If someone's MALE dog gets loose and gets the neighbor's FEMALE dog pregnant because she's....?

Question

left outside WHILE IN HEAT....

Is the MALE dog owner responsible financially to help with the pregnancy / puppy bills? Or is he not legally liable?

Your opinions welcome, but please be realistic...put yourself in BOTH situations before you answer!

I never said I was the owner of EITHER dog, this is a hypothetical situation. Some of you can be pretty accusatory....

Answer 1

Any female dog in heat should be protected by the owner of the female dog if they do not want her to be game for any other dog in the neighborhood. After all, the female dog is an animal, and the human owner is responsible for her. The human is the one with the brain.
Any dog is going to go after a female dog in heat, it is the owners responsibility for care of this female dog. Therefore it is the owners responsibility for all of the incurred bills that go along with the female dog getting pregnant due to the irresponsibility of the owner.
DahLing Pekingese
Ohio

Answer 2

I would say if the female dog was in her owners yard and properly contained either by a chain (or run) or a kennel of sorts then yes the owner of the male dog should take responsibility. After all dogs do need to be out at times and if she is an outside dog to begin with then that is their preference.
However, if they are going to profit from the puppies. Then if the owner of the male dog should get half of the money made from selling the puppies after the vet is paid of course.Or they should not expect the owner of the male dog to pay any of the bills related to the pregnancy or puppies.
If the puppies are not going to be sold then I guess you will have to suck it up and pay half of the bills after all your dog got out of your yard so you are responsible. If you don't want this to happen I suggest getting the dog fixed.

Answer 3

The owner of the female is mostly responsible because a male dog will actually BREAK a fence to get at a female. I know. If the female is in heat, she needs to be attended at all times. If she was left outside on her own, who knows how many dogs got to her.

They both should have been spayed if they didn't want puppies, but I feel the primary responsibility lies with the female's owner.

If they knew she had been with the male, they should have taken her to the vet immediately and had the pregnancy terminated. Cost is minimal and there's no mixed-breed puppies to find homes for.

Answer 4

Legally, the male dog owner is not liable for any of the expenses of the resulting pregnancy. The burden of responsibility falls on the owners of the female dog...any idiot stupid enough to leave a female in heat outside unattended is expected to pay for their own stupidity.

Personally, I think that in most situations the owner of the male dog should feel morally responsible and at least offer to help find homes for the puppies if not cover some of the expenses. The owner of an intact dog of either sex should be responsible for their dogs and any puppies their dogs produce either intentionally or unintentionally. The owners of male dogs should be just as careful as the owners of female dogs about not letting their intact males get loose and roam the neighborhood. In fact, the owners of male intact dogs should probably be MORE careful about keeping their dogs contained at all times because females can only produce a litter if they're in heat but males could produce a litter at any time of the year if they find a ***** in heat. So if an intact female "gets loose" it's only a problem from the pet overpopulation standpoint if she happens to be in heat but if an intact male "gets loose" it is ALWAYS a potential problem for pet overpopulation.

Answer 5

both owners should share the responsibilty. A dog in heat should not be left outside unless the owner wants pups. But these days, it is really irresponsible for any owner to let his dog run free. If a male dog gets loose, that is the owners responsibility. So, really, both parties are liable in my opinion.

Answer 6

I'm not sure legally what the repercussions are, I definitely think that you are in the clear even if your dog is in heat as she was confined to your yard so you have the reasonable assumption that your dog is safe from being impregnated.

That said, I don't know if you can get the dog owner to help or not. If you are on good terms with this neighbour and he is a good person, then I would hope that he would offer to help. You can ask, but I don't know how far you are going to get. In today's world and it is an unfortunate state, not many will step up to their responsibilities as a pet owner.

I wish you luck with your dilemma.

Answer 7

YES! My neighbour was sued because his male impregnanted another neighbours female while it was in her yard a couple of years ago.

She was in the yard with her female. (it was just let out to potty) The other dog jumped the fence and got her. She could not part them. The male was much bigger than the female. The owner of the male had to pay for the females c-section in full. He also had to compensate her as the female had to be spayed shortly after due to complications. The owner of the female was a registered breeder. The males owner had to pay for the spay as well as something against the cost of future puppies the female could have had. It was complicated, but I know it cost the males owner a lot.

Now this maybe different if the female is unattended, but I would think the owner of the male would be at least 50% liable.

It's best to check the laws where you live.

Hope you are not in this situation.

Answer 8

Both parties are at fault. It takes two to tango. It wouldn't have happened if the dogs were neutered. But, as others have already said, it probably legally depends on where it ocurred. If the female came onto the male's property, or vice versa.. although it's been my experience that females tend to wander around fairly oblivious to the ruckus they are causing in heat while the males on the other hand will dig holes, jump fence, tear doors off hinges, jump through screens, and drag unwilling female dogs to them, in short do any possible thing to breed.

Answer 9

Yes, I would agree that whichever dog was loose and trespassing on another's property would be the one at fault. This is just from a legal perspective. The law would say that you have to have control of your dog and it should not have been on someone else's property. This is the same thing that would happen if your dog attacked another pet or a person. If your dog was running loose when the attack happened you would automatically be at fault.

I do have to state that obvious. All dogs except show and breeding stock kept by serious dog breeders should be spayed and neutered.

Answer 10

In my opinion, I think that the MALE dog owner is not legally liable, but it is up to the MALE dog owner if he is willing to share out the pregnancy/puppy bills and then share the puppies when they are born.