My neighbor brought her 45 year old son in my yard to show him my 2 dogs.?

Question

The dogs know and love the neighbors who feed them treats often, not the son who is from across the country. One of my dogs bit the son on his arm and back, he is now sueing me. My dogs were confined to my yard by an invisable fence and he knowingly came over to see the dogs, doesn't he own some responsibility for the bite? This is an adult who was not invited to enter my yard. Though he says the dog jumped the line and pulled him into my yard. Impossible, like anyone who has an invisable fence would know, the shock knocks him on his ***. He's petrified of the beep which is given 18inches before the shock which is all on my property. Why should I be libel for someone's stupidity?

Answer 1

You should look up the specific laws in your state, county and city and see if you have any liability. You have more liability if your dogs had shown any aggressiveness or had bitten someone before. That could be negligence on your part.

You may even want to contact the company who put in your fence so that you can prove the strength of the electric shock means that your dog would not have gone through the fence. When you came home, which side of the fence was your dog on? If he was inside, is it likely that he came back and took another shock?

Did you invite your neighbors to regularly come into your yard when you weren't home? Are they suing you for medical bills or more? What proof do they have? How bad were the bites?

Are you sure it was your dog that bit him? Which dog was it? There are lots of different arguments but you really need to keep both dogs inside when you are gone.

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/legal_ri.htm#basics

"The most common exceptions to liability are these:

* The victim was a trespasser
* The victim was a veterinarian or canine professional who was treating the dog at the time of the incident
* The victim was committing a felony or other crime against the owner of the dog
* The victim provoked the dog by physically abusing it
* The victim assumed the risk (i.e., explicitly or implicitly consented) to being bitten
* The dog was assisting the police or the military at the time of the incident"

Answer 2

You need to talk to an attorney. Have you spoken with the neighbor who's son this is? What does the neighbor have to say about it all?

I am sure, you can demonstrate that the dog will not only Not cross the invisible line but that it will stop before it even reaches it. That will blow his version of the dog 'pulling him inside' the invisible barrier.

If nothing else, perhaps you can get this reduced to just letting your insurance pay for his medical bills. Don't be bullied into just agreeing with him, get an attorney's opinion.

Now just a note on the invisible fencing. Don't leave your dogs totally unsupervised inside of the fencing. I, personally, have seen a dog in pursuit of something and just withstood the short shock of bolting over the invisible line to give chase. Also, that invisible fence only keeps your dogs in, it doesn't keep other dogs out. Your dogs are like targets for a loose dog aggressive dog.

Answer 3

Everyone here has good advise. I wanted to add on the part about proving that your dog is afraid of the invisible fence. If you can, get a video recorder and video the fact that your dog will not go near the fence. That should be good enough evidence to submit to the courts that the dog will not cross the line.

... and if you can, take it to The People's Court so I can see your neighbor's 45 year old son get yelled at by the judge! Dumb a s s

Answer 4

If it goes to court, you definitely have a strong case by the fact that it occured on your property. However, you are going to need proof, such as a witness, or an expert on invisible fencing that can testify about it's effectiveness. Even then, you may lose since the dog was not totally contained.
Of course this man has some responsibility here, but the fact is that most people just like to blame everyone else and take none of the blame at all.

Answer 5

My mother was bit by a dog and it was clearly her fault (she put her face next to a dog that was eating) yet the owner is still blamed because it is THEIR dog, thus their responsibility to make sure that their dog does not harm anyone or anything. It was not right for that man to come into your yard, but how is he supposed to know that these dogs are dangerous? Did you have a sign or something? Look at it from his perspective. If there is nothing that says "danger: Dogs" then he does have a right to sue you. But if it clearly says right under his fat nose "Dogs bite!" Then yeah, it makes no sense.


I also suggest working with your dogs. They were probably just protecting their turf, but you don't want to scare your neighbors away!

Answer 6

Oh, don't worry, you'll likely win that court case. Go get yourself a good lawyer and be prepared with irrefutable evidence of the invisible fence, as well as video footage of how the fence works, so the judge can see for herself that no dog in his right mind would cross it for fear of the shock. Shame on him for acting like a child and suing you!

Answer 7

You're going to need to show that the dog is afraid of the fence, show where the fence line was and where he was, get testimony from other neighbors showing the dogs stay in their area, and get a very good lawyer.

PLEASE tell me you had a "beware of dog" sign too!

Answer 8

ring your local council for updated dog laws and regulations.and if you are stil concerned maybe contact legal aide,or lawyer,as usually 1 consults are free..i feel your within legal rights,but im not clear on the invisible fencing as an acceptable fencing law.

Answer 9

Looks like you need a human restraint fence to keep unwelcome human "guests" out of your dog's space. Unfortunately, you're probably going to be held liable for the dog's damages. You might try counter-claiming for him trespassing. Sounds like a good TV judge case.

Answer 10

Sue him for trespassing he has no reason to be on your property.If the man isn't good with dogs why would he go. He's probably only going just to sue you to get money. There is no reason.