Hello forum,

I had some bad news happen this past Sunday. It was raining pretty hard for the past few days and I had two Mix Rottweilers ( One is 50lbs and the other is about 95lbs both same litter about 18months old). Anyway I guess the gate ( Suburban neighborhood) had a crack in it and they got out. What happened was they bit my neighbor across the street on the back of the arm and on the leg, dont know how severe b/c hes been avoiding me, whole family really.

Now heres the deal, No on was witness to this, only him and my other neighbor (Bob) who was awake and came outside when it had finished. Victim had told the police that when they came out they attacked his dog ( little harry dog probably 30lbs) and to protect it he defended his dog and the rotts attacked him. He said he ran and slipped and they bit him.

Later on, Bob talked with the victim and got the whole story. What really happened was the dogs came on his front yard and were doing their business, and he didnt like them on his lawn. So he went over to our house, knocked on the door and the dogs followed him. He came back to his house with the dogs following him and didnt say anything to him. Then finally being frustrated the dogs were on his Lawn ( he is very territorial by the way) he threw a Garbage can at them, and finally they attacked him. You just dont go around throwing objects at other peoples dogs and expect not to get attacked. But in the police report hes claiming that the dogs came straight to his house and attacked his dog. Another story he told my Neighbor Bob the day of the attack was the dogs came straight to him without their dog being in the incident. And now they want to put our dogs down claiming they are vicous dogs and are a danger to the public.

However, they have gotten out before ( Human error, opening the garage while they were inside) and other people have ran to them, stopped them and brought them home with no issues. It Just frustrates me that these people are trying to screw us over even though they are lying. The Wife and 4 kids have gone somewhere for the past 3 days and the house seems dead. We try to go initiate a conversation but they keep avoiding us, their home but not answering the door. Also the Victim got a note to be off work for 10 days but hes still working. I even followed him and yes he does work 12hrs a day.

Question is, how many people out there have had a case like this in California and had their dogs saved from euthanization? Im really worried that my dogs will get put down b/c the cop on the case keeps saying " It doesnt matter they bite"

 

In California a dog has a free bite...meaning if the dog has no previous record of biting someone they are usually released back to the owner. Unless there was a severe injury. If there is a pattern of your dogs getting out they may not be so nice about it.

 

I don't want to split hairs here, but you need to realize, it is, in a sense, your fault. Your dogs were out roaming the streets. There is a leash law. I agree with your neighbor for throwing something at the dogs, I would of, have done the same thing. I don't like seeing dogs roaming the streets! You just don't know how the animal is going to react, more then likely aggressive because the animal is scared. I would not like to see 2 big Rots in my yard!

As far as putting the animals down? I agree with spunbearing. Your dogs were probably scared and responded according to there senses. But being the owner of the dogs, you are responsible.

Tye

 

Your best bet is to immediately give up the dogs. It is obvious you cannot control them. This (by your own admission) is the second or 3rd time they have gotten out, and now they have bitten a human being on his own property. I don't care what the guy did, your dogs bit him on HIS property. You don't want to know what I would have done to them running loose on my land.

I can tell you why your neighbor is avoiding you, you are going to get sued and his lawyer has told him NOT to talk to you. I can also tell you your insurance company will no longer cover you if you keep the dogs, and any claims will go on your CLUE report, raising your rates, and barring you from getting insurance as long as you have dogs.

This is a very serious matter that may to cost you and your family alot of money, trouble, & time. Raising large breed dogs in an urban situation is a VERY serious matter, and a time bomb waiting to go off.

Check my pics if you think I'm anti-big dog. White Fang is 110 pounds.

 

This is the kind of thing that worries me. I have pitbulls and they have a stigma. My dogs are very well socialized with people and other animals and I can trust them 100% I can't trust other people though. When I'm not home someone could break into my yard or poke sticks through the fence... whatever the case may be. If someone antagonizes a dog a little wooden fence isn't going to stop a strong dog. I keep my dogs in the house whenever I'm not home. That way I know for sure no matter what that I always have control of my dogs and the people in my dogs area. I also have cameras that can view the outer perimeter of my fence. I HAVE caught kids antagonizing the dogs with sticks through the fence etc. I can see what is going on and more importantly I have a videotaped record of what happens near my fence. The neighbor kid denied poking sticks at my dogs when I confronted his father. The father said well my son said that he didn't do it. I said ok fine I have a videotape of it so we can call the police and see if they think that it was my imagination or not. The father quickly grabbed his son and dragged him in for a little chat.

 

Being a responsible large dog owner is always on my mind too. I take White Fang to the dog run once a week to socialize with others.

Too many dog owners are in it to be cool or tough. Most have no idea the dynamics of raising dogs and the pack mentality they live in.

 

Hopefully your dogs will be spared and you can find a way that this will never happen again. But I also know that if my dogs get off my property,,,,,, I will be held responsible for anything they do and I feel that is only right.
Case sets legal precedent in Virginia

 

Sounds like these guys are right on line with whats to come. Dogs sense a persons dislike and agression towards them. Sounds like your neighbor is on their schiznit list. I hope their shots are up to snuff and you have the documents to prove it as well. I feel for ya and your dogs but what happened is your fault in the eyes of the law and lawyers. I also see your in the Bay area. Didnt they just finish 2 cases where a Pit attacked a gal and kid? Tensions are still high probably.

 

Never thought I'd be on this side of the fence with anybody and their pets, but I would have to agree as far you not keeping them in a suburban area. On the other hand this also doesn't mean they have to be put down. Do what you can to save them and give them to someone in a better situation for having them. I will have my Rott's one of these days but living in town right now there is no way I would do it, the risk is to high and no matter how friendly they are the public opinion is to fearfull of them.

 

I know that you are probably not feeling too well about this right now ... I went through a similar thing in San Diego a few years ago.

We were getting ready to move out of our house and the future tenants were over to the house (for the 2nd time that week) to take measurements etc ... My wife went to great lengths (both times)to make sure that the family knew NOT to go into the back yard because Flash The Wonder Bassett was a grumpy dog that would definately gnaw their legs off.
No sooner did the parents, my wife and I head towards the back rooms of the house than their very large 10-11 yo boy shot out the back door. Noone even noticed, it happened so quick.

Flash did a number on that kid ... I was shocked. After we did some first aid on the kid and sent them all packing, I loaded my buddy up and took him to the dog pound. I told the lady at the desk what happened (blubbering the whole time) and she told me that it was the kid / families fault, that the dog was doing what he was supposed to do and for me to take my dog home. I couldn't have been happier. He was on an in-house quarrantine for a while because I the vaccination papers were packed up.

Nowadays, since we live way out in the sticks, he has free run of the acreage. Even though we have signs posted "Beware Of Dog" ... stupid people still drive up to the house, get out and try to make friendly with him ... with extremely poor results. The sheriff has been out there twice and walks away shaking his head when he finds out the facts. Best guard dog I have ever owned.

Best of luck ... your case will be different since they were roaming off of your property.

PISTOL

 

well for one thing, make sure this guy isn't getting any kind of workers comp or disability pay while he's "away" from work. compensation/insurance fraud is pretty serious and he'll have some nice fines to pay for that. that is a BIG deal that will hurt his credibility in court, which as already stated is why he's avoiding you, his attorney told him not to talk to you. i'm going through lawsuits and countersuit from my car accident two years ago. going to have to get your other neighbor involved on the legal side of things, his testimony about getting two completely different stories from the guy will help too.

that idiot deserves to be bit for throwing a trash can at two big dogs that are known to be aggressive. i've grown up in california, dad owns a small business. i'm sick of stupid people with STUPID lawsuits...yeah, you should've had a better fence, hind-sight is 20/20; we breed and raise Australian Sheppards, not vicious or aggressive towards people(very territorial and owner loyal) and they find all kinds of way to get out..it's what dogs do best. I don't know if it'll hold up in a CA court but the guy should've known better than to throw a trash can at the dogs.

I have no idea about the home owners insurance stuff but I imagine that'll be a mess, especially if you keep the dogs you have.

unfortunately full size dogs are getting a bad name because of negative press focussing on the minority of people that are severely mistreating and training their dogs to be vicious and aggressive. This doesn't seem to be the case with you and you're dogs but unfortunately you're going to have to pay the price for other's stupidity.
welcome to california.

 

Yeah I agree, our fault for not having strong enough fencing and California being harsh. Just wernt aggressive towards him before he threw the can, just after they decided to attack him. Their not full size rotts, one is 50lbs and the other is high 90's, regular rotts are in 115+. Need to move out of Suburbia, might move up north in a few years seeing how bad the traffic, crime and BS their is over here.

I read up that One bite law doesnt apply in California. But how do other people you know or experience faired in casses similar like this. Also Insurance on dog bite is up to 100K, or so my Dad told me. So no problems there.

 

I drive a propane truck part time, I was delivering gas to a customer when I went to open his gate a rottie came around the corner, he just stared at me for a second then he charged the gate, putting his paws up on the gate barking growling. This guy has like three rotties, I go to the front door and see one walking around inside and I read a sign that says,"this animal quarantined on these premises per the health dept." What this tells me is that this dog has bite somebody within the last 10 days. Nobody is home so I call the number on the delivery ticket and get a voice mail and I leave a message that I was attempting a delivery and wasn't able to do so because of the dog. The owner calls me back in a matter of minutes and says, "you aren't my usual delivery guy are you?" I know right away where this is heading. He tells me his dogs won't bother me,the most they will do is show me where the beer is. I'm thinking to myself, they won't be showing me poop because I'm not going to be back there with them. Anyway, I told the guy I wasn't comfortable with that and I mentioned the sign in his window and he tells me he put that up as a joke. I'm like yeah,thats a pretty funny joke. He wasn't happy and said he guess he'll have to get another propane company of course I told him that up to you but if you expect me to deliver gas you'll put your dogs up. Well he came home and put the dogs up and delivery was made. A few weeks later I'm watching the news and recognize his house and gate the story talks about how his dogs got out and went across the street and jumped in a car where kids were car pooling and ran the kids off. Police were called and I don't know what happened to provoke it but the office shot at the dogs. I was thinking mmmm maybe they were trying to show the officer where the beer was? Well I was happy to hear that he missed the dogs, since I'm an animal lover, when the news was on people came out of the wood work talking about the dogs, some lady jogs by there everyday and is always concerned for her safety another neighbor claims the dogs have been out before terrorizing the neighbor. I've been to the house since and the dogs are still there and when I call the owner he puts the dogs up without an argument. I notice he added a couple layers to his block wall too.

 

I guess if you don't want stuff thrown at your dogs you maybe ought to keep 'em locked up better. The way I look at it, an unattended animal on my property is mine to do as I please with. Cats and dogs with a civil disposition, I try and return to the owner. If I've got a rottweiller following me around the yard, he'd be lucky if the only metal coming his way was galvanized steel. If those dogs had got hold of a kid they could have killed him/her pretty easily.

 

Years ago I had a Pit Bull.. He was a 65 pound lap dog...

The neighbor next door was not confortable having a pit bull next door. The neighbor would taunt Meatball (dogs name) by pounding on the fence, his workers shot nails at him with a nail gun and filed numerous complaints with the dept. of animal regulation. Animal reg came out kicked the fence a few times and of course the dog barked ad growled at the officer. I recieved notice to quiet my dog within 10 days or he would be removed. I had to take him to the vet and have 90% of his vocal cords cut( this way he still thought he was barking). and all was fine.

The neighbor still not being happy continued to taunt meatball and complained that meatball would jump at the fence (8ft tall) and he wa scared to go in his back yard. Animal control came out and told me that all was OK but if the dog ever got out they would take him..

One day the Meter reader let the dog out (they were friends) and animal control came out and tried to catch meatball.. when he ran back into the yard they cornered him and poked at him with the noose.. He didn't bite the animal control officer but they took him and charged him with attacking an animal control officer.

It took over 6 months, $4000.00 in kenneling costs (at the city animal shelter) and 2 hearings to get meatball back. Rules were a six sided enclosure so I built a chain link dog run that was 30' X 20'X6' in the back yard.

I finally had to move because of the neighbor.

On a good note the neighbors cat got on the hood of my black truck and clawed it... I told him and requested payment.. he laughed and told me no leash laws for a cat.. Court disagreed and that he was responisble for the damage.. He paid and I never saw the cat again...

The laws in California are very anti dog... Because your dogs have now bitten you have to decide if those dogs are worth your house, future earnings and in some cases jail time...