# who's in the wrong?



## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

not exactly horse law. but i figured this was the best place.

my grandpa has a little yapper that hates bicycles, and bites at your ankles when you near their yard.

now we live on a long dirt road off the beaten path. and my sister came home from school and rode her bicycle to the nighbors(up the dirt road, past my grandpa's the yapper was indoors.)

i came home from school and the yappers were out. when i got home we called for my sisters, and let our dogs out to potty. our german shepherd sophie ran up to walk with my sister home (on her bicycle) as she neared my grandpa's out on the dirt road the yapper came on charging at my sister and the bike. and my GSD's protection instincts kick in and she lunges at the yapper,(in front of my sister's bicycle causing her to flip and crash. she's fine!) she said sophie grabbed the yapper up and flung it. (all this happened on the dirt road in no ones yard.) i get a phone call from my aunt (lives with my grandpa) and she asks if there was a dog outside that might have gotten her dog. i say yeah sophie as the only one out, why? and she said the yapper as all tore up with 2 quarter size holes in her. (now they exxagerate, and i haven't see the yapper myself so i don't know the damage, but i was told it was just flesh wounds.) now who is to blame here? my grandpa wont punish his yapper for nipping because "it's a good guard dog and thats what he wants" and i refuse to punish my dog because she was protecting my sister!! what if that would have been a stranger? or a coyote (has happened around here!) i want sophie to openly defend us. was it the yapper's fault for chasing my sister? or sophie's fault? granted she wansn't in their yard. but he does own all the land on the dirt road.. Hmmm HELP?


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

IMO -You were both in the wrong for not having the dogs on leashes.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

there is no leash law here, and that would have put my sister in a dangerous situation. being on a bicycle holding a leash with a dog lunging in another direction.


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

I'm not 100% positive but I believe your dog would be the one at fault since it was the one who put teeth to skin even if it was in protection. 

The remark about 'What if it was a stranger' scares me a little unless I'm reading it wrong. If your dog is prone to lunging at anyone who makes sudden movements towards you, you should be walking the dog with a muzzle and making sure you can contain her at all times. Little kids tend to run up to strange dogs out of curiosity and if the dog went to 'protect' you, you would be in big trouble if a person got hurt.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

oh no no no. but if someone were to grab a member of our family with a harmful intent. our dog WOULD react to that. dogs can sense "vibes" about people. and they know when a kid's playful vibe, and when a stranger's harmful vibe differientiates.


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## Creampuff (Dec 1, 2010)

I'd go look at the yapper in question beforehand. Your dog attacked theirs, despite their dog being dangerous (having an aggression/nipping/biting issue unprovoked, other than simply a bicycle passing by) and leaving their yard. If my dog were to get out of my yard and attack someone else's free-roaming dog, I can be held liable for damages because I was "negligent" and my dog got out. 

Second, talk with the family members. Since it wasn't a strange dog, they may be a little more lenient. Will the yapper need veterinary care? If it does, you may need to step up and offer to pay half of the vet bills (regardless of the situation, your dog did the damage).

In the end your grandfather will do what he wants. Eventually some cross country team or family just having some outdoor time will pass by, get bitten, go to the hospital, and sue him for having a dangerous animal at large. If you've brought it up to him before and that was his excuse, he obviously has no other way to learn but the hard way. (Lets hope it doesn't come down to such means!) I went through a similar event with my older sister and her snap-happy Pit bull mix.

In the end it's "wrong" for the opposing party no matter what side you look at. It's not Sophie's fault because she was protecting your sister. It's not Yappers's fault because s/he was "protecting the property."


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

i'll definitely be going to look at her tomarrow to see the damage. but they are the type of people who just nurse the wounds themselves. i don't believe they've ever really taken an animal to the vet aside from spaying. and their yard is at least an acre from the main road, so the yapper doesn't bother the cyclers and such that go by. and no one comes down our road that doesn't live here. but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen either.


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

Plenty of people have been bitten by dogs even if they weren't giving off bad vibes. 

He should be keeping his dog enclosed in his yard and you should be keeping your dog on a lease. If she is prone to lunging at things that come at you, leave the bike home and just take the dog for walks.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

You are responsible for controlling your own dog just like your grandfather is responsible for his. If you can not control the dogs with voice commands, they need to be on a leash.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

she is controllable by voice commands, but we let her out to potty, and didn't expect her to go meet my sister. my sister got her to stop of course which is how the little yapper is alive. BUT she had just fallen off her bike and got pretty banged up, so it was unexpected for her, and really not stoppable at the time. but she stopped when my sister told her to.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

I understand things happen, but its still your responsibility to control your dog. The same with your grandfather.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

I also wanted to add that this only my opinion.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

flytobecat i understand, and your opinion makes TONS of sense too, and that very well could be what i'm up against.


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## apachiedragon (Apr 19, 2008)

I would also double check that leash law lilkitty. I live in NC, and I'm not aware of an area that DOESN'T have a leash law, as per our local Animal Control. We have a lot of trouble around here with people "moving to the country (which we aren't) so they can let their dogs run loose." Our AC officer told me that pretty much the entire state has leash laws, and they are constantly fighting people who don't believe in it. This was the same AC officer that told me if a loose dog set foot on my property, I had the right to shoot it.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

flytobecat said:


> I understand things happen, but its still your responsibility to control your dog. The same with your grandfather.


I agree.  

Once the dog is off private property (the road and easement belong to the township, county, state, etc), then it is a public nusiance.


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

Apachie. we are in the Hickory area. off towards Granite Falls, Grace Chapel. it's out in the boondocks lol!! and no leash laws here. when the AC officer came out to check the horses. (long story short.) someone reported a horse on the property for missing an eye.. blah. blah. several dogs were just running around that belong to people around here, and he mentioned nothing of it, because there isn't a leash law here in our area. but we are WELL out of city limits.


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## DieselPony (Jul 26, 2010)

As I understand it, your sister was on her way back and your dog saw her human "running" home with something chasing it. I wouldn't blame your dog, but she did bite another dog and now you have to be extra careful with her around other all other dogs, just in case.

I say that because I was in the same sort of situation last summer. My aunt lives up the road and her dog and my dog pretty much grew up together, played together all day, got along great. But one day my aunt was over with her dog and she was petting my dog, nothing unusual. Her dog started getting snippy and barking in my dog's face (rottie/lab cross) and all of a sudden they were at each other's throats. 
It was so out of ordinary and both dogs you can tell to sit, lay down and go over there off leash from a distance, they are trained dogs. It took my dad and uncle to split the two dogs up (mine is a german shepard, they are both big dogs weighing around 80lbs each)

Until this day my dog will not let another dog on the property without getting worked up. Even if they are in someone's truck she still gets worked up. My dad is doing all that he can to try and help her get over this new insane protective phase she is in. She is a lot better and my aunt's dog can come over again, but as soon as I pull in my dog chases her off the property.

We are well aware of how serious this could have become and we sat down with my aunt and uncle and talked over how we were going to deal with the two dogs that used to run back and forth our properties playing all day.

I think the best thing you can do is sit down and talk to your grandpa about new ways of keeping both your dogs on their own property.

Best of luck with clearing this situation up. And I do hope the flinging of the little dog doesn't stick with your dog.


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## WickedNag (Sep 7, 2010)

I like to do research and if you are in Catawba County this was on the Catawba County Animal Control site

Catawba County does not have a leash law. *An animal remain loose as long as it is on the owner's property* and displaying a valid rabies vaccination tag and is not a nuisance.

Which pretty much says to me they don't have a leash law in place but you may as well have


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

lol yeah, we are right on the edge of Caldwell County and Catawba County.


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## apachiedragon (Apr 19, 2008)

But in a way, this law (I looked it up too, Wicked Nag, lol) is supporting you as well, lilkitty, because it specifies that a nuisance dog (which is not allowed) includes one that chases, snaps at, bites, etc, at bicycles, pedestrians, cars and so on. Technically you are both in the wrong. I think the best thing to do is to just discuss how not to let it happen again.


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