Dog in a car accident - looking for advice

bestpud

Errata wrote: »

Dreadful situation for anyone to find themselves in. The only thing I would add is that if the dog only has a damaged tail and a few cuts and bruises to its legs I find it hard to believe that the car was so damaged it wouldn't start.

That was my first thought but then I remembered my fil hit a dog that ran into the road a while ago and it caused quite a lot of damage to his car - hit drivers side bumper off and smashed the inner plastic wing and water bottle!

The dog was absolutely fine!!

That was a labrador - I guess it depends on the size of the dog as well?

Samantha1985_2

Update:

I have got home, and spoken to my aunt briefly. The dog had to have surgery (is a collie x staffy or looks similar for size purpose) she has had to have her tail removed, 8 stitches in one of her legs, and her other legs shaved so they could see the other small cuts and bath/bandage them. She will be fine, have been told she needs to be kept quiet.

About 15mins after I got home the driver of the car turned up, turns out they live miles away and need to get home.. She was very reasonable and had contacted all her family & friends who have provided a tow truck to get her car back home and called in some favours on the price, she got a quote here for £450.00! But they can get it done for £200.00 at home. The driver accepted £100.00 from me and agreed to put the other £100.00 herself. I shall not be asking for this back from my aunt, but hope she will pay the vets bill.

I didn't get to speak to my aunt for long as her OH was driving on the motorway and it was noisy with a bad reception, if anything else I missed happened I'll let you know. I am at the moment relieved with the situation, Dog is fine, Car is dealt with (very reasonably) and hopefully the vets bill will not be too high.

Thanks for your support & advice folks I REALLY appreciate it.

Sam

elsien

Glad to hear you're getting things sorted, and that the dog's going to be ok - good luck with the keeping her quiet.
I hope your aunt is as reasonable as the car owner - if it were my dog, I'd feel obliged to pay you back.

suki1964

Thankyou Sam for taking the time to come in and update us all.

I wish the dog a speedy recovery and hope you have a relatively easy time getting her to rest and recuperate .

Just a thought - but can you get hold of a stair gate and make sure the dogs are behind it before opening the front door. I have to with my lad - a bit easier now we have a lobby

~Chameleon~

Am I right in thinking that your aunt has gone off on holiday leaving the dog at the vets and expecting you to go pick her up, and possibly settle the bill too? :eek:

MrsTinks

I think you're holding up well so far well done.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it's easy for everyone to say what you SHOULD have done - so let's look forward
Can you shut the dogs 2 doors from the danger? Ie in the livingroom with door closed so when you open front door they are still one barrier away from getting out?
In future I think you need to tell your aunt you will only look after her dogs if she has them fully insured! Either that or tell her that she has to find other arrangements for them.
I find it hard to understand that she would leave her dogs after such trauma and ditto say to not take the dog to the vet ASAP... In fairness - even discounting possibility of trauma that you were on the look out for - then it is entirely possible the vet could have saved the remainder of the tail if the dog had been taken in straight away.
I missed my grandfathers 75th birthday when my cat was run over about 4 years ago - I nearly cancelled a trip abroad for work due to it too - it was only when finding a vet nurse who was willing to mind my cats for me I was happy to still go...
Be firm and grateful the car owner isn't greedy

Samantha1985_2

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that your aunt has gone off on holiday leaving the dog at the vets and expecting you to go pick her up, and possibly settle the bill too? :eek:

No as far as I know she has already had the operation and my aunt has paid/sorted somehow the bill.

I will refuse to look after the dog if she decides to go on hols anyway as I work in the day and cannot ensure she is properly looked after (if it was my dog I would be lobbying to take her into work with me! & if not i'd have to take holiday to be at home).

epsilondraconis

Its so disappointing to see that after doing someone a favour, you ended up forking out £100 for the priviledge. Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Its nice to hear that the driver was reasonable about the situation.

I assume you won't be setting up your own doggie walking business in the near future!

Glad everything was resolved and the dog was okay.

wuno

To clarify the vet situation. A vet cannot decline to treat (administer basic pain relief and make comfortable) an animal even if the person bringing the animal to them tells them flat that they can't afford to pay and are not the owner of the animal.

Vets frequently bear the cost of treating strays.

Indeed, even if the owner of a pet cannot pay at the time of treatment, the vet cannot decline to treat in cases of pain and suffering.

In your particular case, the owner of the dog is responsible for the vet bill.

Whether they would then be justified in recouping these costs from you as the person ultimately responsible for the dog getting out is a matter of legal opinion, I suppose. I'm sure it won't come to that, though.

As far as the car damage goes. If you hit a dog on a road, it is not necessarily 100% the dog's fault. If you are drunk, or on drugs, or speeding, or talking on a mobile phone, or even not taking reasonable care to look out for dogs crossing the road, these offences would "trump" the fault of the dog running out in front of you.

Would you sue the parents of a child that you ran over for damage to your car?

Strictly speaking, you did break the law by allowing the dog to run onto the road. But then, strictly speaking, the car driver probably broke the law by not reporting the accident to the police.

I don't know, but I suspect that without the presence of the police at the scene and their report, the driver would not have been able to persue a civil claim against you for damage to their car (or whiplash, or whatever) because they would not be able to prove how much the accident was your "fault".

But then for £100 to hear no more of it, you are probably not doing too badly.

Keith

wuno wrote: »

Strictly speaking, you did break the law by allowing the dog to run onto the road. But then, strictly speaking, the car driver probably broke the law by not reporting the accident to the police.

As far as I know, the law is like this:-

a. If a cat is in your way, and if avoiding it would cause an accident you should hit it.

b. A dog must be avoided at all costs, even if attempting to hit it will cause an accident.

The driver of the vehicle would have no one to claim against, the dog is running free at the time of the accident and it's not foreseeable that your actions would cause an accident, the driver should of been paying attention.

Don't worry about the car

Hope the dog gets better