chatting and turns out she saw what had happened and unbeknown to me had consoled the lady at the time and went right over the dog. It would appear the neighbour was also very clear on it all. No pictures were taken by the owner when she saw the wound as I did ask for them. A bit strange really as she has an iphone. I didnt take any with mine as when we all parted there was nothing to photograph. I also know that down the road from where this happened as recently as the week before another roaming dog with no owner in tow tried to pick a fight with my dog when we were on our walk. I have taken particular notice in the last couple of weeks within half a kilometer of where it happened there has been more than one dog roaming around. I have passed this on to the shire. Its all been a bit distressing and we want to do the right thing if my auntys dog is responsible. I guess when people wont answer simple questions, change their mind and then carry on as if there is something to hide it makes you wonder. If the dog was ok when we parted I cant help wondering since the walk continued if one of these strays may have done something. It is not always easy to find out where a wandering dog belongs especially if it is not wearing tags and if it has been agressive I dont think I would want to touch it to see its tags. I appreciate all the feedback and just for the record the dog was not seen by an after hours vet. It went one afternoon and they decided to leave the operation until the next day. The worst I have seen in terms of injury is when my dogs head got ripped open by my other dog. It peeled it back although it didnt seem to bleed much underneath. Rushed him straight to the vet, he cleaned it out and then he glued him back together and gave antibiotics. That healed well and it happened again about an inch away from the first time and off for the same treatment again. Both tears which looked nasty healed well but he has two scars from it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 (edited) If your Aunt's dog is responsible for that injury and hasn't been reported to council, my advice is simple. Pay the amount for the anaesthesia and wound repair and count your lucky stars the dog won't be declared dangerous. Do whatever it takes to make sure there isn't another occurence. Unless your aunt feels like keeping her dog permanently muzzled in public, I'd advise her to pay up. Unless you have x-ray vision you have no way of determining the extent of the wound until the dog is shaved. External punctures are no indication of the damage caused by bites.. Edited June 21, 2010 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shmoo Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 If your Aunt's dog is responsible for that injury and hasn't been reported to council, my advice is simple.Pay the amount for the anaesthesia and wound repair and count your lucky stars the dog won't be declared dangerous. Do whatever it takes to make sure there isn't another occurence. Unless your aunt feels like keeping her dog permanently muzzled in public, I'd advise her to pay up. Unless you have x-ray vision you have no way of determining the extent of the wound until the dog is shaved. External punctures are no indication of the damage caused by bites.. ^^ This. An injury on the head is possibly not as serious muscularly as a torso injury could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I'm expecting a pretty hefty bill from my vet tomorrow after my 2 girls decided to get into it tonight... I'm also expecting to see quite a few drains and shaved areas. Zeddy has also broken a tooth, so that's got to come out also... I'll be pleasantly surprised if my bill comes in under $1000... it was a nasty fight... and my vets don't always charge me full price for work they do on my dogs - infrequent as it is. Was your aunt's dog the aggressor in the fight with this other dog? And what story are the other witnesses telling? T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss B Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 You'd be surprised how much damage can be hiding beneath relatively innocent looking puncture wounds. My dad's cat got attacked by the neighbours dog last year, when I checked her out all I could find was two very tiny puncture wounds, hard to even find amongst her fur. I took her to work so she could be clipped, cleaned and the wounds investigated. Turns out the muscles in her back end had been completely mashed by the dog gripping and shaking her, there was a LOT of damage and dead space... those two tiny little puncture wounds, and this was the end result - 30+ stitches and a surgical drain: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrie Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Maybe if there were only a couple of puncture marks that might why the other owner didn't think it important to take a photo at that stage. What were the cicumstances of the fight, if you don't mind me asking? Hope it all works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mooper Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Here is what eight stitches and a drain looked like on Jack, our cattle dog X who was attacked by an offlead Great Dane X last December. His collar took the majority of the bites, judging from the punctures in his collar. The bill from the emergency vet was $850, with a follow-up appointment at our vet on top of that. The owners of the offending dog couldn't afford to pay any of the bill. We reported the event to Council straight away, but did not name names. Council were fine with that, and told us we had six months to report the owners if we chose to do so. We told the owner that they could either have the dog put down, or we would report their dog as dangerous, at-large etc etc and their fines would make our $850 vet bill seem like small change. They chose to have the dog put down. The $850 was an inconvenience to us, but it wasn't about the money. We didn't care that they couldn't pay up, but we could not let that dog live. There was too much at stake, with a park in regular use across the street and a primary school around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 one of my dogs ended up with a wound nearly that size after a very minor scuffle between two of them. I checked her out at the time, found nothing. Later there was some swelling so I took her to the vet who shaved her down (smooth coat cross breed, no long hair hiding anything) and found a very, very small tooth mark and some underlying damage. So I consider it very feasible that 3 people could look at a long haired dog and find nothing initially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all that glitters Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Far out that poor cat! Ouch ouch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karly101 Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I agree with sentiments above... its very normal for dog bites to superficially not look like much.. we had one case where the owner brought in one dog (a min pin) and not the other (a pug)... the pug he didn't bring in was actually far far worse condition than the min pin and unfortunately it did not survive (48 hours after the attack). The puncture wounds can be very well hidden in the fur and its not until its all shaved then you know what you are dealing with. The picture you posted looks very normal treatment for a dog bite. I'd probably pay the bill (excluding wart removal) and count your aunts dog lucky its not declared dangerous and do everything to make sure it doesn't happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanabanana Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 How many dogs were involved int he fight and who started it? If they both started it, I'd be going half or thirds or quarters (depnding on number of dogs). If your aunts dog started it then She should pay - though not for the wart removal. If the other dog started it then tough luck, they pay thjeir own bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrodofromAus Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 (edited) I didnt see the incident myself but the neighbour who saw it said she was out the front on the lawn which has no front fence. My aunty was with her at the time The dog is usually out the back where the fencing is high and secure. The damaged dog and its small companion walked past and the dogs were saying hello. The small dog started barking and my auntys dog barked back then the injured dog lunged forward and then the fight broke out. The photo above which was posted showing another dogs injury around the collar area was where I found the slobber and a tiny scrape. According to the witness she never grabbed lower down where the pic I posted shows. I assume you would expect to find slobber and wetness or some evidence if a dog has been in a certain spot and you check straight away. Is that how other people who have checked their dogs out after a fight find a sore or cut because the area is wet and you look further and find some sort of injury even if only minor? I guess the one thing my auntys dog has going for her is that her own vet has many times passed comment on how placid and friendly she is. He has said this because on several occasions he has come to get her when it is her turn and there she is bowing and playing with the other dogs in the surgery and often saying hello to their owners and wanting a pat. Edited June 21, 2010 by smiley4444 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemesideways Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I didnt see the incident myself but the neighbour who saw it said she was out the front on the lawn which has no front fence. My aunty was with her at the time The dog is usually out the back where the fencing is high and secure. The damaged dog and its small companion walked past and the dogs were saying hello. The small dog started barking and my auntys dog barked back then the injured dog lunged forward and then the fight broke out. The photo above which was posted showing another dogs injury around the collar area was where I found the slobber and a tiny scrape. According to the witness she never grabbed lower down where the pic I posted shows. I assume you would expect to find slobber and wetness or some evidence if a dog has been in a certain spot and you check straight away. Is that how other people who have checked their dogs out after a fight find a sore or cut because the area is wet and you look further and find some sort of injury even if only minor? I guess the one thing my auntys dog has going for her is that her own vet has many times passed comment on how placid and friendly she is. He has said this because on several occasions he has come to get her when it is her turn and there she is bowing and playing with the other dogs in the surgery and often saying hello to their owners and wanting a pat. Just because a dog will happily play with other dogs doesn't necessarily mean they won't fight back if attacked. So your aunty's dog was off lead, and the other dog was on lead? I don't think that will go down well with the council. Unless you can prove that the other dog attacked first? This is another example of the result of surgery on puncture wounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverdog Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Maybe look at it from their point of view. Your auntie's off leash dog attacked and injured their dog. Although initially the damage seemed minor, later when at the vet, it was discovered to be much worse than first thought. (This is a common and reasonable scenario with dog bites). The dog was booked for surgery the next day (saving both them and your auntie after hours emergency costs) and while under anesthetic some other work was done. (Another completely common and acceptable scenario). The next day (or maybe a day later.. it's hard to tell from your timeline), the owners of the injured dog presented your auntie with a bill for 80% of the total vet bill. Seems reasonable to me so far. They also asked for immediate payment. Also reasonable, given the fact that their vet likely asked for immediate payment from them, and they wouldn't have been at the vet at all had your auntie's dog not bitten their dog. Most vets require immediate payment for services rendered, no matter what time of day it is, or how unexpected the event is. It would also be reasonable to expect that the owners of the injured dog would be angry and upset, and that might come across as bullying when asking for payment, especially if it appeared that the owners of the attacking dog were now questioning their story and showing signs of not wanting to pay the bill. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that your auntie's off leash dog bit their dog. Any grief or unpleasantness now flowing your auntie's way is a direct result of that simple fact. Your auntie would be wise to follow the advice posted earlier in this thread. Pay up (as vet bills go, seems to be a very reasonable amount), ensure it never happens again and be thankful it wasn't reported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Smiley4444: I guess the one thing my auntys dog has going for her is that her own vet has many times passed comment on how placid and friendly she is. He has said this because on several occasions he has come to get her when it is her turn and there she is bowing and playing with the other dogs in the surgery and often saying hello to their owners and wanting a pat. How a dog behaves in a veterinary surgery and on its own turf can differ. Your aunt's dog was unrestrained in her front yard and she failed to prevent it seriously injuring another dog. I hope she absorbs the gravity of the situation and keeps in behind the fence in future. If she refuses to pay and the other person lawyers up, I think this could get quite ugly for your aunt AND her dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 :D so your aunt's dog was out the front, with no lead, and no fence? A risky thing, if so, ;) what type of dog is your aunt's dog? To get a decent bit on top of the neck like that - the biter would be quite a bit larger than the bitee, i would think? Nasty for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthdog Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 What poodlefan said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Unfortunately, the bottom line is that your auntie's off leash dog bit their dog. Any grief or unpleasantness now flowing your auntie's way is a direct result of that simple fact.Your auntie would be wise to follow the advice posted earlier in this thread. Pay up (as vet bills go, seems to be a very reasonable amount), ensure it never happens again and be thankful it wasn't reported. x 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrodofromAus Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 Silverdog she had the bill for four days before she brought it around and wanted immediate payment. Prior to that we had no idea it even went to the vet. There was no injury when the dog parted. The witness said the dog didnt even grab in the area of the picture. My auntys dog was a staffy which was smaller in size than the cattle dog. Would it be wet or slobbery in the area a dog grabs on? Is that how you would know to check that particular spot along with other places? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Ofetn if the bite is quick- there will be little slobber . It's when a dog hangs on /chews, that there is slobber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now